Pool Party

Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me…Psalm 42:7

Pool Party:Do you remember your first visit to the deep end of the pool?

Even with floaties around your arms, a well squeezed air raft and an eagle-eyed parent/lifeguard watching—the deep end can be very scary territory! Eventually we learn how to float, swim and splash cannonballs into waters that once terrified us. The shallow end became a kiddie pool in comparison to the possibilities on the other side where toes no longer touch bottom.

But even still, we can go much deeper than that.One of my most frightening memories comes from a Mexican snorkeling experience many moons ago. At the wise age of about 12, I thought I was pretty brave swimming on my own in the clear waters of Cabo San Lucas. The sandy bottom was clearly visible and peacefully reassuring until…

From out of nowhere all I could see was a void of Deep Dark Purple. I had come to the drop off, where sandy beach meets bottomless ocean. Before it could suck me into it’s endless vortex I swam back to shore as fast as I could before whatever was out there ate me alive. It took a good half hour for my heart to stop beating like a tribal war drum.

I wonder if Moses felt the same while measuring the depths of the Red Sea with his popped-out eyeballs. The stories of Scripture make no illusion to the path of God being an easy street with a few puddles to jump over. It’s surfing on a sea of raging storms that can only be calmed by the One who made the waves in the first place.

When Johnny B. called people into the Jordan river to get their hearts and minds ready for the Messiah, I highly doubt he offered them a Risk-Free-Trial-Offer baptism where you could dip your toes in the kiddie pool for a few seconds to see how warm it was. It was simply in the deep end with him or on the shore with the spectators and critics.

These days, we are endlessly entering into earthly commitments where we click on “I Agree” without reading 3 words of the Terms of Agreement. Both the Old and New Covenants of the Bible were not contracts that the ancients double-clicked on lightly. Many actually memorised the fine print before even attempting to keep it!

God never intended to trick us into an easy deal to follow him; promising deep-end benefits with a shallow-side commitment. Yet it’s still a lop-sided deal where most of the promises are on him to keep. Our part is easy in comparison.

As long as we can continue to recall the child-like trembles that accompanied our early swimming expeditions we can jump into the future with cannonball abandon! The Lifeguard on day & night duty will never let you drown on his watch.

And as always, pool parties are much better when more people are splashing.

Sincerely,
Marco and Polo Munoz
Freedomhouse Church, Camden