by Jeff Anderson

As we have been studying about prayer, and as I was meditating on Pastor Mark’s sermon on prayer, and specifically God’s identity as our Father, Jesus his perfect Son and the firstborn of many brothers, and our relationship to him, I was blessed with a beautiful illustration. I had the opportunity to go out on my in-law’s boat on Lake Stevens a few weeks ago after work and we got pulled behind it a bit. I asked my daughter Solie a few times if she would like to come out in the water with me on the skis and give it a try. She generally won’t go for that, she is a bit of a weenie about the simple things even, but she kept saying “yes.” When we tried to put her in the water she would panic, so we reassured her that she didn’t have to. We told her it was up to her, it would be fun, that I would take good care of her, that she would be safe, and that she would have a blast. She was also able to watch me and some others out there wakeboarding and skiing without getting hurt and having a lot of fun.

Well, she decided she would do it and got in the water. Once it became real and she was out there with me, she started to get a little panicky. I reassured her, held her tight, told her to hold on to the handle of the rope with both hands, and that I would hold the other side. The boat took off, we got pulled up out of the water, I held the rope with one hand, held her safely with the other, and she held on the other side tightly. She was thrilled and absolutely loved it! I kept it simple, went back and forth a couple of times in the middle, and helped her get a better grasp and feel a little of the tug of the rope so she felt like she was doing it herself-even though in reality she was a couple feet off the water without skis. Then I told her we were going to let go. I had her let go first and we slowed and sank into the water and stopped.

Her reaction, “That was fun! Let’s do it again!”

“Right now?” I asked.

“No, maybe later.” And she gave me a high five.

A little later in the evening, she was talking big about her experience. She kept getting questions and comments such as, “Did you water ski?”; “You did it all by yourself!”; “Good job!”; “Were you waterskiing?”

A couple times she said “Yeah, I was waterskiing, yeah I did it!” then it switched to, “I was waterskiing with my dad, he was waterskiing, and he held on to me and I held on to the rope…”

It suddenly dawned on me that this was a great image of how Jesus works with us. It is easy for us to take credit for our capabilities, successes, achievements, and even our salvation to some degree. He first builds up trust in us through a pattern of grace and truth, and then asks us to step out into unknown water. If we surrender to his will and are in concert with his desires, then everything works. He does all the real work, and gives us a chance to participate. We get to hold the rope, but he has all the weight on it. We have our feet out, but he is the one standing on solid ground holding us up. We participate in his work but can take no credit for the outcome that he works through us. It also gives us tremendous joy and we want to do it again! If we brag about how we were waterskiing on our own, we are found to be liars, but if we say that our Father was waterskiing, and he brought us along for the ride and gave us a hand in it… for our joy and his pleasure….then perfect.

And believe me, as a father, I enjoyed it far more than she did!

Philippians 4:13
I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Jeremiah 9:12
Let those who boast, boast in the Lord.

John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.