But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Matthew 14:30

When you’re teaching a child to swim the first thing you need them to master is how to float. So they don’t sink. Because a sinking child is never the goal when you’re in water! Jesus feels the same way about us. Sometimes, we see the wind around us –the grief as it rolls in, the overwhelming to-do lists, the broken relationship, the financial challenge, the health issue, the wayward child, the betrayal… we see the wind and we start to sink.

When I was teaching littles to swim, as the instructor, you’re in the water with them. And I found myself saying “relax, just relax… the water will hold you up… I’m here, I’ve got you…” gradually – as their trust in me increased, they would stop flailing around, their bodies would cease to be like a stiff plank of wood, and they would soften and relax… it was as they fully trusted that they discovered the water was holding them up all the time.

It’s at this point you can get them to push out across the pool in their streamline position. As they do, you’re right there with them, walking. When a child pushes out and gets close enough to you, as you move, they’re carried along in your slipstream, and ‘sucked’ right in close to you as they hold their position.

Jesus wants you close enough to be in His slipstream.

As you push out and trust that the water (his grace) will hold you up, when He moves, you will be carried along. Effortlessly for you. Lifted up and carried along in His slipstream, moving in whichever direction He goes.

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:16 ESV

Because it is out of His movement, Hi strength in the water, His fullness, His grace and truth that we are held up, supported, lifted in the water and carried to safety through the wind.

Little extra fact for you today: Did you know that when a baby dolphin is born it can’t float? It doesn’t have enough body fat and so left to its own devices it would sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown. It is because of this that the mother dolphin doesn’t stop swimming for the first few weeks of the calf’s life. She doesn’t stop swimming… for weeks! The baby dolphin can eat and sleep in the mother’s slipstream as it is carried along in her wake.

Two key things make this possible – one: the calf has to learn only one position as it grows to be kept in the mother’s slipstream. This one position allows the effect of slipstream and the Bernoulli effect (which keeps aeroplanes in the sky) to pull the child in close to the Mother so that they are side-by-side and almost touching.

And two: dolphins are able to sleep with one-eye open. The mother is able to continually swim and be alert to potential danger by only shutting down one half of her brain when it’s time to rest. Dolphins are pretty incredible, but our God, “who watches over you… will neither slumber nor sleep… He will keep you from all harm… [and] will watch over your life.” (Psalm 121:3-4,7 NIV) Continuously. 24/7. 

The one position you need to learn for the rest of your life is trust. Tell Jesus about the wind in your life right now in the knowledge that even the wind and the waves obey Him. Then let go, relax, and trust Him knowing that His grace upon grace will lift you up and carry you along as you hold your position of trust and stay in His slipstream.