Rescuing Colt
(This post was written by Michael Wallace, High School Pastor)
My 3 year old son, Colt has a new game. It’s called RESCUE. Here’s how it works: I am instructed to sit on the couch (or “boat”) and hold a ribbon or a rope while Colt rolls off the edge of the “boat” to the floor (or “water”). He immediately shouts for RESCUE and I then toss out one end of the rope. We both tug on the rope until Colt has climbed his way right back in the boat with me…only to fall right back in the water and repeat the process again and again.
In the midst of continually saving Colt from the raging rapids of our living room floor, two things stuck out in my mind:
- We are all dying to be rescued! From the moment of our creation humanity has had a desire for a hero. Psalm 44:25-26 proclaims “We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love.” We were created for a relationship with God, and when we strain for anything else, we find ourselves in need of rescue. We can be tempted to try to rescue ourselves, but truth be told, we all long for our loving God to pull on the rope and save us from the flood of our sin, stress, mistakes, past and pride.
- Our kids are longing for us to be their hero! Colt wasn’t interested in being rescued by just anyone, he wanted his daddy to save him. Every day we have numerous chances to be a hero for our kids and represent the rescuer that God is in our lives. But every time we choose anything over them (work, hobby, TV) we are showing them that they are not important. Imagine if Superman had a chance to save someone from imminent death, but missed out because he was checking email on his iPhone! We often don’t feel the pressure of imminent death, but each time we abdicate the hero role for our kids we give them a mixed message of who God is and the plan He has for our lives.
My prayer for you this week is that your decisions would reflect the recue that God has put out for you, and that you represent Him clearly to your family. Our kids are dying to be rescued by a hero who loves them. In lieu of the truth they will gravitate towards anyone that is willing.
