Today is Friday, May 22nd, 2015; Karen's Korner #3075

Something written by Jefferson Bethke. Sort of follows yesterday's Karen's Korner, but I thought a good one:


"I heard a story awhile back about some friends who went swimming in a river. It was spring, and the glacier runoff had made the river pretty dangerous. Nonetheless one of the guys jumped in, got caught in the current, and was taken to the dangerous part of the rapids. One of his friends on the shore was a lifeguard, and all the other friends looked at him to do something. He just stood there, though, not moving, just staring at his friend. The others began to panic and yell at him and tell him to go save his friend! Still nothing. They looked out into the river and saw their friend struggling desperately.

"In an instant, though, the struggle stopped. He could no longer fight and began to drown. When that happened, the lifeguard jumped in and with a few swift strokes rescued the friend and brought him to shore. With the adrenaline wearing off, the group yelled at the lifeguard, 'Why didn't you jump in earlier? He could've died!'

"He calmly looked at them and said, 'I had to wait until he fully gave up. Unless he stopped fighting, he would have dragged me under and drowned me with him. But the minute he gave up, I could save him.'

"That's what it's like with Jesus. He just wants us to surrender, and when we do, He comes and gets us. The waves might be crashing overhead, but in that moment, when it looks like we might die, His grace scoops us up and brings us life. And because we finally give up, we know it was Him who did all the saving.

"Will you surrender?"

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