Catch Me, Daddy!

My grandparents lived in Wisconsin. When I was a child, we would go visit them in the summer.  It is a L-O-N-G trip from Alabama to Wisconsin.  Depending on how he was feeling and how tired he got, Daddy might drive straight through.  Usually, we spent the night along the way.  I didn’t care where we stayed as long as it had a swimming pool – nothing else mattered.  Not the mattress or the pillows or the towels or the breakfast or anything else.  I wanted a pool.  The fact that I did not know how to swim was not important to me.  I was fearless.  I loved swimming pools.  And I had a secret weapon.

I somehow launched into adulthood without knowing how to swim.  When I was very young and someone would ask me if I could swim, my answer was always, “Yes!”  Later on, I found out that my definition of swimming (pretty much just getting in a pool and having fun in the water) was not what they meant.  By the time I understood “real” swimming, I didn’t want to say that I didn’t know how.  It could have been something of a problem, but I was not going to be told that I couldn’t get in a pool just because I couldn’t swim.  I figured out how not to sink and that was as close to swimming as I got.  It was usually enough.

So, back to the hotel.  As soon as we checked in, I would start begging (nagging, whining, pleading – you get the picture) to go swimming.  I was relentless.  Daddy would haul us to the pool. And then, my favorite part of the trip would take place.   I would come flying off the side of the pool and yell, “Catch me, Daddy!”  And he always did.  I never doubted.  I always knew he would catch me.  It never once occurred to me that he might not be ready, might miss, might not be in the right place.   I KNEW he would be there.  I KNEW he would catch me.  I KNEW he would not let me down.  I KNEW he would keep me safe.  I KNEW he would hold me up and not let me sink.  My Daddy was my secret weapon – he kept me “swimming” even though I didn’t know how. He once told me that he knew he had about three seconds to get ready anytime he heard my equivalent of “Geromino!”

Sometimes my life is just like my swimming expeditions.  I can stay alive in one spot, but I can’t go anywhere and I might just drown at any moment.  Often, I find myself pretty clueless.  Lots of times, I just have to pray, “Catch me, please, Father.”  Sometimes it is a rather desperate plea.  And just like my earthly Daddy, He always does.  

We are coming to the end of our Jonah-Navigating a Life Interrupted Bible study – only a week left to go.  It has been a wonderful journey.  I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but what I got was w-a-y better!  When I see Jonah, I also see myself.  There we are – Jonah and me – yelling “Catch me, Daddy!” while our heads are about to go under.  He caught Jonah and kept him safe.  He catches me, too, every time I ask.  If you never learn another thing from Jonah, learn this – even when you’ve gotten yourself in a mess and the best you can do is stay alive in one spot, God loves you with an everlasting love, wants only the highest good for you, knows you are imperfect, and is just waiting for you to ask Him to save you.  He will do it.  In fact, He wants to do it.

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.  - Psalm 9:10