SOAKED IN THE SPIRIT: part 5

SWIMMING LESSON: Urgency
March 16, 2008
with Matt Johnson
Intro:
The summer of 1987 was one of the best summers a kid could ask for. I was six. My dad had gotten tennis elbow in both of his elbows from the repetitive motion of his job. It eventually required surgery on both elbows, so he ended up taking off about six months from work for the surgeries and recovery. My brother and sister were both in high school at the time and were lifeguards for the local community pool. To keep himself from complete boredom, my dad became the pool manager that summer while he was home. Like I said, it was one of the best summers a kid could ask for – spending every day for the entire summer at the swimming pool. There was only one problem – I couldn’t swim.
My parents and siblings all still tease me about how scared I was of the pool. For the first two weeks of swimming lessons I clung to the side of the pool in the shallow end, refusing to let go. Eventually as the summer progressed I became comfortable in the water, and by the end of the summer I was doing back flips off of the high dive.
One of the best memories of that summer was the fourth of July. I remember feeling so special because the pool closed early that day but our family got to stay and swim. We had a big pool party and cook out and sat at the edge of the pool to watch the fireworks there in the park.
One of the family members that was there was my cousin Jason. He was always a squirrely kid. He’s about 6 months younger than me. Our grandparents took us both on a trip to Bush Gardens when we were 8 and Jason was the kid who ran up to the pelicans roaming around and tried to pet them. Consequently, he got a chunk of his forearm bitten out that has left a scar to this day. He was a squirrely kid. You know the type. He’s now a sharpshooter in the military. That makes you feel safe huh?
Anyway, just as the finale of the fireworks show was coming to a close, we all heard a big splash, and looked into the water. There was Jason, 5 ½ years old, in the deep end of the pool – sinking. He didn’t know how to swim, but got an urge to jump, so he did… Immediately both of my siblings, my dad, and Jason’s parents dove into the pool from where they were around the pool, all converging on him to rescue him.
There was an urgency to rescue him.

We’ve been going through this idea of being soaked in the spirit as we’ve talked about spiritual gifts. We’ve focused on the idea of learning to swim.
SWIMMERS
 …are WET because they can swim and they choose to swim.
 SATISFY the Spirit’s leading.
 WIN the battles of the flesh.
 INHERIT the Kingdom.
 MANIFEST the character of God.

Read: 1 Peter 4:7-11.

There should be an urgency to us learning to swim – the end of the world is coming soon…
It’s all “the last days” from the minute that Jesus heart began to beat once again on the third day, a countdown to his return has begun. Only god knows the timing, but the clock is ticking. It’s going to happen. That fact is as real now 2000 years later as it was for peter writing this in the mid 60 ad’s. The end of the world is coming soon. It may be overall, it may be for you specifically, but the end of all things is coming soon.
THEREFORE – Everything following should be understood in light of the preceding statement… The end of the world is coming soon… Therefore - There is an urgency to learning to swim.
Urgency in Swimming calls for:
**Serious Prayer
**Forgiving Love
**Cheerful Hospitality-
**God Empowered Service-
One of the things I remember about Jason jumping into the pool was that by the time adults got into the water and got to him, he had managed to doggie paddle to keep his head above water. It’s interesting how when the options are swim or drown, we usually find a way to swim. I think some of us could use a good dose of Jason’s fearlessness and bravery to jump in and swim. We’ve sat on the edge of the pool getting our feet wet for far too long. It’s time to swim. To get soaked in the spirit. The clock is ticking. It’s time for serious prayer, forgiving love, cheerful hospitality, God empowered service. It’s time to swim.