COTW - LAKE FEAR.

(This is the first of a series of posts taken from journal reflection from the past 10 weeks. Sorry I didn't post them sooner - but now I have some time to breathe and reflect, and I would love to share some of my experience with you.)

Camp-of-the-Woods is situated on Lake Pleasant, a beautiful lake about 5 miles long and a 1/2 mile wide at it's widest point. In the center of the beachfront area that the camp covers, there is a roped-off swim area that stretches out about 200 feet into the lake. That might seem like quite a distance, but one of the most interesting features of the lake is that it's dropoff is incredibly gentle - I can walk about 150 of those feet out into the water. But the last 50 must be traversed by doggie-paddling, and this is where the difficulty arises - I'm afraid of swimming in lakes.

When I was in the Boy Scouts, we would spend one week out of the summer at a place called Camp Wente, which also had a gorgeous lake. And every summer, when it came time to take the swim test, I would fail miserably because I would imagine Jaws gnawing my legs off as soon as my head dipped under the water. After a few minutes or so of frightened flopping, they would fish me out and I would be restricted to the kiddie wading section. I can swim just fine - put me in a pool and I can swim and tread water just like anyone else. But there's something about the unknown contents of the dark water and the fear of scary fish that would paralyze me every time.

But this summer, as I got into the water and that familiar fear came back to flood my mind, some words that I had heard once came to mind: "The fish in that lake are more scared of you than you are of them." As I floated on my back, looking up at the sky, I realized that this was true. I'm not so scared of lakes any more.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I know that with Christ within me and beside me, I have nothing to fear. Though the unknown is a scary place, and as we swim in it panic and insecurity gnaw at our minds like the nibbles of little fish, I find comfort and peace in knowing that the powers and principalities of this broken world tremble at the name of Jesus Christ, and that now, by his Spirit living within me, I have nothing to fear. I'm not so scared anymore. See you soon.

"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." (James 2:19)

"Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water." (John 21:7)