Many Waters

“He reached from on high, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.” (Psalm 18:16)

I failed the swimming test in Navy boot camp. The swim test was one of the first things they put us through. You couldn’t be assigned to a company to begin basic training until after you passed the swim test, among other things. And of all the times to fail it, I failed it on a Friday! That meant I had to stay in the receiving barracks at least until Monday, when I could take the test again. It meant I would be in boot camp a few days longer. Later that Friday evening, I was in the “head” in the barracks, using the toilet in one of the stalls. (In case you’ve never heard the term, in Navy parlance, the head is the room with the showers, toilets, and sinks). While sitting there, in the head in the receiving barracks, I read the graffiti on the walls and door of the stall. I’ll never forget what one despondent recruit had written: “Pray to God you pass the swim test.” A kindred spirit, eh? Someone before me had been in the same situation, and sat on this same toilet, feeling the same fear and uncertainty.

Have you ever been in water too deep for your feet, and felt like maybe you couldn’t keep your head up to where you could breathe? It’s a scary sensation. It’s no wonder that people who are facing an uncertain, short-term future describe their emotions by saying, “I feel like I’m drowning.” This fear of an immediate, imminent, personally harmful future, over which we seem to have no control, no matter what we do or say — is terrifying. We lash out and thrash about, but none of our…