Why Didn't You Rescue Me God?
Back in '93 there was a nice old man living along the river. He was a good Christian soul, with a long family history of good Christian prayer and works and thoughts. He feared God. He loved Jesus. He raised his family and his friends to do the same.
One spring day he sat in his old rocking chair, listening with interest as the weatherman came on TV. "Flood!" he said. "The river's coming up and we don't know when its gonna stop. The Governor is calling for an immediate evacuation of everyone in the 100-year flood plain. It’s a whopper folks. Get out. Now."
As the weatherman went on talking about the melting snows to the north and the storms coming from the west and the rain that came over the last two weeks, this old man looked around him. He looked at the mementos that filled the room. Pictures of his grown kids, two now with ministries of their own, and one serving in the Marines. He looked at the couch, covered with the afghan his late wife had made. He looked at the last 60 years of his life and the comfortable, prosperous home he had. Then her reached for his family bible, the one that had been in his family for going on 200 years, and he clutched it tight.
"Rufus" he called to his dog. "I am a good Christian. I have dedicated my life to God over 65 years ago, and I haven't turned back once. I place my faith in him. God won't turn his back on us. I'm staying."
And the water rose.
It rose over his family fields and into his family’s barn.
The chicken and the cows that didn't drown headed for the higher ground.
It rose over the car and over the tractors and over porch and through the house.
It washed away the corn and the wheat. It washed away the pictures and the mementos of a good life. It washed away the rocking chair and the TV and the weatherman's warning.
Up on the second floor, watching his world sink, the old man clung to Rufus and to his bible and prayed.
A boat pulled up. Two sheriff’s deputies called out to him. "Come. Hurry. We can't keep this boat here long. You have to leave."
The old man looked at his house. He was on the second floor, the floor where he shared his bed with his wife for 40 years, until Jesus called her away. It was the floor where his children were born, and where they grew up and where they found Jesus. There was the sewing room, once belonging to the oldest boys, but his wife redecorated after they went away. He hadn't been in there since she passed on. It was all he knew.
He looked at the bible in his hand.
"Go away!" he yelled to the deputies. "I am a good Christian. My faith is strong. God will not forsake me. He will not let me come to harm."
A wave came and washed the boat away, but not before Rufus jumped into it. Rufus looked back at his old master with sad and confused eyes.
And the water rose.
Higher it came, and higher still.
The water washed away the old oak tree that his grand kids play on when they come to visit, and that his kids played on when they were young, and that he had played on when he was young.
It washed away the marital bed and the sewing room, the children's rooms and the steps.
Desperately the old man climbed up onto the roof. There, beneath the rain filled clouds the old man held his bible and prayed.
A bright light pierced the dark night and the sound of devilish laughter seemed to fill the air. Slowly it dawned on the old man that he was really seeing a helicopter cut through the storm. From the speakers on the copter a voice rang out, "We are here to save you. Grab the rope and we'll pull you up."
The old man looked at the roof of his house, and felt it shudder each time the current brought a tree or car or trash to crash into it. He thought of all he had lost, and all the river had washed away. It did not make him sad. It made him stubborn. He raised the family bible high. "I am a good Christian. Jesus loves me. He will not forsake me. He will not let drown. He will rescue me!"
Three more times the crew of the helicopter tried to convince the old man to grab the rope. Three more times the old man refused.
And the river rose.
With a loud groan the house rose from its foundations and was washed away.
With it went the family bible.
With it went the body of the dear old man.
Later, in heaven, the dear old man meets God.
"Why," he asks, "Why did you forsake me?"
"Forsake you?" asks God. "I did not forsake you. I sent you the weatherman, the deputy boat and the helicopter. You were just to stubborn to listen."
I wonder, how many of us are comfortable in our rocking chairs, looking at our things and our loved ones and comfort and ignoring those messages God sends that seem a bit inconvenient.
Especially if those messages come in the form of scientific reports on global warming.
If we so easily ignore the weatherman, will we ignore the rescue boats? Will we refuse the helicopter?
Why Didn't You Rescue Me?
Jim was a very devout Christian who lived near a river.
One day, the river flooded the town where Jim lived, forcing Jim to climb onto the roof of his house. In a short while, a man in a boat came along and told Jim to climb aboard and be taken to safety.
"No thanks," Jim said. "God will take care of me." The fellow in the boat shrugged & motored off.
In a while the water had risen to where it was just a few inches below where Jim was perched. Along came another boat. "Quick, jump in!" shouted the boatman.
"No, no," replied Jim. "God is going to save me. I must trust in Him." Reluctantly the fellow in the boat departs.
Soon the water was lapping at Jim's feet so he climbed up onto the house's chimney. Then a helicopter came and lowered a ladder. The pilot yelled & frantically signaled for Jim to climb up the ladder & get in.
"Leave me alone!" Jim yelled back, motioning at the pilot to go away. "God is going to save me any minute now."
Suddenly the house shuddered on its foundations, no longer able to resist the river's might surge. In front of the pilot's horrified eyes, the house broke up into so much tinder wood, and Jim disappeared under the raging waters.
Up in heaven, Jim stood before God. "I trusted you to take care of me," Jim said. "How come you let me drown?"
God replied "Well, I sent you two boats and a helicopter. What else did you want?"