Elijah and I had a great time playing Wave Jumper at the beach last week.
Here’s a brief description of this sensational new game:
I stand behind Elijah, hold on to both of his wrists high above his head, and take him out to the place where the water hits his chest.  When the wave comes, I jerk him up high enough that the water doesn’t cover his face or get in his ears.  He then laughs uncontrollably, and proudly screams at the top of his lungs:
“I’m the Wave Jumper!  Let’s jump another wave Daddy!”
And we jump another one, and another one, and another one…

I didn’t have the heart or feel the need to explain to my almost 3 year old son that technically, he’s not the wave jumper.  Daddy is the wave jumper.  He should probably scream something more like:
“I’m the Hand Holder”.  I’m the one doing the heavy lifting here!
In actuality, here’s his only job in this partnership: to keep his hands in my hands, and trust that when the wave comes, I’ll lift him up high above it.

That’ll preach, won’t it?

When Israel was approaching the deep waters of the Red Sea, Moses reminded them:
“The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
God will do the heavy lifting as the high tide closes in.  He only requires that we have the faith to go out as deep as He dares to lead us.

If life has got you in some deep water right now, one of the worst things you can do is thrash around and try to jump the waves yourself.  The only thing worse than that is to sit around on the shore and miss out on the action because you don’t want to get in over your head.

Grab on to God with all you’ve got.  Have faith that He can lift you high above your circumstances and fears.  He usually doesn’t do it until the wave is just about to wash over you.   And that’s the best part…