Movin' on up

At the end of every school year, I would begin telling people that I was in the next grade as soon as possible. For example, on the last day of school as a freshman I would begin referring to myself as a sophomore. Even before the final bell of the year, I was a sophomore and you better shut it if you thought otherwise. I guess things don't change much because, at The Creek, everyone has cast off this last school year like a muddy old pair of boots.

"7th grade?" they say. "7th grade was soooo two days ago. I'm no 7th grader. I'm an 8th grader, fool!"

And don't you dare call a student who is going to be starting high school in the fall a jr. higher. They will break you in half before ever being identified as a middle school student again. I know. I have been broken many times. It's the perils of being old I guess...or should I look ahead to the next big transition in life and start calling myself dead?

Where No Man Has Gone Before

Tonight is the night I have been waiting for for months! Tonight I will rest comfortably in a high back, cushioned chair in front of a giant digital projection screen. Tonight I will drink a diet coke and eat Reese's Pieces in the dark. Tonight I will join with thousands of like-minded individuals across this great nation and the world to dream of a better future. Tonight I watch Star Trek.

My review will be forthcoming. I predict 8.5 out of ten.

Drowning Boy

When I was little, probably 3 or 4, I remember going to a pool party at the house of some friends of our family. They had an old school swimming pool in their back yard, the kind with a deep end, a slide and a diving board. At the halfway point of the swimming pool, the deep end began with a gradual slope that began at three feet deep and ended at eight. Being the brave young amphibian that I was, I grew weary of bouncing around by the steps that descended into the pool and decided that I was going to venture out as far as I could go while keeping my head above water.

I inched out, little by little, until my toes crept over the edge of the downslope into the deeper water. My chest nearly burst with pride as I turned to get my mom and dad's attention so they could see how brave I was. But when I turned, my foot slipped down. When my foot slipped down I lost all purchase on the floor of the pool and began to drift down into the deeper water.

It was one of those moments that was so surreal and terrifying that I can vividly remember how it felt, reaching for the surface of the water but having no way to get myself there. With my eyes open and my breath beginning to run out, I panicked and started to thrash around. The movements of my arms and legs not only pushed me farther from where I wanted to go, but began to spin me upside down. A horrifying eternity passed before a hand plunged down into the water, grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

My dad pulled me out of the water coughing and crying into his arms. What passed like minutes for me may have only been seconds for him, but when he saw me, he was there. I was completely helpless to save myself, but he came to my rescue. What felt like miles of water above me may have only been inches, but my dad saw me in need and didn't hesitate to pull me out. And I will never forget how I felt in that moment.

Maybe you have never had a moment like that. No one has ever been there for you when you needed rescue. You have been let down too many times to even think it possible that anyone could be. You think no one cares about you enough to notice you slipping down into the deep end.

He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters...He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.
Psalm 18:16,19

God will rescue you. He will pull you out of the deep waters when you can't sustain yourself, and he needs no other reason to do it except that he delights in you. He thinks you are cool. He thinks you are funny, smart, talented, special, and he will save you because he loves you and enjoys you. I guarantee you this, you will never forget how it feels in that moment he pulls you out.