Article September 25, 2006 Issue

STAND UP—WITH THE CHRIST

BY JILL AARON

Sounds of splashing and cries for help pierced the gathering dusk at a beautiful mountain lake. A woman had fallen into the water from the canoe she and a man had been paddling. A crowd watching from the shore expected the man to come to the rescue and pull her back into the boat. Instead, as she continued to cry for help, he began to paddle steadily backward, encouraging her to swim toward the canoe but always keeping it barely out of reach. Just as the other bystanders and I began to wonder how this approach was helping, he called out... "Lady, stand up!" She stopped splashing about, and realized that she was now in shallow water, perfectly safe and able to stand up.

We had been watching a canoe safety demonstration, and they had been play acting. The woman had never been in any real danger. We learned that were this an actual rescue of someone who, although able to swim, was panicking, it would be important not to let them grab the boat, because that could easily tip it over. But by taking the unexpected approach —paddling away while calmly encouraging a swimmer on, a rescuer can shepherd that person to a place where it's possible to "stand up."

Ah, I thought, there is a deeper spiritual lesson here. I saw this as a wonderful example of how the Christ often shows us the solution to a problem in a most unexpected way. This woman had been looking for safety in the canoe, and yet, following the directions of her rescuer, she had found it right beneath her feet.