Kendall the Fire

It was something always around, and usually taken for granted, that saved my life.

Let me explain. My family and I were on a trip… a long pilgrimage really… from our home in Anchorage, Alaska to Anderson, Indiana. It was June and we were headed to the International Convention of the Church of God (or, what all called “camp-meeting”). You might imagine that, as a little boy growing up in Alaska, I didn’t get to swim very often, and you would be right. So, the number one item on my agenda was for us to find a nice motel (preferably a Holiday Inn or Howard Johnson’s) with a pool.  However, that was not to be.

You see, my parents had accepted the title “home missionaries” when we left the lower forty-eight (states) to pastor in Alaska.  Hard to imagine, but Alaska had only been a state for less than 5 years at the time. So, the ministerial work there was considered a “mission”  and was supported by various individuals and churches across the country.  Therefore, instead of staying at hotels as we traveled to Anderson, we stayed in the homes of wonderful, Church of God folks throughout the country and our family would do a presentation for the church in the evenings.  Mom and Dad would speak… and show lots of Kodak slides.  (They were the ancient precursors to a PowerPoint show.) My brother and I got the awesome job of singing songs for the congregation (Iike, “I Was Born to Serve the Lord”) and trying to stay out of trouble. The latter was not always accomplished.

By the time we finally reached Anderson, Indiana I was so anxious for a swim in a “real-life swimming pool” that I was driving my parents crazy. I had convinced them to let me get an inflatable ring—probably procured from a Stuckeys—and I had blown it up in the backseat of our green station wagon. Gary and I had impatiently changed into our swimsuits in the car. We were rolling into town around 5:00 pm and went straight to the round, municipal pool in Anderson. We got out and ran to the entrance gate expectantly.  “What??? What do you mean you are closed for the day?  How can it be?

“We close at five and you’re too late,” the attendant said. (That statement was followed by loud wails from me.) I guess they must have felt sorry for us, and one of the lifeguards told my mom later that they were really just amazed that people could look so white—our skin having never seen the light of the sun for years in Alaska. So, they let us in… “only for 15 minutes,” the lifeguard said. The words had hardly left his lips before I was diving in (my inflatable life ring casually dropped on the pool deck). It was the shallow end after all, and I could easily touch bottom. However, as I got braver and explored the pool, I moved closer and closer to the deep end. You have to understand that this pool was very unconventional. It was round with the shallow part surrounding the deeper middle part of the pool… with the diving boards rising out of the water in the center.

As the waters grew deeper around me, I began to bounce on the bottom to keep my head above water.  Yet, as I did so, gravity kept taking me deeper and deeper into the center of the pool. Finally, I began to sputter and take on water. I was going to drown. Mom yelled and one of the lifeguards sprang into action. He took a split second to toss me the life ring and then dove into the pool—clothes and all.  (I guess they really were closing up to leave!) In my flailing around, I managed to get one arm into the ring and after a few strong strokes the lifeguard reached me and began to tow me back over to the side.  Tossing me up on the deck, the soggy lifeguard made sure I was breathing and understandably declared that swim time was over. I didn’t argue. I was just glad to have air in my lungs. 

AIR… isn’t it interesting. It’s all around us, but we seldom think about it and often take it for granted. Where the air is matters. For example, if “air” had not been inside the life ring, it wouldn’t have helped me at all. Also, all the air that was surrounding my body would not have done me any good if it wasn’t in my lungs. With water—instead of air—inside of me I would have died… something to think about.

Today, I gratefully work as a chaplain on a Christian campus at Mid-America Christian University.  There’s lots of faith all around me.  Like air, you might say it’s everywhere. There are students with faith, faculty with faith, and staff members with faith. But spiritually speaking, I would be dead without my own faith inside of me. As Paul wrote, “you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). No one is alive by the faith that is simply around them.

So I must ask… students, teachers, administrators… do you have faith in Jesus inside of you?  Are you walking in faith? We can have faith-filled parents, faith-filled friends, faith-filled faculty, faith-filled co-workers… the list could go on. But none of that matters if we don’t possess a real and living personal faith inside of us. If not, get the water of doubt that would drown you out, and breath deeply in the saving faith-air of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes, hearing a scripture in a different translation really brings home the truth.

Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.  Hebrews 11:1 NCV

Just like the air around you, you may not be able to see faith. But if you have it in you—it will save you!