Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,

Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;

Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,

Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. 

-Fannie Crosby

My mom became a Junior Lifesaver at the age of twelve. There were difficult skills she had to develop in order to acquire such a title. 

As my mom tells it 

I was twelve the summer that I took Jr. Life Saving. The minimum age was 12. I barely made it. We had to swim for several hours a day for a couple of weeks. It was a swimming pool in Brownwood. We swam across the pool back and forth 4 times for each swimming stroke. We swam around the pool for warm up. I was very small and by far the youngest in the class. We were tested each day. The final day, I had to rescue our instructor who was a college student. He weighed 190 pounds. I had to dive in 10 ft. water and bring up a 180 pound weight. That was the most difficult. I didn't think that I could do it. I passed the test. 

She's told my brother and sisters and I that story more than once. She's proud, and rightly so. 

I remember her hauling me twenty-something miles to the public pool, Oakdale Park, in Glen Rose when I was around seven.  On a Sunday night at church, my friend Elaine's mom told my mom how swimming lessons were being offered (starting the next day). I probably wished Elaine's mom would mind her own business. I'm sure I cried as soon as we got in the car and mom announced that I'd take lessons. I was a big baby about everything as a kid, but when it came to swimming, I was most infantile. I was terrified of the water. 

Still, my mom was determined that I learn to be safe in the water even if it was apparent that Junior Lifesaver wasn't a desire for my future. I attended swimming lessons. They lasted a week. We were tested on a few strokes.  We also had to swim underwater (only coming up for air) from one side of the pool to the other, and back. 

I can still do the Dead Man's Float and I can Dog Paddle like no other, but I couldn't provide a lot of aid to a swimmer in distress outside throwing them a life preserver or the handle of one of those long nets you see at pools that scoop out leaves. (I still hold my nose under water.)

It's my hope that I don't encounter a swimmer who's in trouble in the water. It's my hope that if I do encounter someone in trouble, there's a strong swimmer nearby. But what will I do if I find myself in the water with someone struggling? What if neither a strong swimmer nor a life preserver are nearby? I suppose I'll do my best to help, hoping we're not both pulled under. 

I do believe I have a helping spirit; especially when it comes to hurting people. Being an encouragement and providing comfort to souls in need is a big part of who I am. I don't think kindness and charity are a rarity. The world I know is full of good-hearted people.

 And it's a good thing because the world is full of hurting people; people who are struggling with marriage...and divorce. We encounter someone who has suffered a difficult childhood. They haven't reached adulthood and yet they carry so much baggage that getting from one day to the next is burdensome. Some of their baggage is foreign to us . We don't know how to help them carry it, but we try and try again. Before we know it we're overwhelmed alongside our suffering friend. We have that friend who's trying to beat disease, but who is taking quite the beating herself in the battle. 

On day 100 of the fight we try-

 1. to think of something to say that we haven't said before

2. to say something that doesn't come across as Ms. Sunshine when our sunshine has lost its power to light their darkness

3. not to lose hope

I haven't even mentioned the hurting who are lost; a thought that gives me deep sea swimming panic. 

We need training. In our heart for the hurting it's important that we learn the strokes, the art of Godly encouragement. Instruction is available. Yet many of us are too caught up in the throes of life to glean wisdom on how we can rescue the perishing. Scripture, a great trainer, is neglected. Instead many of us are self-taught helpers. Those drowning need someone who's been taught by a good teacher. 

2 Timothy 3:16 

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

As believers many of us lack strength. We're spiritual lightweights. We can barely carry around our own stuff much less the weight of our hurting loved one or neighbor. Helping someone else is likely to cause us to be pulled under with them. Rather than our being a proper encouragement, we end up sharing their despair. 

Ephesians 6:10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

I'm thankful for my mom's devotion to providing aid; thankful for her story. I'm grateful for her victory. "She passed the test".  

May we be found so faithful. 

Galatians 6:2 

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.