Stroke, kick, breathe...stroke, kick, breathe. (Say it with me now!) Stroke, kick, breathe...stroke, kick, breathe. Do you know what that is? That was the tune I was humming in my head in my beginners swimming class in college. Just before I graduated from high school, someone told me that when I got to ECU, I would have to pass a swimming test to be able to pass PE to be able to graduate. I was like..Say What?! Oh yeah, I could swim alright...like a rock! I didnt have a fear of water per se, but I quickly realized I had a fear of some teacher standing over my shoulder with a clipboard telling me to jump in, while my classmates stood by as witnesses to my near drowning. While there were others who could swim and simply took the swimming test and moved on to other more fun PE activities, I wasnt the only beginner. In fact my paired-off swimming buddy was a skinny little non-swimming fella like myself at the time. So that made me feel better. I got past the floating and the jumping in from the side, and even learned how to back stroke. Then came the day we had to take our swimming test. Part of it was to swim all the way across the width of the pool. I had learned to swim for a short distance, but never that far. The swimming instructor, who wasnt the clipboard bandit I thought she would be, told me...Dont forget to keep doing all three things I taught you; stroke, kick and breathe. Im glad she told me that because before I would get in the pool, get nervous and forget to do one of the 3; and that wont get you too far. So with my classmates standing pool-side to cheer me on, I took off. Stroke, kick, breathe...stroke, kick, breathe...stroke, kick, breathe. And low and behold I made it to the other side. Hooray! You know, I think about that lil tune often. Not because I go swimming a lot. In fact, Im hardly ever in a pool now. But I think about it as I strive to make it across these waters of life. Some days I feel like I am working my butt off and getting nowhere fast. Some days I feel weak and unable to make it through the things I face, which often brings out a big ole Why God?. And the reminder I get from Him is...stroke, kick, breathe...stroke, kick, breathe. Ok follow me here... See when swimming, you can have strong arms and perfect form, but if stroking is all you do, you wont get very far. You can have powerful legs and kick like crazy, but if its all you do, you wont get very far. And certainly if you jump in the pool and all you do is breathe....well just see how far you can get. Buuuuut....if you do all three, stroke, kick breathe...stroke, kick, breathe...you can swim a long way. In fact, the world record is just shy of 140 miles. Thats a lot of stroking, kicking and breathing. God has used that to teach me about living this Christian life. We have to read, pray, obey...read, pray, obey. Weve got to read Gods word, pray to Him every day, then obey what He tells us in His word and through prayer. When I feel I am getting nowhere fast, I have to stop and see which of the three Im not doing. Am I reading the word, but not obeying it? Am I slack in my prayer time with God? Am I only reading the Bible when prepping for a lesson or sermon and not for my own devotional time with God? I know that if I want to go and grow into Gods purpose for my future, then just one or two wont do. It has to be...read, pray, obey...read, pray obey (say it with me now) read, pray, obey. Brothers and sisters, if you are a Christian, then you know living for God in this world aint floating down no lazy river (poor grammar for emphasis :) We are going in the opposite direction of the rest of the world. Were swimming upstream and the river is raging. And for us to fight against the current of culture and temptation and flat out hostility to the things of God, just one or two wont do. And I dont know about you, but I dont want to wait to claim my victory in Heaven. I want to feel victorious now! So off I go today...stroke, kick, breathe. Stoke, kick, breathe!
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 10:13:42 +0000
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