friday, january 9, 2009
Let go! “Just let go, and you’ll be ok” I screamed, but even in a crisis situation I felt really uncomfortable yelling at an eighty-something year old woman like that. There’s something to be said about “good raisings” I guess. “Please let go, I promise I’ll catch you!” Mrs. Kennedy was confused, she was hurt, she was disoriented, but most of all she was afraid – very afraid. Holding on for dear life was all she had left.
The problem was, what she was holding on to was sinking, and sinking fast I might add. To be exact, she was holding onto an eighty foot cabin-cruiser with half of its rear-section blown apart from an explosion in the engine compartment mere minutes earlier. What I was trying to get her to take hold of, was my hand, my bass boat, what small bit of safety I had to offer her. What she was holding on to also held her husband Leroy (of almost sixty years) and this is what she was really afraid to let go of - a lifetime, more so than a life.
Again, the problem was, what she was holding onto was sinking quickly beneath her feet.
I knew if I had any chance of saving her husband before it was too late she was going to have to let go of the deck rail she had a death grip of, and fall down into my arms for me to catch her. Finally she did, and I did. I convinced her (after about three attempts) to stay put in my boat, as I went for Leroy. She was confused, and frantic, but I found her loving husband to be even more so - after the deafening explosion he wasn’t sure what to do except to try and save his beautiful bride, and then himself. He immediately tried to radio for help, and then went underneath the deck and into the cabin to retrieve a couple of life-jackets for them.
Leroy was 84 years old at the time, all six foot two, and two hundred and fifty pounds of him. Throw in a bunch of soaking wet clothes and he was a “hand full” to say the least. The fact that he had somehow managed to get his life-jacket on while still holding on to her vest presented a whole new set of issues to deal with. As you can imagine the cabin section of the boat was filling quickly with the cold water of Old Hickory Lake and the flotation of the life jackets was causing the elderly Mr. Kennedy to become pinned against its roof yet he refused to let go of her life jacket, even unto the point where he lost consciousness.
Their boat had sunk more than ten feet since my arrival, and I was now standing in ankle deep water. Somehow I was able to break out the three panes of glass in the boat’s front windows and then finally two Samaritans swam over and helped me pry the water-logged body from the grips of death that held a temporary hold of it. We managed to roll him over and into my boat as the deck of the cabin-cruiser went beneath the surface. I quickly loosened the rope between the two boats before we were all dragged to the bottom of this greedy lake, and off we headed for the Marina.
Holding on to life was Mrs. Kennedy as she also held her husband’s head in her lap as I held on to his wrist as I checked for a pulse while steering my boat toward safety. What started out as an opportunity to continue holding on to the peace and serenity of a day on the lake before winterizing our vessels became an afternoon where we found ourselves merely holding on to each other, and the situation we had before us.
You know, the one thing I’ve found I do more often than I should is I hang on to things that just aren’t good for me. Like eating the wrong foods, drinking the wrong stuff, thinking the wrong thoughts. Hanging out with the wrong groups of people, or any of the other many bad habits I’ve experimented with from time to time in my life. Sometimes what I find is I’m voluntarily holding on to the very things that hold me back from being where I need to be with my life - where God wants me to be.
There’s always a sense of security in holding on to something since we already know the risks/rewards involved, and the level of commitment that is expected from us. And there’s always a certain amount of fear in reaching out for something new or different. This is so true in many aspects of our lives; with relationships, jobs, homes, even automobiles, where we go to church, how we teach our children, and yes most certainly in how we see ourselves. There are so many things we find to hold onto in our past, and present that sometimes our hands become so full we can’t hold on to the “right things” tight enough, and we simply lose our grip.
Holding on to things such as absolute truth, conviction, values, and principles are all things that get tested at times, and either our grips are made weaker or stronger because of these challenges. I now understand that simply because someone else is holding on tightly to a sinking ship, doesn’t make it something I should hold on to also. Yet so often we revert to that way of thinking, we get caught up in trying to mirror our lives in many ways to the lives of our parents, grandparents, friends, fellow church-goers.
I’ve found FEAR will almost always cause us to be hesitant to let go of what we even understand to be wrong for us. “Fear” as in the lack of courage to trust God, and have faith that He is in total control of all things both here on earth as well as in heaven - the kind of “fear” that can only be conquered by God’s love, and direction through His word.
Mrs. Kennedy finally let go, and let God rescue her, for I was merely the bodily form He used to catch her. Mr. Kennedy finally let go of the hand of death he was holding on to, and recovered from this accident. Unfortunately, it took me many more years to let go of so many of the fearful thoughts, and selfish ways I had been holding on to for so long – yet we all three were saved in a very real way.
Holding on sometimes can be the one thing that actually holds us back from allowing His purpose to be fulfilled in our lives. Ask yourself, is there something in your past you’re holding on to even today that you know you need to let go of? If the truth were told - we all have those things in our lives. If the truth were told - we all live with some unhealthy amount of fear about letting go of the things we've held on to for far too long.
Let go! “Just let go, and you’ll be ok” He calls out to us, “Please let go, I promise I’ll catch you.”
doug
The problem was, what she was holding on to was sinking, and sinking fast I might add. To be exact, she was holding onto an eighty foot cabin-cruiser with half of its rear-section blown apart from an explosion in the engine compartment mere minutes earlier. What I was trying to get her to take hold of, was my hand, my bass boat, what small bit of safety I had to offer her. What she was holding on to also held her husband Leroy (of almost sixty years) and this is what she was really afraid to let go of - a lifetime, more so than a life.
Again, the problem was, what she was holding onto was sinking quickly beneath her feet.
I knew if I had any chance of saving her husband before it was too late she was going to have to let go of the deck rail she had a death grip of, and fall down into my arms for me to catch her. Finally she did, and I did. I convinced her (after about three attempts) to stay put in my boat, as I went for Leroy. She was confused, and frantic, but I found her loving husband to be even more so - after the deafening explosion he wasn’t sure what to do except to try and save his beautiful bride, and then himself. He immediately tried to radio for help, and then went underneath the deck and into the cabin to retrieve a couple of life-jackets for them.
Leroy was 84 years old at the time, all six foot two, and two hundred and fifty pounds of him. Throw in a bunch of soaking wet clothes and he was a “hand full” to say the least. The fact that he had somehow managed to get his life-jacket on while still holding on to her vest presented a whole new set of issues to deal with. As you can imagine the cabin section of the boat was filling quickly with the cold water of Old Hickory Lake and the flotation of the life jackets was causing the elderly Mr. Kennedy to become pinned against its roof yet he refused to let go of her life jacket, even unto the point where he lost consciousness.
Their boat had sunk more than ten feet since my arrival, and I was now standing in ankle deep water. Somehow I was able to break out the three panes of glass in the boat’s front windows and then finally two Samaritans swam over and helped me pry the water-logged body from the grips of death that held a temporary hold of it. We managed to roll him over and into my boat as the deck of the cabin-cruiser went beneath the surface. I quickly loosened the rope between the two boats before we were all dragged to the bottom of this greedy lake, and off we headed for the Marina.
Holding on to life was Mrs. Kennedy as she also held her husband’s head in her lap as I held on to his wrist as I checked for a pulse while steering my boat toward safety. What started out as an opportunity to continue holding on to the peace and serenity of a day on the lake before winterizing our vessels became an afternoon where we found ourselves merely holding on to each other, and the situation we had before us.
You know, the one thing I’ve found I do more often than I should is I hang on to things that just aren’t good for me. Like eating the wrong foods, drinking the wrong stuff, thinking the wrong thoughts. Hanging out with the wrong groups of people, or any of the other many bad habits I’ve experimented with from time to time in my life. Sometimes what I find is I’m voluntarily holding on to the very things that hold me back from being where I need to be with my life - where God wants me to be.
There’s always a sense of security in holding on to something since we already know the risks/rewards involved, and the level of commitment that is expected from us. And there’s always a certain amount of fear in reaching out for something new or different. This is so true in many aspects of our lives; with relationships, jobs, homes, even automobiles, where we go to church, how we teach our children, and yes most certainly in how we see ourselves. There are so many things we find to hold onto in our past, and present that sometimes our hands become so full we can’t hold on to the “right things” tight enough, and we simply lose our grip.
Holding on to things such as absolute truth, conviction, values, and principles are all things that get tested at times, and either our grips are made weaker or stronger because of these challenges. I now understand that simply because someone else is holding on tightly to a sinking ship, doesn’t make it something I should hold on to also. Yet so often we revert to that way of thinking, we get caught up in trying to mirror our lives in many ways to the lives of our parents, grandparents, friends, fellow church-goers.
I’ve found FEAR will almost always cause us to be hesitant to let go of what we even understand to be wrong for us. “Fear” as in the lack of courage to trust God, and have faith that He is in total control of all things both here on earth as well as in heaven - the kind of “fear” that can only be conquered by God’s love, and direction through His word.
Mrs. Kennedy finally let go, and let God rescue her, for I was merely the bodily form He used to catch her. Mr. Kennedy finally let go of the hand of death he was holding on to, and recovered from this accident. Unfortunately, it took me many more years to let go of so many of the fearful thoughts, and selfish ways I had been holding on to for so long – yet we all three were saved in a very real way.
Holding on sometimes can be the one thing that actually holds us back from allowing His purpose to be fulfilled in our lives. Ask yourself, is there something in your past you’re holding on to even today that you know you need to let go of? If the truth were told - we all have those things in our lives. If the truth were told - we all live with some unhealthy amount of fear about letting go of the things we've held on to for far too long.
Let go! “Just let go, and you’ll be ok” He calls out to us, “Please let go, I promise I’ll catch you.”
doug
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