Treading Water

Shortly after arriving at the conference a week ago, we learned that our 15 year old neighbor had almost drowned. While swimming at the beach, a riptide pulled him out into the Indian Ocean. We were in Capetown, South Africa, along with colleagues from Zambia, and from all over Africa. This particular neighbor, a very sweet kid who lives near us in Lusaka, arrived with his family a few days early. They went swimming at the beach, and were unaccustomed to the currents that flow in South African waters.

As Adam moved further and further away from shore, it became apparent to everyone on the beach that he had been caught in an undercurrent. His mother tried to get to him, but the people on the beach stopped her. “There is no way to bring him back,” they said. “You have to wait for the rescue team.” They called emergency services, and Adam continued to recede into the ocean. On the beach, everyone started to pray, and some called their prayer chains, to lift up prayers all over South Africa. They prayed for angels to hold him up when he grew weak, that he could stay afloat until the rescue services arrived.

His distraught mother tried again to go to her son, but again was told not to go. Finally, she grabbed two life jackets and swam into the very cold water. She could not handle the thought of her son, alone, struggling to stay alive in the frigid waves of the Indian Ocean. As she swam towards him, waves rose so high that she kept losing sight of her child. But she kept on going, kept on swimming, and finally, she reached him. And there, next to her son, was another man, who was calmly treading water at Adam’s side. For when this man saw what had happened to Adam, he decided to jump in, to swim out, and to simply tread water with the boy.

Together, the three of them stayed afloat, until a boat arrived to bring them to the shore. Adam was taken to the hospital, treated for shock and hypothermia, and came back, safe and healthy, to our conference center that night.

I sat with his mother while she cried and shared her story, and one thing that she said will never leave me. “They were right,” she stated. “We could never have pulled him in from that current. When they told me not to go, when they told me that I couldn’t save him, they were right. And they all stayed on the shore praying. And I really appreciated their prayers.” She paused. “But, there was one man who dove in, and even though he knew that he could not resuce Adam, he knew that he could tread water with him, that he could stay near him, and keep him company, and help him stay afloat.”

She breathed deeply and continued, “I think of all the times I do that. All the times I say that there is nothing I can do to save someone, that there is nothing I can do to change things, and so all I do is pray. But that man, he knew the one thing he could do. He dove in, and he swam out, and he treaded water with my son. He stayed at his side, and kept him company, and gave him strength, and that was enough. I need to dive in more,” she said. “I need to tread water with people, even if I cannot save them. I need to find the one thing that I can do.”

I am so grateful that our friend is alive, so grateful for that complete stranger who treaded water at his side, and so grateful for the wisdom of his mother, who offered me those words that will never leave me. “It is enough to tread water with someone.”

Here, in Zambia, I know that we cannot save everyone. People will die of preventable, treatable diseases. People will be hungry and people will be abused. Children will lose their parents and parents will lose their children. And I will witness poverty that is too difficult to see, much less live. But, I hope that I am here to tread water with the Zambian people. To be with them, to encourage them, to lift them up, even a little, as they also lift me up. And as we float in the water, as we feel the chill of the sea, as we battle the swelling waves, we can pray together, we can hope together, we can trust together, that God is coming, that love will win, that life is stronger than death.

For we are an Easter people, and together we will tread water and wait, knowing that love wins, that life wins, that hope is our heritage. Thanks be to God.