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I have copied a story written by my brother, Marvin below. The event took place at our family reunion held last month.


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Sunday, the 4th of July, 2010, of our family reunion, was a memorable day for me. Brian had asked me to have a meditation with the family. I was delighted, surprised and petrified all over the same thing. If I am too churchy it will be met with a stiff arm. If I don’t have the meditation theologically correct, it may turn into an argument over a misspoken word or two. Yet, I felt honored that I was chosen to give the mediation for two reasons. One, I felt acceptance in spite of my past self-righteous attitude. And, two, maybe some of the inner changes that have been going on in me are being felt by others.

Well, enough framing of my story. I will just tell the real essence of my memory of Sunday, July 4th 2010, our Independence Day. All I really wanted was for our family to experience God’s presence at our reunion. Not ideas about the formalities of God’s routines, not how wonderful we project Him to be, and not how many misrepresentations there are of Him. If we could experience Him as a family, maybe “a rest”, would come to us that is unattainable by other means. Maybe you recall our prayer after my mediation. It went something like this; Father, we know you are here all around us. We know we have a hard time seeing you as you long to be seen. Would you please open our eyes so we can experience you in your world today?

Now, I haven’t heard yet how the day went for each of you. Maybe nothing out of the ordinary fascinated you and that is fine. I know much of my life I have limited God’s presences to the exceptional experiences and have missed Him in the ordinary things. Any way, I had an ordinary urge shortly after that prayer to take the boys fishing. So I asked Brian if this was a possibility and he set the time from 7 P.M. to 9 P.M... At 6:55 the boys pulled me from a discussion with Sheldon and Nate and we set off with high hopes of experiencing under water habitat tugging on our fishing poles.

I asked Trey to navigate the boat and as a result Caleb wanted to get off the boat because he was concerned about Trey’s ability to maneuver us safely. After a few well chosen thoughts Caleb decided to stay on board. Trey, Tyler, Trent, Caleb, Asher, Cade, and Jack were all anticipating at least one nice catch as we motored through the channel out into the larger lake. As we began to pick up speed we noticed another pontoon boat that seemed to be following a swimmer. It seemed a little different but we were not going to waste our time figuring out what they were up to, so we passed by, but didn’t stop watching. As we looked, a second head appeared and then disappeared. Even now as I write this, a deep surge of emotion rises and I feel it all over again, “we can’t close our eyes to this and pass by!”

With obvious skill Trey, turned the boat around and headed straight for the drowning man. By now it was easy to see that the young lady on the other pontoon had very little control of her boat and was helplessly drifting away from the drowning man. She was frantically throwing a life vest toward the two men in the water but the wind made it impossible for her to hit her target.

As Trey zeroed in on the two men in the water, I dove in and crabbed the limp, grey/blue, glassy eyed body of a man, while his exhausted companion climbed onto our boat. We were all focused on the limp form of a man who was much closer to death than any of us were interested in seeing. I rested with him for a second at the edge of the boat wondering, “What are we going to do?” Then I asked, or rather yelled, I’m sure, for help to get him up on deck. As his companion started to pull him up, he breathed, and we all stopped and listened. It was an awesome kind of relief; the raspy/choky/struggling inhale. He was going to make it! We just let him breathe a few breaths then brought him on board.

I began to silently pray, “What do we do now”? This guy may still be in trouble and I have no experience other than some forgotten training from when I was in Junior High. He groaned, but did not move. Fear was much easier to find than the knowledge of how to help. We decided to get him to help. Again Trey came to the rescue and maneuvered the boat perfectly so both boats were together. We placed him as comfortably as possible with his air passages open and in a good position to vomit. He was now on his own boat with his companions speeding for wherever they thought it was best to take him.

When I stepped back into our boat, Asher was pumping his arm up and down shouting, Marvin! Marvin! Yes! Yes! You did it! I was in a daze. Then we noticed the folks on shore wondering how things had turned out. We gave a “thumbs up” sign to let them know the man had not drowned. They all clapped and I raised my hand toward heaven and silently said, “Thank you, Jesus”. At that moment he replied. “Marvin, you are right where I want you.” It was so clear I had heard his voice and, frankly, nothing else mattered. All the impossibilities in my life didn’t matter; I had heard my Father’s voice. This encounter was clearly messing with me. God was here even when I was not looking for Him. I was now blinded with tears, and choked with emotions that I could define. How close was God right now? Did I brush shoulders with Him? What a sacred life. Had he called us to be here at this moment so we could save a man? Was he saying, I couldn’t have done it with out you guys, or was he letting us see Him the way He longs for us to see Him? Was He letting us be a part of His normal day? Yes, I believe He was.

When this was all happening, I was all duty bound with adrenalin inspired energy flying all over the place. I had no thought of God then. I was like Trey who said, “I didn’t want to be in this. But we were called to be there, not because we were so powerful but because God wanted us to see Him.”

As we motored on to our fishing destination our moods were a mix of happiness and soberness. We went from feeling like powerful rescuers to feeling angry that alcohol abuse was a significant factor in this near death encounter. We talked about other rescues, about Uncle Darwin on the rescue squad, about the hundred and some pounder we all caught, and that this is the kind of story we will tell our grandchildren.

Trey, Tyler, Trent, Caleb, Asher, Cade, and Jack, though we did get to the fishing spot we had set out for, none of us got to feel the tug on our fishing lines that makes others jealous. But we did unknowingly join God that day. It was great fun, guys. I know I probably acted a little weird being choked up and all that, but there is no other group of guys I would have rather done that with than you guys.

I hope to see you all soon and am still praying, “Father, we know you are here all around us. We know we have a hard time seeing you as you long to be seen. Would you please open our eyes so we can experience you in your world today?”

Love,
Marvin