Making a splash …

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I was completely soaked from head to toe. I couldn’t have been any more wet than if I was standing in my bathroom shower.

But I wasn’t.

I was standing on the sidewalk next to a public street a few hours after a heavy rain. A car had driven by, recklessly plowing through a mass of water flooding up against the curb. As the car careened through the giant puddle, the water became an airborne tsunami that drenched me seconds later.

As the water slapped down upon me, the coldness of it took my breath away. The wetness of it plastered my clothes to my body. The sheer selfishness of it by the driver momentarily took my contentment away. I was stunned that someone would care so little (and be so oblivious) of others around them. I wasn’t thinking very kind thoughts about the driver of that car!

*****

I was completely soaked from head to toe. I couldn’t have been any more wet than if I was standing in my bathroom shower.But I wasn’t.

I was laughing, and playing, and having a blast jumping and splashing in the rain and puddles with a childhood friend.

Well, I say “friend,” but I don’t remember his name. It was when we were very young. We weren’t the kind of friends who played together regularly. But we were playing together that day.

While out in the rain, one us playfully splashed the other with a jump in a puddle. The attack was answered, and a water fight immediately ensued. We couldn’t stop laughing all the while we splashed each other.

Although we were very young, and not best friends, for that moment we were enjoying life together. It was okay that it was wet and cold, because it was a warm moment with a friend.

We were in the puddle together.

*****

Two different true events in my life. Both involved a water puddle. One was a terrible experience, the other a joy.

As we go through life, we splash the lives of others with ours. It can be a terrible experience for them, or a joy.

We can be like the driver of the car, who thought only of himself, and getting to where he wanted to go for his benefit, without any consideration of those around him.

Or we can be like the momentary friend. Even if you don’t spend a lifetime together as buddies, you can make the rain and puddles of life a little more enjoyable for others, at least for a moment. That is, if you’re willing to get in the puddle with them.

Jesus got into the puddle with us: “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children,” Galatians 4:4-5.

How are you making a splash?

Scotty

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About James Scott, Jr.

Dr. James Scott, Jr. is a minister, Christian clinical therapist, author, former church planter, and now serves as Founder & President of the Scott Free Clinic.