Jump, Ethan, Just Jump

We were sitting by the side of the pool at the hotel in St. Louis watching Ethan and John “swim”. Actually John was standing in about 4 feet of water, about 6 feet from the edge of the pool and Ethan was standing on the edge of the pool in front of him.

John was trying to get Ethan to jump into the water, but Ethan was fearful that the water was too deep.

Earlier John had taken Ethan into the pool and had him duck his head under the water. They had stood at just about the same spot where John was wanting Ethan to leap. Fear soon turned into panic and the recently turned six-year old just couldn’t make the jump.

“I’m right here, Ethan. I will catch you so nothing can happen to you.” John pleaded with Ethan to “just jump, Ethan, just jump!”

But Ethan was having none of it. The water looked too deep to him and he knew if he “just jumped” water would go into his nose and then what would happen…he couldn’t “just jump.”

His daddy continued to encourage him, cajole him, coax him, even became stern with him, but nothing would move Ethan from the edge of the pool into the water.

Meanwhile a boy of about 8 was watching from off to the side.

Suddenly without warning this boy ran and leaped from the edge right next to Ethan into the water right next to John.

He waded to the steps and then did it again, this time causing a large ripple of water.

Ethan stood up straighter and watched as one more time the boy ran and leaped, this time turning his body half-way-round so he landed facing Ethan instead of away from him.

Suddenly, Ethan leaped from the edge of the pool and landed right in front of John. Joy suffused both their faces and John praised Ethan for his overcoming his fear. Soon Ethan was climbing out of the pool and leaping toward John over and over. In fact, John had to keep backing up to keep from being dive-bombed by a six-year-old.

Many times in life God stands in the water of our lives encouraging us to “just jump” assuring us that He is there to catch us. We hesitate because the water looks too deep and we just aren’t sure what will happen if we just leap. “Moments” pass and we know we should trust Him, but it is too scary.

Then someone, sometimes even just a stranger, comes along and leaps into the pool and we see that He was right and we can really do it. We leap, we land o.k. and joy suffuses our entire being. We realize that we should have been able to “just jump” but we are grateful that someone else came along and showed us the way.