The six year old thought we had left him to drown. From the middle of the lake he cried out for help as he watched the boat with his family speed away.
Our families had gathered at Smith Mountain Lake for the annual summer reunion. The young cousins developed a love for tubing and had gone from being hesitant, to comfortable, to being daredevils in the water. They rode the tubes holding on with only one hand or letting go completely. They tubed standing up, flat on their backs, and doing handstands. It was while performing a stunt that the six year old lost his grip and ended up bobbing alone in the huge expanse. His cries carried over the hum of the engine. His arms flailed as he called us back. He was in full panic mode, but until we turned the boat around, there was nothing we could do to comfort him.
His uncle, the skipper, slowed the pontoon boat and began the long, slow turn to rescue his nephew. He silenced the engine as we drew near to the little one. We shouted at him to swim towards us, but the child kept sobbing. Finally the boat drew close; we threw him a line and pulled him to safety. In a saner moment he would have calmly tread water supported by his life vest. In his heart of hearts he knew we would not abandon him, but in the middle of the lake doubt and fear rendered him powerless.
Our Lord reminds us that we need not be fearful in difficult circumstances because we don’t go through those challenges on our own. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” [Hebrews 13:5]. The promise is repeated many times from Genesis to Revelation, and yet when trials come our way, our first response is to panic. Like the six year old, we question God’s ability or willingness to rescue us. He wants us to rely on him completely, all the time, in every situation. He said he would never leave, and never is a long, long time.
