For the first 7 years of my life I could not swim. That wasn’t really a problem because I was never really at a place where swimming was needed. One time, however, when I was six years old, I was with my family visiting their friends in Connecticut. We went to a lake to go swimming. Of course, normally I would be in the shallows— but for some reason this time I jumped off of a short pier and found that it was deeper there than I was tall. Now that was not such a problem. I could touch the bottom and push off and easily get my head above the waterline and take a breath. I could do that over and over again, but for some reason I could not move toward the pier, or any other direction. All I could do was go up and down. A lifeguard saw me and scrambled to get me. My six year old self balked at the attention. I was not drowning (I thought), I just had not figured out how to get to the pier.

Swimming seems so easy and natural. Most people are naturally buoyant. It seems like one would almost have to make an effort to fail to swim. But no… it is a skill that comes naturally to few, if any, of us.

Christian Ministry is like swimming in that it is easy to get in over one’s head and be in danger— despite the fact that little in ministry really looks to be all that difficult.

My parents decided I needed to get swimming lessons. I went to the Boys Club (now the Boys and Girls Club I believe) in Jamestown, NY. Our teacher was a guy named Tony. Almost in no time did I learn to swim. It was so easy once I knew how to do it. I kept going there— it was fun. I enjoyed the water. But my 7-year old mind started to realize something. I was not improving. I am not sure if I was sharp at that age for figuring it out, or slow for taking some long to realize what was going on. But Tony was investing in the non-swimmers. Those of us who could swim… well, we could go off and have fun. He would invest very little time on us to learn new things. That was actually fine— the class was essentially to get non-swimmers to be swimmers.

Christian Ministry is like swimming in that if we stop accepting new challenges (or stop challenging ourselves), we can easily fall into ruts that hold us back from learning and growing.

My parents started taking me to the YMCA to swim where we learned new swim strokes and how to improve our form and speed. Later, in Middle School, I joined swim club at school. That was great. We also had regular swim class at times at our school. I became quite good, although I never could figure out how to coordinate myself to swim the butterfly stroke. Good doesn’t necessarily mean fast. I was competent, but the swim team is not for the competent, but for the fast. Therefore, I did not consider joining. I also realized that there were three things that gave me issue with swimming. #1. My eyes reacted to the chlorine put in the pools. If I spent too much time in them, I would suffer. #2. Some classmates decided that the swimming pool locker room was an awesome place for bullying, and I got the brunt of that on some occasions. #3. Moving into competitive swimming would force me to move from my comfortable, and somewhat “blouse-y”swim trunks to some rather awkward clothes sometimes joking called “budgy smugglers” I really did not want to do that.

Christian Ministry is like swimming, sadly, in that as much as one may love it, one will discover some aspects that will try to take away some of that joy.

Christian Ministry is like swimming, sadly, in that being recognized as “good” at it is tied to quantifiable characteristics rather than overall competence.

I worked at a Summer Camp for a few summers. I knew how to swim well, but that wasn’t enough. I needed to know how to help others. I took Basic Water Safety and First Aid so that I could help other people.

Christian Ministry is like swimming in that it should not ultimately simply be about learning new things and improving oneself. One should learn how to help others. (Frankly, that is what the term “ministry” suggests.)

I joined the Navy. Although I was not a great athlete and did struggle on some of the PT work I had to do, the swimming aspect was not an issue. However, I did pick up some new skills in the Navy. I remember learning how to jump off a high platform into the water in such a manner as to minimize the likelihood of injuring myself. I learned how to survive in the water if there was a burning oilspill on the surface (a very specific scenario). It was also in the Navy where I decided to learn to snorkel and scuba dive.

Christian Ministry is like swimming in that there is an endless number of need for new skills and opportunity to put those skills into action.

Of course, there is no inherent connection between Christian Ministry and Swimming. Almost all practical skills could be compared to Christian Ministry. It is just that for me, swimming makes me see some connections more clearly.

As an adult, I was at the beach in Virginia. The waves were rough but I found them fun. Being pushed around by the crashing waves made me think of being in a washing machine (for some reason). After doing this for awhile, I joined my family on the beach to relax. I closed my eyes. Then I heard someone walk up and say “Excuse me. Umm… excuse me.” I was relaxing on the beach. I did not want to be disturbed so I pretended to be asleep. The guy walked away, but then I heard more noise a bit farther off. Opening my eyes a bit, I saw a group of people forming a human chain to reach a guy. He was standing in an area of the water that was shallow enough to stand up but before the waves broke in chaos. He was stranded and did not know what to do. The others, however, were able to reach him and draw him to safety, as I watched.

Christian Ministry is like swimming in that one can easily give in to the temptation to shut one’s eyes to need and not help.