My First Rescue

The first week of lifeguarding was uneventful...the second week I had to perform my first rescue.

No one was drowning...everyone in the lake must wear a life jacket and have passed the swim test...but a 6 year old boy went off the blob...

THIS apparatus...you sit on one end and someone heavier than you jumps off the tower landing on the opposite end and launches the former high into the air and then into the water.

When the little guy came into the water he was in the middle of somersaulting backwards and landed hard on the back of his neck. When he surfaced he was crying and screaming..."My back hurts! My back hurts!" and he wasn't moving...just floating.

All the training immediately kicked in. As I went in all the neck/back injury training ran through my mind...don't move him...get his head, neck and spine braced until he is on a backboard....etc.

When I got out to where he was floating...he was able to move his arms and legs...the shock of landing so fiercely was wearing off...As I checked him out...slowly turned him and swam him to shore I talked to him.

When I got the little guy back to shore he went off to play on the water slide...all recovered...I then looked down and realized I HAD MY PHONE clipped to my shorts when I anxiously leaped into the water!

And now...NO PHONE! It was somewhere in the lake. I announced to the swimmers..."MY PHONE IS SOMEWHERE IN THERE!"

Now...as you get out to the blob, the water is 20 feet deep! My youngun' lifeguard buddy, Andrew, who can hold his breath for a LONG TIME and put up with me choking him while trying to rescue him in our training...courageously put on goggles and was ready to search the mucky, grassy lake for my phone.

Just as he was about to jump in my little friend Julia (pictured)excitedly exclaimed, " I think I am stepping on your phone!" Her dad went under and retrieved it.

My phone had been submersed for about 5 minutes. Everyone at the lakefront felt so bad. They had such encouraging words for me..."Your phone is DEAD! It will NEVER WORK again! We are SOOOO sorry you killed your phone...but you did it rescuing the perishing!" "Kudos for you...too bad for your PHONE!"

Well, the spirit of non-acceptance...or rebellion...or FAITH began to rise up within me. I prayed..."LORD...you know I don't really have the extra cash for a new phone right now. Please make my phone work!" It didn't.

I took it all apart and laid it in the sun for the next few hours while I finished my shift.

When I got back to the cottage, accompanied by my daughter Brianna, and friend Karen, & Rachelle, I put in my battery...and my phone started vibrating...like it was a dog shaking off the water after a bath. My hope was rising...but nothing else happened.

Karen and Rachelle lifted my spirits, "Your phone is FRIED, girlfriend! HISTORY!"

Not to be discouraged...I took out the blow dryer and dried it for about 5 minutes while my realist friends were on the phone with Verizon Wireless to find the nearest store, how much for a new phone, etc.

Again, I put in the battery. This time the "Verizon Wireless" words came on the screen. I was getting excited. However...nothing else happened. My "let my take care of you" friends proceeded to tell me about how their phones went in the water...just a quick dip and were dead forever after...and mine was SUBMERSED for 5 whole minutes...YOU NEED A NEW PHONE!

Well...not to be deterred...I blow dried my phone for a few more minutes....(by this time it had been about 5 hours since the "incident".) and once again, put in the battery and once again VERIZON WIRELESS lit the screen...that was it.

Karen reported to boost morale..."my daughter's phone did the same thing for FOUR days and nothing else....we HAD TO GET A NEW PHONE. JUST DEAL WITH IT SISTER!"

Well...with some desperation, some jest, and a hopeful faith, I opened my phone, laid my hand over it and prayed, "In Jesus name, Come to life!" and IMMEDIATELY my phone came on. The picture on my screen came up...all my contacts, pictures, text messages, EVERYTHING was in perfect order!

We laughed and laughed. Karen and Rachelle said, "That didn't happen to our phones!" I replied with some pomp..."you didn't have enough FAITH for your phones!"

We all rejoiced together like school girls. They were just as happy as I was that my phone was resurrected. The crazy thing was that it came to life as SOON as I finished praying those words.

My phone was the talk of the camp. The MIRACLE phone. I didn't meet anyone who had a fully functional phone after water submersion.

NOW...we could over spiritualize this and talk about faith strong enough to heal technology...we could downplay what happened and write it off as coincidence...but I choose to believe that GOD saw my need...saw the circumstances...and thought..."I am going to have fun with this one...and maybe I'll throw a little life lesson in it just because I am GOD!"

The morning Bible Teacher, Rob Burkhart, told the story of my phone the next day and reminded all of us that GOD cares about the little things in our lives. Things that may seem trivial to some, speak of God's provision, care, and love to others. The WORD says he knows when a sparrow falls to the ground...how many hairs are on our head...and when our Cell Phone needs new life! In the midst of a lot of things going on in my life at that time...that incident brought faith to me....brought the confidence that the LORD MY GOD is looking after me and taking care of my needs.

Thanks, Lord...for Julia, my phone rescuer....for Karen and Rachelle, my true friends, who were willing to drop everything, loan me cash, and take care of getting me a new phone...for Brianna who spend 30 minutes drying my phone with the blow dryer after it started working BEFORE we plugged it in to charge to make sure it was dry all the way through...for everyone at Family Camp who rejoiced with me at GOD'S faithfulness to SHOW ALL OF US that in the midst of all the things going on in the world...He SEES us...HE cares for us...HE will meet our needs...and sometimes with a little humor...teaches us to have faith for the little things.