Well, I'm back at the pool. I'm trying to have a good attitude about it, but there comes a point where you're 23 years old, married, and have a college degree, and you really don't want to be lifeguarding anymore. It's not like it's a very hard job(don't get me wrong, it is harder than most people think), it's just that I've been doing it for so long, I kinda want to get away from it. But at the same time, Josh doesn't have a job and with this job I was able to start immediately. It's one of those "for worse" times in our marriage. You do what has to be done. you might not like getting up at 5 every morning and working 10 hour shifts, but you do it.
I was thinking the other day about how much I loved working at camp. Besides the fact that I got a killer tan and lost about 25 pounds each summer, I felt like I was really doing something worthwhile. Granted, I was lifeguarding. And guarding at camp is a lot harder than guarding at a city pool. But I was working with kids, I was impacting them, I was using my hands getting into the dirt and building something.
My second (and last) summer, there was a kid who fell off the blob backwards and caught his neck on the rope. We had to backboard him and they took him to the hospital. I was the first responding guard; I had seen the whole thing happen from my post at the top of the blob tower. He came back and it ended up being just a sprain. It could have been a lot worse. When he got back from the hospital, the kid came up to me and thanked me for saving him. I didn't feel like I had done anything special, I had just done my job. But when he came up to me and I saw that he was better, it gave me such joy.
I started thinking about how I had saved him physically, but who knows who I had saved spiritually in all of my conversations with the kids at camp. I don't remember "leading them to the Lord", you know, with the Roman road and a prayer and all that. But I talked to kids, asked about their interests, what they thought of the worship times, how God has made a difference in my life, what I got out of the worship times. Maybe, just maybe one of those kids thought about God differently and is now free from sin, all because I talked to them.
I don't need to know how many, or if any at all. But it was really cool to think about that. I often times forget, but I realized just how similar my fleshly job is to my spiritual job. I need to be watching out for people, for their (spiritual)safety. And when I see them start to go down, I need to jump in and save them. Maybe I won't see instant results, maybe I won't see any results, but I do know that I have to try my best. Every day I pray that God will keep me alert as I watch the pool, and that He will help me remember all of my skills if I need to take action. But how I forget to ask Him to help me in the job that all believers are called to do.
Lord, help me to not only me a physical lifeguard, but a spiritual one as well. Help me to recognize those in need. Help me know what I need to do to save them. Lord, I know it's only You who can save them, but use me to help. Enable me to do what you have called me to do.
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