True Story

Isaiah 43:1 -- "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!"

A long time ago the only way to get a felled tree log from point A to point B was the river. Cut logs would be rolled down to the water and floated down stream in large groups to the mill or other place of trade. I can only imagine that working these logs could be fun, if not a great deal of hard work requiring balance, agility, and strength. It was also a job fraught with great danger that could end a life.

Along with the required set of job skills there SHOULD have been a point in the interview when the logger asked his soon-to-be employee, "can you swim?". I have no idea why this question wasn't regularly asked, nor do I pretend to understand the hiring process implemented all those years ago. The one thing I do know, is that for a particular gentlemen [whom I shall call Sam to keep his identity private] the entire interview was conducted without broaching this touchy subject.  AND I know that in fact, Sam did not know how to swim. This did not keep him, however, from doing his job on the river logs. He was a great employee. He had strength, he had agility, he had balance...most of the time. 

One day, deep in the clump of rolling, churning logs, Sam lost his balance and fell into the drink. He had nothing to do but watch the water gain depth above his head and close his eyes, waiting for that moment when he could stand it no longer and tried to draw breath. 

It was then, as water filled Sam's ears and muffled sound of logs bumping into one another echoed through the cold deep river that a hand reached into the water and yanked Sam to the surface, fresh air, and the rest of his life. Being drug to the shore and sweet terra-firma, Sam looked around to thank his rescuer only to find, there was no one standing there with him on the muddy banks. He was completely alone. There were no foot prints next to his in the mud. There were no slide marks leading to the water next to his, and no one standing on the logs rolling by on the river. 

Now, Sam knows what happened to him and he says frequently that it will not be his time to go home until the Lord is good and ready to click Sam's time card up there in that big mill in the sky. Sam knows he was saved by a miracle and for a purpose. It could not be more obvious.

For most of us, we might not get to come face to face with what we recognize to be a miracle. It might not happen in such a profound or dramatic way - but we have been yanked from a gurgling, churning death, just as surly as was Sam.  Our names have been called. We have been bought with a price and claimed by Jesus Christ. 

Sam lives every day to the fullest. He is driven to live the precious life that was saved on purpose, FOR a purpose. 

What do we do with our God-given life? Do we recognize the beauty and the wonder of our escape from certain death? Do we take value in the soul for which Jesus spilled his own blood and gave his own life? We have been pulled from the river. We have been called by name! Let us not waste these precious few breaths afforded to us.