Here it is everyone! The moment has arrived that many of you have been waiting for: the unveiling of the formula that can end world hunger and bring world peace. As promised, I am choosing not to be like the Grinch by telling everyone :-) This is the first draft so let me know if you have any ideas or corrections.
The Magic Formula is not a self-help stairway to success that teaches you what to do or what you need to know to achieve your goals. Neither is it a spell that can be cast for miracles of healing or material wealth. The formula is “magic” because it provides evidence of God’s supernatural presence and work in the experiences of existence on earth that many try to deny or presume they cannot explain. Given that it is magic, it is not a formula that teaches yet another strategy or methodology to do God’s work for him. Rather, the formula is a discipline that trains the heart, mind soul and strength of a believer to grow in the power of discernment to distinguish between good and evil, enabling Christ followers to rightly know and apply God’s Word for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. According to the Westminster confession, the purpose of man “…is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Therefore, if practiced constantly, you will be able to distinguish the goodness of God from the world’s corruption, grow in right relationship with God, be transformed and empowered by the glory of God, thus becoming a suitable vessel to be used by God to boldly fulfill the purpose for which God made you, a purpose that is extremely difficult but extremely enjoyable given the exponential eternal rewards you begin enjoying now.
For the sake of brevity (best I could manage anyway), this introduction only includes the basics needed to understand the construction of the formula, serving as the foundation on which to build other articles and mediums according to God’s provision. I pray it will fulfill its purpose by growing you as a disciple of Christ, thus equipping you to make other disciples, thus propagating the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth, thus working to establish the Kingdom of Heaven in anticipation of the return of the King. When the King returns, hunger will be no more and peace will be restored! Therefore, come now and reason with me, then let’s go prove it!
The Magic Formula
Values
A = The Word
B = Temporal (Time and Matter)
C = Life
-C = Corruption
Standards (the source that determines value)
If…
The Word = God
Temporal = Creation
Life = God’s Glory
Corruption = Sin
Commerce
Then…
The Word + Temporal = Life
Temporal – The Word = Corruption
Temporal + Corruption = Corruption
Corruption + The Word = Temporal
Temporal + The Word = Life
The Word - temporal = The Word
Logic - The formula is based on the three laws of logic:
1. The law of identity: Christ is Christ
2. The law of noncontradiction: Christ is not Anti-Christ
3. The law of the excluded middle: Either he is Christ or Anti-Christ.
Apologist J. P. Moreland says “These fundamental laws are true principles governing reality and thought and are assumed by Scripture. …These laws govern all reality for 2 reasons: (1) They are intuitively obvious and self-evident. Once one understands the basic law they can see that it is true. (2) Those who deny them use these principles in their denial, demonstrating that those laws are unavoidable and that it is self-refutable to deny them.” He goes on to say God can violate the laws of nature but cannot violate the laws of logic since they are rooted in God’s nature. Therefore, God and all that is true about him is not subject to the changes so often imposed by the middle ground of personal perception, interpretation, understanding, or opinion, thus excluding all of these neutral sources as valid standards of credibility, to include our own. “…often God does not act in ways that people understand or judge to be what they would do in circumstances. But God never behaves illogically in the proper sense. He does not violate in His being or thought the fundamental law of logic.” (“What are the Laws of Logic,” The Apologetics Study Bible, pg. 1854)
There are four areas in which the laws of logic must be applied in order to rightly discern them : prayer (knowing God), the Church (confirming witnesses), the Bible (confirmed and recorded objective truth), and all of temporal reality. These sources must be in complete agreement to confirm objective truth (the Word) so as to eliminate the middle ground of opinion.
The Formula
A + B = C – This is the basic mathematical formula used for logical reasoning, postulating IF A and B are objective logical values defined by logical objective standards, THEN their addition or subtraction will have an objective logical outcome. For example, If A =2 and B = 3, then 2 + 3 = 5. Logically, 5 is 5, not 6. Therefore, 5 is the right answer. Since it is right it is not wrong because 5 must be either right or wrong.
The Word + Temporal = Life
The Word – Some scholars translate Word in John 1 as Logic (a divine, rational mind). Since all creation was made through the Word, the translation makes sense given all natural law and human thought is governed by logic. Of course, “sense” only makes sense if one is thinking logically.
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Temporal (time and matter) - Creation was made perfect because God is perfect and rightly recognized his creation as good. Therefore, the standard for the value of good in the temporal is perfect creation. Since good is good, good cannot be non-good (evil), and it is either good or evil.
John 1:3 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Isaiah 5:19-20 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Life – God made life for his glory so his glory is the only purpose for which to live. Synonyms of glory are: magnificence, splendor, beauty, wonder, grandeur, brilliance, credit, fame. God’s glory is light because God is the source of light and it is by his light that we are able to see everything else.
John 1:4 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Temporal – the Word = Corruption
Corruption – God made man with the will to choose. A choice requires options so God gave man the options of choosing to obey him by living for his glory or choosing to not glorify God by disobeying him. As disobedience is non-glory and dark is non-light, death is non-life. Therefore, when man chose disobedience, he chose death.
Genesis 2:16-17 6 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
Temporal + Corruption = Corruption
Corruption is the progression of death and destruction, a disease that also infected the earth as a result of man’s choice.
Genesis 3:17 17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life
Corruption + The Word = Temporal
Since God is perfect in love, he desired man be restored to being able to love him in return. Since God is perfect in justice, wrong had to be made right. Since no one was perfect but God and because he loved his creation, God sent the Word to become the God/man named Jesus. As darkness is the absence of light rather than a force that can oppose light, Jesus remained untouched by evil and overcame evil wherever he went. As reason cannot be overcome by madness, Jesus restored sanity to madmen and shut the mouths of the unreasonable by maintaining perfect logical integrity. Jesus took death on himself by willingly allowing himself to be killed on a Roman cross. Since he was God, death was destroyed when Jesus rose from the tomb alive. Evil cannot overcome God any more than darkness can overcome light.
John 1:5 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:9 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
John 1:14 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1 Timothy 2:3-6 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
Temporal + The Word = Life
In fulfillment of the promise made by Jesus to send a counselor after his purpose was fulfilled, God’s Holy Spirit was made available to anyone who chooses to believe the Word and love God . Having had the corruption of their dark hearts exposed by the light of the Word, they must leave their old identity to die in the darkness and run to the light where they will receive and live their new life in the light. The Holy Spirit enters the soul of the new believer, changing them over the course of their life into the perfect image of the God/man Jesus, enlightening their hearts to feel as he did and enlightening their minds to think as he did, thus freeing them from the bondage of death and the insanity of deception. As a result, they shine with the light of God’s glory in dark places, restoring life to the dying, liberating the captive, enlightening the confused, feeding the hungry, caring for the lonely, healing the suffering, defending the helpless, and bringing peace to the chaos. When the Word returns in royal splendor, he will finish the work he started in the world and in those being raised from death to eternal life.
John 14:26 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Hebrews 4:12 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Colossians 1:19-20 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
John 15:4-5 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Galatians 5:22-25 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
The Word – Temporal = The Word
For those who know the Word but are not changed by it or fail to apply it, the Word maintains its integrity but does not produce life.
Hebrews 5:12-14 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
James 2:13-20 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe- and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
Galatians 6:7-8 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Matthew 25:41-46 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44 Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45 Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Really?
How many of you have either used or heard the excuse “But my friends were doing it…” in response to a reprimand? If you have, you are also likely familiar with the retort, “If your friends were to jump off a cliff, would you follow them?” Does anyone else have a problem with this question? Of course, the retort is meant to reveal the error of assuming a majority decision is always right by postulating a scenario in which the majority does something clearly wrong. The trouble is the scenario does not teach the intended lesson, especially when used in association with subjective rules like wearing a shirt tail out, talking in class or playing an outside game inside. As a child, I remember thinking indignantly (though I dared not say it), “What does jumping off a cliff have to do with how my friends and I wear our shirt?” Now that I am an adult who has done away with childish reasoning, I know with confidence I was right to question the relevance of cliff jumping and shirt tails. I can also now answer the question in such a way that reveals why:
First, if I answer “No, I would not follow them,” then I am asserting I do indeed have the sense not to jump off a cliff to my death. Of course, if you knew me, you would already know that. Likewise, if you knew me, you would also know I have the sense to only share company with friends who also have the sense not to jump to their death, making the proposition they would jump an insult to my friends and to me for keeping their company. Likewise, the presumption our transgression was just as morally consequential as cliff jumping is absurd since, if the transgressions were equal, I would be dead and we would not be having this conversation. Furthermore, cliff jumping is not always suicidal, meaning it is not always wrong. If we were all wearing parachutes, knew how to use them and the conditions allowed for a safe landing then I could answer with justified moral conviction “Yes! I would follow them!” Therefore, your scenario intended to demonstrate the futility of following the immoral majority has only worked to insult my intelligence, morally patronize me, and led me to justifiably question your ability to discern right from wrong since you can’t even discern the difference between matters of preference and matters of life and death.
Should your children respond so rationally, be careful not to mistake a justified demand for an apology for what may sound like a rebellious attitude. Children do not appreciate being falsely accused or irrationally reprimanded nor should they. That does not mean children should not be reprimanded. It does mean parents need to know how to discern right from wrong, how to weigh moral decisions and how to discipline their children in the way they should go so that when a reprimand is needed, it will communicate loving guidance and deserved justice, thus granting the most hopeful opportunity for genuine repentance. That also means parents need to be careful about using clichés or Scripture references learned from their parents and pastors without first making sure they are true, relevant, understood, objectively tried and personally applied. By having the logs of sin removed from their eyes by the chainsaw of truth in the hands of the Holy Spirit, parents will then be able to see clearly enough to be used by God to carefully and tenderly remove the splinters from the eyes of their loved ones, minimizing the pain and discomfort caused by their removal.
On a similar note, if this need for relevance and careful application of truth is so important to the development of children, how much more important is it to fully grown adults, including grown adults from the ghetto? Adults won’t tolerate being falsely accused or irrationally reprimanded either. Adults also do not appreciate being talked to like children nor should they, even if they are acting like children. Therefore, if your principles are offended and you are compelled to talk about or to someone else in a way that diminishes them from equality with you, recognize it is not God who is compelling you but the devil, thus revealing your need to check yourself in the mirrors of God’s Word and Spirit. While there, look at the one who offended you in the mirrors too. You may find yourself diminished by the reflection of Jesus looking down on you.
Teach me and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong. How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove? Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind? You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend. But now be so kind as to look at me. Job 6:24-28a
First, if I answer “No, I would not follow them,” then I am asserting I do indeed have the sense not to jump off a cliff to my death. Of course, if you knew me, you would already know that. Likewise, if you knew me, you would also know I have the sense to only share company with friends who also have the sense not to jump to their death, making the proposition they would jump an insult to my friends and to me for keeping their company. Likewise, the presumption our transgression was just as morally consequential as cliff jumping is absurd since, if the transgressions were equal, I would be dead and we would not be having this conversation. Furthermore, cliff jumping is not always suicidal, meaning it is not always wrong. If we were all wearing parachutes, knew how to use them and the conditions allowed for a safe landing then I could answer with justified moral conviction “Yes! I would follow them!” Therefore, your scenario intended to demonstrate the futility of following the immoral majority has only worked to insult my intelligence, morally patronize me, and led me to justifiably question your ability to discern right from wrong since you can’t even discern the difference between matters of preference and matters of life and death.
Should your children respond so rationally, be careful not to mistake a justified demand for an apology for what may sound like a rebellious attitude. Children do not appreciate being falsely accused or irrationally reprimanded nor should they. That does not mean children should not be reprimanded. It does mean parents need to know how to discern right from wrong, how to weigh moral decisions and how to discipline their children in the way they should go so that when a reprimand is needed, it will communicate loving guidance and deserved justice, thus granting the most hopeful opportunity for genuine repentance. That also means parents need to be careful about using clichés or Scripture references learned from their parents and pastors without first making sure they are true, relevant, understood, objectively tried and personally applied. By having the logs of sin removed from their eyes by the chainsaw of truth in the hands of the Holy Spirit, parents will then be able to see clearly enough to be used by God to carefully and tenderly remove the splinters from the eyes of their loved ones, minimizing the pain and discomfort caused by their removal.
On a similar note, if this need for relevance and careful application of truth is so important to the development of children, how much more important is it to fully grown adults, including grown adults from the ghetto? Adults won’t tolerate being falsely accused or irrationally reprimanded either. Adults also do not appreciate being talked to like children nor should they, even if they are acting like children. Therefore, if your principles are offended and you are compelled to talk about or to someone else in a way that diminishes them from equality with you, recognize it is not God who is compelling you but the devil, thus revealing your need to check yourself in the mirrors of God’s Word and Spirit. While there, look at the one who offended you in the mirrors too. You may find yourself diminished by the reflection of Jesus looking down on you.
Teach me and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong. How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove? Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind? You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend. But now be so kind as to look at me. Job 6:24-28a
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Lifeguarding
While being trained as a lifeguard in the Boy Scouts, I learned a valuable principle when it comes to trying to rescue a drowning victim: if I simply swim to them unassisted with the intention of helping them swim back to safety, I will likely be killed. In their desperation to stay above water, the victim will try to use me as a floatation device, meaning they will push me under water with irresistible, super-human strength enabled by a panic induced shot of adrenalin and hold me there until I drown. Since panic also makes a victim irrational, no amount of reasoning as to my intentions or the need for their cooperation will prevent them from killing me. Since a dead person does not have sufficient buoyancy to keep the victim’s head above water, my dead body would not even keep the victim from drowning, meaning my well intentioned self-sacrifice would result in making casualties of us both. Therefore, I should do myself and the victim a service by considering my options before jumping in to save them. I have found this principle to be generally universal in its application.
Likewise, I have found the training I received that provides viable alternatives to self-destruction to also be generally universal in application. Based on the Boy Scout motto (Be Prepared!), I was first taught to create as controlled an environment as possible when planning waterfront activities by providing all the potentially necessary rescue tools and by posting plenty of qualified lifeguards who know how to use them. Also, I was taught to qualify activity participants by testing their ability to swim before allowing them to enter the water.
I was then trained to use rescue strategies based on the principles of Reach, Throw, Row ,Go. First, I learned I should not panic when I find myself a witness to an emergent need in which I have the opportunity to intervene. Instead, I should stop, breath, think, and look around to assess the environment and availability of resources to assist in the victim’s rescue. If they are within reach from the side of a pool, pier, or the shore, I should use a pole or something of the sort to extend to them so they can be pulled to safety. Should it be required to extend a hand or leg, I should secure the rest of my body to avoid being pulled in and to provide the needed leverage to pull the victim out. If the victim is too far to reach, I should look for a flotation device to throw to them with sufficient buoyancy to keep their head above water until they can be reached. If they are beyond throwing distance, I should look for a row boat or other equivalent means of transport that can cover the needed distance in time to reach the victim before they drown and can carry the victim as an added passenger back to safety. As a last resort, I should swim to the victim while carrying a floatation device that can be passed or thrown to them from a safe distance. If the victim should fail to grab the float or prefer to use me as a float, it may be necessary to hit them and/or render them unconscious in order to pacify them enough to enable my appropriate assistance. If all attempts fail, I should stay out of their reach until they drown with the hope of dragging them to safety in time to revive them using CPR.
As I consider possible interventions to help victims in East Lake, I am haunted by the parallel application of these principles and how counter intuitive they may be. As opposed to the controlled lake water environment in which I learned, I now feel as though I am working in the chaos of raging flood waters. There are scores of victims who have been swept up by the deadly currents who are gasping for breath as they cry out for help. I also feel as though there is no shore of safety to which I can deliver them. The river runs through a canyon with walls too high for them to climb though construction of a means to elevate them has begun. The conditions are not controlled so I have had to evaluate what resources are available. The most effective resource I have used is the one that saved me when I lost my life preserver, one that defies convention. It is all that I have had to extend for support and cannot be denied in its effectiveness.
Jumping into these waters also defies reason. The risks imposed by the water are substantial but I have not felt threatened by it given the effectiveness of my life support in dealing with the conditions. I have understood not all victims I tried to rescue would see my support or take what I offered due to the blindness of their hysterics and their unfamiliarity with the means of rescue. I have known I cannot knock sense into them nor could I render them unconscious. As a result, I have watched helplessly as victims drown due to their rejection of my offered assistance and my refusal to allow them to cling to me as their source of life. I remain convinced my body cannot offer them the salvation they need but the help I am offering them can. I have been affirmed in the self-awareness of my limitations when I have seen other well meaning but unqualified lifeguards who jumped into the water as rescuers but became victims themselves, overwhelmed by small groups of victims ineffectually clinging to them for life. All of them are drowning.
As I appraise the devastation I am also appraising my feelings toward the rescue effort. I am frustrated by the discontinuity of the operation. I question if I am even a part of the same effort as other lifeguards since we seem to be using conflicting methods and seem to answer to different leaders. Not many even recognize me as a lifeguard. I am angry with the multitudes of rescue trainees who never seem to graduate the program; many have not even left the shallow end of the pool. I am irritated by the wasted resources spent on responding to victims who cry for help from their homes settled high above the flood because they are afraid of drowning in the water in their pools. I am enraged by those who stand on the edge of the cliffs looking down with indifference or contempt for those who are not able to scale the walls of safety on which they now stand. Some say they don’t help because they are not called to swim and others don’t want to learn to swim because they hate water. They just watch and comment on the situation amongst themselves, like the crowds drawn to gawk at train wrecks.
Additionally, I am beginning to question if land is where I even belong or if it is where I should be trying to deliver victims to safety. I have a growing sense that eventually everyone is going to be swept into this torrential flood that is ever rising and all consuming, similar to the waters that once consumed everything but an ark and the refugees it carried. No one but whom God had equipped to escape the flood was able to survive it. I believe God is equipping his elect to survive this one as well. I’m thinking perhaps the water is really where I am supposed to live since the earth will not survive destruction this time. What if the point is not to try to stay alive by keeping my head or the heads of the victims above water or even to live above the water? I wonder if the reason I’m not afraid of it is because God is making me into something like a fish, able to breathe underwater. Fish are at home in water and the air so many are fighting to breath is becoming increasingly foreign to me. When I return to the surface, I’m not gasping for air. There are times it seems like I’m not holding my breath anymore underwater either. Since I was jerked from the water some time ago, I feel as though I’m suffocating and desperately want to be thrown back in. I’m wondering what it is now I was actually trying to save victims from since I’m now so out of place on land and saw so many swimming underwater with me before I was fished out.
Since I lost my life preserver, the fathoms into which I have been looking beckon me to come further. However, I can only go so far every time I explore before I am compelled back to the surface by the reminder of my purpose to assist victims and by the fact my transformation is not complete given my still present need for air. It seems only the lifeguards and the victims who have learned to let go of life preservers are undergoing the same life giving transformation as I am, equally enabled to navigate the depths that strike such fear in land lovers that they would destroy themselves and others to avoid sinking into them. Those who have let go also seem to be the only ones able to assist the others who are still drowning.
I also notice the cliffs are shrinking because the waters are rising as the rain keeps falling. I’m now more worried for the ones who are safe on dry land than I am for those trying to stay afloat in the water. Though the water is different than what consumed the earth before, the threat is just as real and the safe are just as oblivious. No one will escape the flood this time. They need to be warned lest they be swept under the water with no life preservers left and no way to breath. I can only pray they heed the warning this time, which is actually a call to join the rescue effort since there is no ark. The only way to escape this flood is to dive into it. The life so many are trying to preserve is not worth preserving since no one can float forever and everyone will have to eventually sink or swim.
I can also only pray new recruits that respond to the call have abandoned the counterproductive strategy of self-preservation as they jump into the water lest they become yet another victim that has to be coaxed to let go as they flail their arms in panicked hysteria. Knowing the source of life, how to preserve it and how to share it are essential prerequisites for becoming a lifeguard. Perhaps the training program needs to be modified so trainees are better prepared and better equipped for these conditions. Until then, experience can serve as an effective school if a new lifeguard is willing to learn and is willing to listen to seasoned lifeguards.
Seasoned lifeguards will be the first to admit they are still students themselves since no one graduates until retirement. They also know there is only one Master and they are exclusively under his leadership, following his orders. New lifeguards will not have to look hard to find seasoned lifeguards because they are easy to identify; they are the ones who are skillfully navigating the waters as they carry life to the victims. Their victims are also the ones being saved, and the ones who are becoming new lifeguards. That said, perhaps the land-based life guard academies need to also evaluate if their instructors and writers of their curriculum are still practicing as real lifeguards, if they ever were real lifeguards. God forbid the commentators on train wrecks, watching from their perches high on the cliffs, also be the ones who are writing manuals for how lifeguarding should be done and the ones who determine if new lifeguards are qualified. That would explain a lot. I have been so schooled. I’ve got to get back to the water.
Likewise, I have found the training I received that provides viable alternatives to self-destruction to also be generally universal in application. Based on the Boy Scout motto (Be Prepared!), I was first taught to create as controlled an environment as possible when planning waterfront activities by providing all the potentially necessary rescue tools and by posting plenty of qualified lifeguards who know how to use them. Also, I was taught to qualify activity participants by testing their ability to swim before allowing them to enter the water.
I was then trained to use rescue strategies based on the principles of Reach, Throw, Row ,Go. First, I learned I should not panic when I find myself a witness to an emergent need in which I have the opportunity to intervene. Instead, I should stop, breath, think, and look around to assess the environment and availability of resources to assist in the victim’s rescue. If they are within reach from the side of a pool, pier, or the shore, I should use a pole or something of the sort to extend to them so they can be pulled to safety. Should it be required to extend a hand or leg, I should secure the rest of my body to avoid being pulled in and to provide the needed leverage to pull the victim out. If the victim is too far to reach, I should look for a flotation device to throw to them with sufficient buoyancy to keep their head above water until they can be reached. If they are beyond throwing distance, I should look for a row boat or other equivalent means of transport that can cover the needed distance in time to reach the victim before they drown and can carry the victim as an added passenger back to safety. As a last resort, I should swim to the victim while carrying a floatation device that can be passed or thrown to them from a safe distance. If the victim should fail to grab the float or prefer to use me as a float, it may be necessary to hit them and/or render them unconscious in order to pacify them enough to enable my appropriate assistance. If all attempts fail, I should stay out of their reach until they drown with the hope of dragging them to safety in time to revive them using CPR.
As I consider possible interventions to help victims in East Lake, I am haunted by the parallel application of these principles and how counter intuitive they may be. As opposed to the controlled lake water environment in which I learned, I now feel as though I am working in the chaos of raging flood waters. There are scores of victims who have been swept up by the deadly currents who are gasping for breath as they cry out for help. I also feel as though there is no shore of safety to which I can deliver them. The river runs through a canyon with walls too high for them to climb though construction of a means to elevate them has begun. The conditions are not controlled so I have had to evaluate what resources are available. The most effective resource I have used is the one that saved me when I lost my life preserver, one that defies convention. It is all that I have had to extend for support and cannot be denied in its effectiveness.
Jumping into these waters also defies reason. The risks imposed by the water are substantial but I have not felt threatened by it given the effectiveness of my life support in dealing with the conditions. I have understood not all victims I tried to rescue would see my support or take what I offered due to the blindness of their hysterics and their unfamiliarity with the means of rescue. I have known I cannot knock sense into them nor could I render them unconscious. As a result, I have watched helplessly as victims drown due to their rejection of my offered assistance and my refusal to allow them to cling to me as their source of life. I remain convinced my body cannot offer them the salvation they need but the help I am offering them can. I have been affirmed in the self-awareness of my limitations when I have seen other well meaning but unqualified lifeguards who jumped into the water as rescuers but became victims themselves, overwhelmed by small groups of victims ineffectually clinging to them for life. All of them are drowning.
As I appraise the devastation I am also appraising my feelings toward the rescue effort. I am frustrated by the discontinuity of the operation. I question if I am even a part of the same effort as other lifeguards since we seem to be using conflicting methods and seem to answer to different leaders. Not many even recognize me as a lifeguard. I am angry with the multitudes of rescue trainees who never seem to graduate the program; many have not even left the shallow end of the pool. I am irritated by the wasted resources spent on responding to victims who cry for help from their homes settled high above the flood because they are afraid of drowning in the water in their pools. I am enraged by those who stand on the edge of the cliffs looking down with indifference or contempt for those who are not able to scale the walls of safety on which they now stand. Some say they don’t help because they are not called to swim and others don’t want to learn to swim because they hate water. They just watch and comment on the situation amongst themselves, like the crowds drawn to gawk at train wrecks.
Additionally, I am beginning to question if land is where I even belong or if it is where I should be trying to deliver victims to safety. I have a growing sense that eventually everyone is going to be swept into this torrential flood that is ever rising and all consuming, similar to the waters that once consumed everything but an ark and the refugees it carried. No one but whom God had equipped to escape the flood was able to survive it. I believe God is equipping his elect to survive this one as well. I’m thinking perhaps the water is really where I am supposed to live since the earth will not survive destruction this time. What if the point is not to try to stay alive by keeping my head or the heads of the victims above water or even to live above the water? I wonder if the reason I’m not afraid of it is because God is making me into something like a fish, able to breathe underwater. Fish are at home in water and the air so many are fighting to breath is becoming increasingly foreign to me. When I return to the surface, I’m not gasping for air. There are times it seems like I’m not holding my breath anymore underwater either. Since I was jerked from the water some time ago, I feel as though I’m suffocating and desperately want to be thrown back in. I’m wondering what it is now I was actually trying to save victims from since I’m now so out of place on land and saw so many swimming underwater with me before I was fished out.
Since I lost my life preserver, the fathoms into which I have been looking beckon me to come further. However, I can only go so far every time I explore before I am compelled back to the surface by the reminder of my purpose to assist victims and by the fact my transformation is not complete given my still present need for air. It seems only the lifeguards and the victims who have learned to let go of life preservers are undergoing the same life giving transformation as I am, equally enabled to navigate the depths that strike such fear in land lovers that they would destroy themselves and others to avoid sinking into them. Those who have let go also seem to be the only ones able to assist the others who are still drowning.
I also notice the cliffs are shrinking because the waters are rising as the rain keeps falling. I’m now more worried for the ones who are safe on dry land than I am for those trying to stay afloat in the water. Though the water is different than what consumed the earth before, the threat is just as real and the safe are just as oblivious. No one will escape the flood this time. They need to be warned lest they be swept under the water with no life preservers left and no way to breath. I can only pray they heed the warning this time, which is actually a call to join the rescue effort since there is no ark. The only way to escape this flood is to dive into it. The life so many are trying to preserve is not worth preserving since no one can float forever and everyone will have to eventually sink or swim.
I can also only pray new recruits that respond to the call have abandoned the counterproductive strategy of self-preservation as they jump into the water lest they become yet another victim that has to be coaxed to let go as they flail their arms in panicked hysteria. Knowing the source of life, how to preserve it and how to share it are essential prerequisites for becoming a lifeguard. Perhaps the training program needs to be modified so trainees are better prepared and better equipped for these conditions. Until then, experience can serve as an effective school if a new lifeguard is willing to learn and is willing to listen to seasoned lifeguards.
Seasoned lifeguards will be the first to admit they are still students themselves since no one graduates until retirement. They also know there is only one Master and they are exclusively under his leadership, following his orders. New lifeguards will not have to look hard to find seasoned lifeguards because they are easy to identify; they are the ones who are skillfully navigating the waters as they carry life to the victims. Their victims are also the ones being saved, and the ones who are becoming new lifeguards. That said, perhaps the land-based life guard academies need to also evaluate if their instructors and writers of their curriculum are still practicing as real lifeguards, if they ever were real lifeguards. God forbid the commentators on train wrecks, watching from their perches high on the cliffs, also be the ones who are writing manuals for how lifeguarding should be done and the ones who determine if new lifeguards are qualified. That would explain a lot. I have been so schooled. I’ve got to get back to the water.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)