Sunday, September 9, 2007

"The Swim"

This is a parable that was given to me by the Holy Spirit.


I was living on an island. It was fairly large, as far as islands go. It was completely surrounded by a never-ending ocean.

Anyone who ever attempted to cross this ocean never came back. The farthest that anyone had gone and returned was a small uninhabitable island far to the north. This island was named “Moon”.

The story was that the god who made this island lived across this ocean. One day He would send someone who would guide all of the island people across the ocean to a paradise and we would live happily forever with Him there.

There was also a story about a man who was born on the island. The story was that before he was born on the island, he had lived across the ocean with God. It was told that he had crossed the ocean, seen paradise, and came back. He said that one day he would come back and guide the people to paradise. The people killed him.

There were huge ships around the island. These were the ships that God would use when He took the people to paradise. The people would gather once or twice a week on these ships and worship God. They all had different prices for this passage to paradise. The standard price was ten percent of whatever you made while on the island. The captains of these ships lived on the ships and were paid a good salary for preparing the people for the journey.

No one knew what day the guide was going to come back and get us. Until then we were just supposed to live on the island together and take care of each other. God had left an instruction manual that told what we should do until the guide came.

As time went on and the guide never came, the people began to lose their faith. The people stopped taking care of each other for fear they would not have enough for themselves. The island separated into groups according to which ship people chose to trust their journey to.

As their faith deteriorated, they began to fight among themselves and do the things that God told them not to do in the instruction manual. The island got more populated and thereby more dirty. The dirtier the island got, the cleaner the ships seemed.

The people began to move in and around the ships. After a while the ships became just as dirty as the rest of the island. The bottoms were rotted out. There was no way that the ships could move, let alone take anyone across the endless ocean to paradise.

All of the produce and goods from the island was owned by a few people who owned the inside part of the island. They began to rule and dictate to the people because they had the stuff to live on the island and the people had given up hope on the ships and the guide.

The island became full of very small places where each person lived. The only real space belonged to the rich. The people began to choose off into sides and fight and kill one another. The ships would pray for whatever side had the most people from their ship.
God was forgotten. What you could get for yourself from the owners of the island became the purpose for the day. All of the people stayed in their own small space and protected their goods from the other people. Selfishness became a necessity.

As the selfishness, filth, sin and hopelessness grew, the island became hell.

I had a very small place on the beach. I had stopped going to the ships because they were just as bad as the rest of the island. The ships weren’t going anywhere anyway.

I just sat in hell reading the instruction manual looking for some sort of hope.

As I read, I started noticing that there were lots of things in the manual that I had not been taught on the ship. For one thing it said that the guide had already come to the island a long time ago. The people had killed him for fear of losing their island.

God was so displeased with that action that He had given their island to their worst enemy. It said that their enemy had been the one that built the ships and decided who received what from the island.

It said that the guide would not come and take the island to paradise. Not by ship or any other means. It said that because of the way they had treated the guide God would destroy the island. It said that if you wished to go to paradise you would have to leave the island and the guide would meet you individually.

This did not give me hope. How could you leave an island surrounded by endless ocean? I did not even have a canoe let alone an ocean-worthy boat.

I sat there in my small space and contemplated suicide. Even if the manual said it was wrong, it was one way of leaving this God-forsaken island.

As I sat in my dismay, a man came up to my space. He was one of the homeless wanderers of the island. In some way, he had made the new owners of the island mad and they would not give him his own space. He asked if he could share my space for a while and rest.

I usually would not let “this kind of person” in my space. They might steal something and the other people would look down on you for keeping company with that kind of person.

This was his lucky day. I was so hopeless that I didn’t care. I asked him to join me. He sat down. As I looked at his face, I noticed that he had the most compassionate eyes I had ever seen. He picked up my manual and asked if I had been reading it. I told him that I had and that I couldn’t understand it. I began telling him my woes even though he was the homeless one.

He listened carefully and when I was through talking, he put his arm around me and said not to worry because he knew the way to paradise. Of course I did not believe him. He was homeless after all but I could not get over those eyes so I decided to hear him out.

He told me that he had been to paradise. He told me that the way to get there was to swim. He told me that the guide would not come to the island but if I would leave the island He would meet me in the ocean and show me the way.

He said that God did not like the island or the things of the island but He loved me. He said that if I would take off all my clothes and take nothing from the island and start swimming in faith, the guide would meet me and take me to paradise. He said there was one stipulation; once you began, there was no turning back.

This sounded strange to me but I had nothing to lose. I decided to give it a try.

I planned my attempt. I decided not to go completely naked. I thought I should wear a bathing suit for modesty sake. I also decided to take a sandwich and some water. It had to be a long way.

Before I started, I stood and looked out over the ocean. There was a buoy about a quarter of mile out. I decided to swim to that buoy and if I made it to there without incident then I would continue. If something happened that I didn’t feel I could make it, I could make it back to the shore from there.

I began swimming. It is hard to swim with a sandwich in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. The tide was against me also. I was swimming against the current. I was worried I would drown before I reached the buoy. I sure didn’t have enough energy to get back. I finally reached the buoy. Grabbing it with both hands, exhausted, I just hung there and tried to catch my breath.

I was devastated. Not only could I not make it across the ocean, I barely made it to the buoy. This was also my last hope. Dejected, I ate my sandwich and drank my water and started back. The current was with me so I made it easily. I went back to my space and started crying.

I was so caught up in my own self-pity that it was a while before I noticed that the man that told me to swim was standing by watching me. I motioned for him to come over. When he arrived, I began to chastise him for giving me false information.

He answered by telling me that I had in no way did what he said. He said his information was not to blame for my failure. I had failed because I didn’t follow the instructions given. He said he told me to go naked and I wore a suit. I explained about the modesty thing. He asked me what possible reason I could have for worrying about that if I was going to swim to paradise. He also said that he had told me to go without provisions by faith and I had taken food and drink. He said that I had planned for failure so how could I succeed.

He told me one more time. He said I would have to leave everything about the island behind including my clothes and start swimming in faith that what God had told me in the instruction manual, He would do. When it was sure that I would not turn back, the guide would come and lead me to paradise. Once you start, there’s no turning back.

I sat for a long time and considered this story. I checked it in the manual. It all checked out but it still sounded like suicide to me. I thought maybe you just needed to die trying to get there to actually get there.

Either way, I definitely did not want to stay here. I was contemplating dying to get out of here anyway. If this was what God wanted me to do, I was going to do it.

That night without the slightest preparation, I hit the beach in prayer and started swimming away from the island forever. The nakedness did not bother me like I thought it would and I felt pretty good. I just closed my eyes and swam as hard as I could away from the island.

When I finally tired, after what seemed like hours, I stopped and started dog paddling to check my progress. I was tired but I was all right. I looked back and I could see the buoy that I had barely made it to before. It was barely visible behind me. This gave me renewed strength and I continued swimming out to sea.

After another pretty good bit of swimming, I began to be hungry and thirsty. I noticed something floating in the water in front of me. I swam to it and found a sandwich on top of the piece of wood. I gratefully took the sandwich and started eating it. It made me very thirsty. All of a sudden something bumped my back and I turned to find a bottle of water floating in front of me. Amazed and full of wonder, I gratefully drank some of the water. After thinking about it, I decided to save half of the sandwich and water for later.

I began swimming again and the first stroke I made, a wave splashed over the sandwich and washed it away. I also found out the bottle had a hole in it and all of the water had run out. I started to cry about my loss and as my self-pity grew, I couldn’t swim any more. My arms were cramping, I was out of breath and I began to sink.

All of a sudden I was back on top of the water and my strength was renewed. I could also hear a voice calling my name. I answered and the voice told me that he was the guide that I was told about. He asked my why I was crying. I told him what had happened. He told me that the reason that had happened was because I had thought to save the gifts for later, just in case I did not receive more when I wanted them.

He told me there were not many sandwiches floating on wood in the ocean, nor bottles of water for that matter. They were gifts from him to me. He told me next time I receive a gift from him, I should receive it with thanksgiving and eat and drink it with the faith that he would take care of everything I needed.

He said that I should just keep swimming straight towards a small light that looked like a star but you could see it in the day. He said I should not veer to the left or to the right and if anything happened that concerned me I should just call him and he would be there.

I began swimming again with new excitement and confidence. I felt wonderful.

I swam for a while and then I bumped into something in the water. It was a dead corpse floating in the water. I immediately called the guide. He answered and told me that he wanted me to see this corpse. He told me to notice the muscle tone from preparing for this journey. He told me to notice how he shaved his head to cut down on resistance. He told me to notice how I had not prepared at all, just took off in faith or resolve and I was still alive and well, and he was dead. Then he told me to go on with my swimming.

After I had swum for a while more I began to hear a voice off to my left. As I got closer I could tell the voice was quite frantic and was calling for help. Being a person that feared God, I immediately began swimming toward the voice. As I neared, I could see it was a man who was obviously having a hard time staying afloat. When I reached him, he immediately began trying to relieve himself by climbing on top of me. Soon we were both about to drown so I called the guide.

When I returned to the surface the man was gone. The guide asked me what I thought I was doing. I explained that the man needed help and I thought I should help him. The guide asked me what I possibly thought I would do with him even if I did save him. We were in the middle of the ocean. There was nothing in sight as far as the eye could see in any direction. He reminded me that he had told me to swim straight towards the light and not veer to the left or the right and if I needed anything I should call on him. He could save the man if that was his will but there was no way that I could. Then he told me to continue swimming.

As I was swimming, I began to imagine paradise. Clean pearly white shores, golden streets, pineapple plants, beautiful flowers, angels, and God. When I considered that I was swimming to paradise with the guide and everything, I became very happy and satisfied. I swam with renewed vigor.

I swam and imagined and prayed for what seemed like hours. I began to get very tired. I started to call the guide when my hand touched the bottom of the ocean. I stood and found that I was only in about three feet of water. I looked and there before me was a beautiful small island.

It had clean white beaches that did not have so much as a footprint in them. It had some pineapple plants and some beautiful palm trees swaying in the breeze. I praised God and laid down under the palm trees and watched the colors change in the beautiful sunset and fell asleep.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of a voice calling for help. I looked and there, about one hundred yards from shore, was a man struggling to make it in. My first instinct was to swim out to help him then I remembered the last incident. I called the guide. He answered. I told him about the man in the water who was crying for help. The guide then told me to go out and help him. I swam out and the man had no strength left to make it in. I told him to relax and I would tow him in. When we got to the shore the man just collapsed on the ground. He raised his head and thanked me because he sure needed my help and I thanked the guide because I sure needed to help someone.

We ate fruit and talked with the guide. We praised God for all of the wonderful blessings we had received. Then the guide told the man to sleep. He told me to continue my swim.

I was instantly disappointed. The guide asked me what was wrong. I told him that I thought or at least hoped that this was paradise. The guide asked me how I could reason that this was paradise. It was a small island. It only had about three pineapple plants and about twenty trees. He told me it was just a place he had given me to rest. He told me that we were just getting started on my journey to paradise.

I began swimming again. As I swam, I thought about all that had happened. Even though I was just a naked swimmer trying to reach paradise, I had just been given my own island to rest on from God. I praised and thanked God. Then I called the guide. I told him that I was sorry for my impatience. I thanked him for his guidance. I told him that even if it took one hundred years to swim to paradise, I was ready to do it and that I would do whatever he said for as long as it took.

The guide told me to stop swimming. I stopped swimming and just dog paddled. He told me to stop altogether. I stopped dog paddling and began to sink. After sinking about four or five feet, I panicked. I frantically swam back to the surface.

The guide asked me why I had panicked. He asked me why I didn’t trust him. I told him that I did trust him. He said if I trust him then stop swimming. I stopped and began to sink again. I sank four feet, then ten feet, then fifteen feet. The pressure started pushing in on my ears. Just as I was about to panic again, I was back at the surface. But this time I was not swimming. I was just sitting there about five or six inches above the water. I was amazed and excited.

The guide told me that if we were ever going to reach paradise we were going to have to make better time than my swimming. All of a sudden I was moving across the water at great speed. The wind was whistling past my ears. I was going so fast that I figured after five minutes I had gone further than my entire swim. I became very excited. I kept watching in front for land or birds or any sign that we were getting close to paradise.

As sudden as I started, I stopped. As I sat there I looked around me. I did not see anything but ocean. I asked the guide why we had stopped. The guide answered and said it was because we had reached our goal. I didn’t see anything so I was puzzled. Then I saw a figure coming towards me. I could not make out his features because he was as bright as the sun.

He came up to me and asked me if I knew who he was. I knew by the voice that it was the guide. I told him that I thought he was the guide. He put his hand on me. I became instantly covered with a white robe that felt as if it was made of peace and love. I was so overwhelmed that I began to cry. I didn’t know how to act so I fell down at his feet and began thanking him.

He raised me up. He said that indeed he was the guide but he was much more than that. He said he was God’s own Son. I asked Him if He was going to take me to paradise. He said that I was already there. I looked around but there was nothing but ocean.

I said that the manual had told of clean white beaches, plenty of food, flowers, angels and God. He said, “Like this?” Instantly I was standing on the most beautiful beach I had ever seen. I was amazed. He asked me if I wanted another. Instantly there was another huge beach right beside the first one. I looked at Him with puzzled amazement. He asked me if I would like ten of them and instantly there were beaches running in every direction. Each beach was just as beautiful as the first.

I began thanking Him and praising Him. As I was praising His name, He began praising God. He thanked God for me. I was amazed. The one who had just made all of those beautiful beaches with a thought was thanking God for me. I was nothing. I was a terrible man while on the island. I was not a very good swimmer and if not for Him I would be dead.

He told me that He had wanted me before I was even born. He said that my life on the beach was given to me to show me how bad things could be without God. He told me that the swim was to show me that anything was possible as long as I was with Him. He asked me if I would stay with Him no matter what. I told Him that I would stay and do whatever He said forever no matter what.

All of a sudden all of the beaches were gone. We were standing on the water in the middle of the ocean. I was once again naked.

He told me that as long as I was with Him, I was never far from paradise or God. He said He was that place I was trying to reach. He said that He had inherited the entire kingdom of God. He said that as long as I was with Him, I was always in paradise.

He said that He would never leave me or forsake me. He told me that forever and ever no matter what happened, I could call Him and He would be there.

He asked me if I knew where I was going next. I pondered for a second and said, “back to the island, right?” He said that was correct. He told me not to worry about that because He would always be with me. If anything at all bothered me, I could call Him and He would be there. He said that I would not have to be a part of the island. It would not be my home. I would just wander and learn. If anyone asked me how to get to paradise, I knew what to tell them.

He said that before He put me back there, He wanted me to remember these six words;


“Here I am, there you are.”

1 comment:

ladynada said...

Glad to see a Witness of the truth back from hiatus
nada