Last Sunday after church, we decided to go to the beach. It was a hot day and we were looking to relax by a local lake. As we were getting our boy's bathing suits on, we heard a rush of ambulance and police sirens. We didn't think much of the commotion as we made our way down to the water, but when we got there, we realized that something was wrong. There was a mass of hysteria in the air. We noticed hundreds of people lining the shore. Almost all of them were looking in the same direction. As I followed the direction of their sight, my eyes arrived at the focal point of activity. A 19 year old boy had been underwater for 10 minutes and the paramedics were trying to resuscitate him.
Time stood still. Eternity seemed to pour into the moment. For 15 minutes, CPR was performed. Every second seemed like a minute, every minuted an hour. Horror and fear gripped the family who watched as their loved one was unconscious. In panic and desperation, they embraced each other, hoping that their brother/boyfriend/nephew/friend would take a breath.
There seemed to be two causes for commotion. The primary attention was on the boy. As I glanced over the mass of people lining the beach, I noticed clusters of people huddled together in prayer. For the most part, people's attention focused on the horrific drowning scene. But something else was happening. A party was taking place. There was about 40 people packed under and around a pavilion. This pavilion was 15-20 feet behind where the grief stricken family was sitting. Why was this party causing commotion? Because unlike the hundreds of people who stopped what they were doing to watch and pray for this unconscious boy, the party continued as usual. These 40 people were yelling, swearing, laughing - as if someone WASN'T dying. The first cause of commotion was the boy who was dying on the beach. The second cause of commotion came from disbelief as this 40 person party continued to go about their festivities oblivious to the drowning boy. I kept seeing the dying boy's brother turn around and look at the party with disbelief. Not only was he being embraced by the horrific truth of mortality, he was being enveloped by a cloud of disrespect and irreverence. Not only was he worried about his brother's drowning, he was probably wondering if anyone cared.
The party went on as if no one were drowning.
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And the thing is, I just got done teaching about Isaiah 6 by using a motif about breath. I went from talking about breath in church, to witnessing someone die from a lack of breath. This scenic contrast happened in less than an hour and a half.
From the beauty of breath…
to death by drowning.
And it messed me up.
Not only did the scenic contrast mess me up, so did the party under the pavilion. Why didn't they care? Why didn't they quiet down? Pay attention? Show some reverence and respect? Why?
The reason it bothered me so much is because I'm one of those people. I've had an Isaiah 6 kind-of-moment. I've taken a breath. And while I can be so concerned with "church stuff," or my life, or my opinions, or my problems; there are people around me that aren't breathing. I can be so concerned with my "party under the pavilion" that I fail to recognize those who are drowning.
If we look at Isaiah, we notice he didn't just take a breath for himself. No, he used his breath to teach others how to breathe. If we look at Jesus, we see that he avoided the "party under the pavilion" and directed his attention to those who were drowning.
I want my breath to give breath to others,
to inspire others to faith.
I want the beauty of God to be seen in the way I live my life.
I don't want to be ignorantly consumed with the "party under the pavilion" (whatever that may be),
or to focus on "me" and "my world."
I don't want to be self-absorbed or narcissistic.
Like Isaiah, may you become a messenger for God. May you not only take a breath, may you continue to breathe. May your breathing be inspiring. May you be aware of the drowning.
"You are the light of the world."
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