The Swimmer(Bill Keys) The Swimmer



You are floating in a vast sea. The dark green water is rolling, and with each swell you rise and fall many feet. At the crest of each swell you can see immeasurable distances across the endless expanse of water. Looking in any direction you see countless heads bobbing in the dark emerald water.

Without life jackets, everyone is floating effortlessly, and to many this is just the way it ought to be. To this group, floating effortlessly is the way it has always been, so no though has ever been given to the reason why.

You, on the other hand, know why everyone is effortlessly floating. You are a child of God, and you know it's God's purpose and mercy that is keeping everyone afloat. Without His purpose and mercy, on each and every person, sinner or saint alike, they would immediately sink, into the dark jade waters.

There is much evil around you, and there are huge evil sharks swimming everywhere. They circle around you menacingly, but you have no fear. You're protected. You are a child of God, and He has put a circle of holy water around you. Try as they might, the huge sharks are unable to penetrate your circle of holy water, but even if a calamity should over take and kill you, you are at peace. You are bound for God's Heaven, there to spend eternity.

Sorrowfully, many around you have no such protection. Mammoth sharks swim directly at them, but in many cases they are able to wiggle just enough to avoid contact. Sadly the gigantic sharks are relentless in their efforts, and wiggling doesn't always work. Sometimes a massive shark takes a bite out of its hapless victim and a scream is heard.

Once in a while an immense shark will overcome it's prey all together, and a muffled shriek can be heard as the head disappears beneath the dark water. At that place, there is much churning of the water, which never seems to end.

To the unprotected, they are incessantly wiggling, cursing the sharks, and screaming, from shark bites. For these lost souls, there is no rest to be had.

Here and there, life in one of them comes to it's expected end, and as their body goes limp, they are attacked, in force, by several especially huge sharks. Unmercifully they are awakened, and their screams coming across the water, can be heard all around.

Sadly you know, and they soon realize, the shark attacks will never end. They will go on without pause, forever. They are lost, and no help will ever come to them. Forever, they are doomed, as they slip beneath the churning water.

A great sorrow overcomes you each and every time this happens. Your soul grieves for them, but you can do nothing for these lost souls.




Because you are a child of God, no such fate awaits you. You are God's elect. Because God has sealed you and has made you His child, you are at perfect peace. When your life is over, you will ascend out of this water into God's Heaven. A place of unimaginable wonders, where love, goodness, and holiness prevail, forever. A place where the human mind is unable to comprehend its wonder and glory.

You do have a conviction. God is pushing you. He wants something of you. You suddenly know what it is. You swim frantically to a lost soul close by. You lay a hand on him and offer the circle of holy water. Because God has long ago elected. This soul, he accepts Jesus' peace, and immediately realizes he is surrounded by the holy water. He, like you, who was chosen from eternity, was always God's child. You are merely God's vessel, to bring His chosen to salvation.

There are many lost souls around you and you swim to each, as quickly as you can. Most reject, but a precious few, who are the elect of God, accept the circle of holy water. No matter the outcome you keep swimming.

You swim into pollution, where a foul odor and yellow water keep even the most hardy away. Here almost every bobbing head belongs to a lost soul, and much weeping, and screaming is heard about. You touch and offer the circle of holy water to as many as you can, and as many as are God's elect, their hearts are quickened by God and through His Grace they receive a peace that is beyond all understanding.
They receive the circle of holy water.

Because of the precious few who do accept the circle of holy water, you and the other chosen swimmers are ever swimming faster, and faster. You, and your fellow swimmers, want to reach as many bobbing heads as possible. God has chosen you and many others of his elect to bring his chosen to Jesus Christ' salvation, and the circle of holy water.

As you swim your purpose is clear. God is looking down with a pleased expression on His face. You are doing His work. You're swimming.

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