RED FLAGS!

Have you ever been in the position to have to make a choice? A choice that no matter what you choose it would have a direct effect on your on life as well as those around you? Our last year in the Johnson household has been about choice, change, obedience, doing what we know in our heart is right. Sometimes these choices were easy because we knew what God was calling us to do but what about those hard choices? The ones where there is not a direct clear answer. The ones when you have to completely turn over to God and let Him take control and let Him totally lead you in your decision. Sometimes I think that we get so comfortable in our daily lives that we forget what it means to fully trust in God. To completely let Go and GIVE it to God. Thankfully when we are followers of Christ He will NOT leave us in the state of complacency. He will not ever just leave you where you are. When you become comfortable or at the point that you "think" you can live life on your own He totally sweeps down and shakes things up JUST so you will remember that each and everyday we are called to trust Him. Not just in the big things, or the small things, BUT IN ALL THINGS!

As I sit here and write this blog (which is my very first attempt at blogging) my heart is still very very heavy concerning a "life" choice that I was forced to make. It's been a week now and my heart is beating so fast and my eyes are filling with tears because the choice I was forced to make last Monday is one that a wife and mother would never want to have to make. It was a total choice about the life of my husband, the life of my son, and my own life. I find this very difficult to even write about this very minute but I have to share what the Lord has taught me! It's not that I want to share this, I HAVE to share this! God will not let me let this go until I put it down! I'm hoping that I can get some relief from this nagging in my heart that many times in our lives we ignore the BIG RED FLAGS!

Have you ever held your family so close that you had them within arms length but no matter what you did you could not reach them or touch them? They were right beside you but no matter how much you fought, no matter how much you reached out you could not "save them"! Have you ever had to look at your husband then look at your son and decide who you would rescue? As I approached Chris on the ocean that day I was returning to the water because Hayden had left his boogie board on the beach and I wanted him to have it! As I approached Chris and Hayden in the water I knew in my heart and in my mind that something immediately was wrong. Terribly wrong. As soon as I got to them in the water that day I saw him push Meredith on her boogie board and I heard him tell her to ride the wave all the way to the beach. I then notice the sheer look of terror on his face and realize that Chris is completely submerged under water. I see the waves coming crashing up over his head and hear him sucking in water and hyperventilating. I see him holding Hayden high above his head and see that Hayden is trying to stand on his daddy's back gasping for breath but taking on water. In an instant I see Chris push Hayden towards me and hear him telling me to get to the shore. I will never forget the moment I look back at the shore and realize that we are being pushed farther and farther back into the ocean. I began to fight immediately to move closer to the shore but I'm getting nowhere. I see Chris fighting for his life and fighting the current but moving farther and farther back. I hear him begin to scream for help. I hear Hayden scream for his daddy, then hear him say in a whisper, "Lord please help us", then scream, "someone help us"! At this very moment I realize that we are fighting for our lives! I look back and Chris and as a trained lifeguard I see quickly that he is truly drowning. I reach for him but nothing!! I have Hayden! I can't save them both. I'm holding on the only thing that is keeping me afloat knowing that the water was way over my head and wave after wave is steadily crashing over our heads. Hayden and Chris are still sucking in the water but something told me just to keep swallowing the water. I look at Chris one last time as he motions for me to go. Get out! Get him to the shore! I freeze and try to decide in my mind how I can save both of them! There's no way! In that moment of desperation I give him the only thing that is helping me stay afloat. The boogie board. As Chris is steadily going under I knew he was going to drown. I send the boogie board to him and look back at him one last time! I must get moving. I try and try to swim but I'm caught in the current, I can't move, we are going no where and I can't breath, I can't see, I drop Hayden in the water and have to dig my way around to find him again and bring him to the surface. He is in full panic mode and tries to climb on my head. I grab him and have to tell him through tears that he can't take me under or we will both die. A crowd is forming on the beach and no matter how much we yell they can not help us, they can not get to us! I've totally lost Chris at this point and then again loose Hayden in the water. I think in my head we are not going to make it! This is it! My foot brushes against the sand at the bottom of the ocean and I'm able to push my way on top of the water but again, wave after wave is coming over my head. I find Hayden again and cling to him trying to keep us both on top of the water. I'm kicking and kicking and trying to explain to him that he has to swim parallel. I let go of him for a second telling him to literally swim for his life, kick as hard as you can, move those arms, move those arms, but quickly I see that he can't do it! I can't let him go! I'm physically exhausted. I can't move! Again, my foot hits the bottom and I begin to jump parallel to the beach with Hayden in my arms. I drop Hayden again but yell at him to jump up each time his foot his the sand! We are moving, we are moving, we are making progress. Thank God, I can see, I can breath, I'm not going to die out here! I'm not going to drown. Chris finds us in the water and takes Hayden to the shore. Chris will tell you that the only thing that saved him was the boogie board. I see that they are both safely to shore and see that Meredith is standing with a stranger who is taking care of her and I give up! I knew they were safe so I just quit fighting. At this point a complete stranger jumps in (despite the rip tide) and pulls me to shore! Chris is laying on the beach and Hayden is laid out right beside him. I've never seen someone breathing so hard but I was so thankful that they were both breathing!  My body is so tired but I begin to cry immediately over the fear that had just over taken me! I have asked Chris a thousand times if this happened the way I think it did (those who know me well know I tend to overreact at times, LOL)! Chris has later admitted to me that he truly thought he was going to die in the water that day. I too thought we were truly going to die. There is no doubt that the Lord was with us that day watching over us, protecting us, "saving" us! There were a total of six other people who had to be pulled from the water that day in the same exact location due to rip tides. We were later told that over that weekend of bad weather over 22 people in all were pulled from the water and one did not survive. One did not survive.

As I have reflect on this event, the Lord has shown me that there are so many people, people that we know, people that we love; family, friends, loved-ones, who in their own lives are ignoring the RED FLAGS. The flags are there for a reason and ignoring them IS GOING to cost them their lives. How desperate are we to pray for them, show them Jesus, share our lives with them? Are we too busy? Do we have too much to do? Are we ignoring the RED FLAGS in our own lives? The ones that may not be too obvious? The ones that look like fun or seem to be OK but in the end will cost us our lives? I vividly remember being in the water at the moment that I thought we weren't going to make it, the moment that I thought I was going to die, I look at the shore and see kids playing, people laughing, people having a good time. The beach is fun, they were having a great time. You don't ever think that a day at the beach could end your life. Yes, you hear about drownings all the time but I'm one of those people that thinks, "that would never happen to me"! Well, a great day at the beach in the beautiful ocean almost cost my family their lives. We ignored the RED FLAG. We thought the flag did not apply to us. We were stronger than the flag. We can handle the flag. The spectators could not see that just a few feet away a family was being swept out into the ocean. We were struggling, we were fighting. They were oblivious that something terrible, horrific, even tragic was going on just a few feet away. How many people in our own lives are we ignoring? Standing by watching as they are being swept up into the "ocean of life, THE WORLD?" Are we on our knees praying for them, are we helping them in anyway or we just watching? ARE YOU A SPECTATOR? Watching as the "waves" of daily life are taking them under, crashing over their heads. Are you standing by them waving a RED FLAG?

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a MIGHTY ONE WHO WILL SAVE; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing".
Zephaniah 3:17