Sink or Swim?

Remember your child's first grade Science experiment? No, not a volcano erupting making a mess everywhere. I was thinking of the Sink or Swim experiment. You take a bucket and then each child carefully places an object into the water. The very first thing, though, as any good scientist can tell you, a hypothesis must be made. Will this object sink or swim?

The rock most definitely sinks. Plop. Yup. Sinks right to the bottom.

The cork swims! Well, it floats. The cork floats.

We can't always look at something and know for sure what it will do. The very first boat ever built was by Noah. He had no idea what it was really going to be for. He had never seen water. Quickly he learned what floating meant! And many people learned what sinking was.

Remember when the Israelites stood at the Red Sea? They thought they were looking at death but instead, God turned things around. He parted the sea and they were able to walk across. Of course it was a different story for the Egyptians. As soon as the Israelites crossed, the sea fell back into place and the Egyptians in the middle soon sunk to the bottom.

Remember when the disciples were being tossed around in a bad storm? Who came out walking to them? They thought it was a ghost, but no, it was Jesus. And Peter dared walk out to Him. Would he sink or swim? Well, we know that Peter was able to walk on water until he looked down and got afraid and then he quickly sank.

The Bible is full of very unscientific stories. If we were to make a hypothesis about these accounts, we would most definitely say the opposite of what actually happened.

BUT God is the God of the impossible. Even though all looks lost, we are able to swim. Even though life is piled on until its hard to breathe, we are still able to swim. When all seems lost, we are able to swim across to the other side. The way might be stormy. We might lose sight of the shore at times, but we KNOW that it is there.

28Peter, suddenly bold, said, "Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water."
29-30He said, "Come ahead."
Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. (He floats!) But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, "Master, save me!" (No, he sinks!)
31Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?" (They float!)
32-33The two of them climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. The disciples in the boat, having watched the whole thing, worshiped Jesus, saying, "This is it! You are God's Son for sure!" (Matthew 14, The Message)

So when we are saved once again by Jesus, it is another reminder that YES, He is God's Son for sure! Its our choice what we do. Will we sink or swim?