Swimmers and Sinners

I got me to thinking

Of swimmers and sinners

And wondered what one had to do with the other,

And then I thought...

Maybe nothing at all

So perhaps of the matter I really should not bother.

But it did not matter

However hard I tried

I just could not stop thinking of this matter,

There was something deep

In my heart I knew it,

Something far more than amusement and chatter.

So I decided to explore

Diligently deeper and deeper

Until I began to unearth some treasures,

Thank God I can share

With you at this time

What I found out about swimmers and sinners.

“Swimmers drown when they cannot swim,”

That thought occurred to me,

I always thought it was the other way around

I must be rather silly.

But if I could swim why would I drown?

Certainly not if I was a good swimmer,

But good doctors die, don’t they?

And then I began to get a glimmer.

Swimmers drown when they cannot swim

Right then it really got home to me,

It was not about the knowledge or even the skill

It was the prevailing difficulty.

The disciples in the boat could all swim well

They were seasoned fishermen,

But that day in question they feared they would drown

They could not cope with the problem.

  

“Carest thou not that we perish?”

They had asked the Master then,

As well as they could swim it would have been no use,

They could not have swum out of that problem.

So, do you see what I mean

When I said what I said,

Swimmers drown when they cannot swim?

That is why many swimmers are dead.

They needed some one to rescue them

Perhaps, they had no energy left,

Or, maybe their fear got the better of them

As they came face to face with death.

Sinners are no different from swimmers

They too are in over their heads,

They try to swim through their sea of sin

But in such trespasses they are dead.

They are void of energy like the swimmer

And in need of someone’s deliverance,

Like fishermen at sea in their wave tossed boat

Theirs is a similar circumstance.

Like as those fishermen called out to Jesus

When the lake of Galilee tossed their boat,

Sinners on recognition of their peril

Can also call out to Jesus, their hope.

They cannot swim their way to safety

The sin problem is beyond their skill sect,

Jesus is their only way of deliverance

Any other path will bring eternal regret.

Swimmers and sinners are in the same boat

Do not be distracted by the pun,

Sin will take them to a hopeless grave

Unless they come to Jesus, the Son.

His hands are outstretched in invitation

As he did to Peter on the lake,

Sinner, give up on your own personal swimming

And trust the Saviour before it’s too late.

Stewart Russell © October 2019