What You Need To Know About Being Rescued & The Lifeguard Who Never Goes Off-Duty

It’s been a sun-soaked beach week for our family.

I lose track of the days as the hours spent under this umbrella begin to blur together.

The salt air, sandy toes and blue sky creating a blend of gratitude soaked pause and an involuntary yearning for the proceeding of the hands on the clock to slow their speed.

I love to wake up on vacation and head straight to the beach in anticipation to discover the surprises the ocean has swept in for that day.

Yesterday, when I crested the top of the dunes I saw this.

This scene of lifeguards preforming rescue drills in the deep water took me right back to a heart pounding string of minutes that occurred on this very day, on this very beach, exactly one year ago today.

As I stood and watched these capable men and women practice drills as several staged swimmers treaded water and yelled “Help me, help me!” from far off the sandy shore, I was taken back to the moments I stood in the same sand and watched our oldest daughter stare back at me last Summer from the same waters.

Only then, it was not a drill.

She was calm and poised…but in danger.

Without a word spoken from the waves, her rapidly changing situation yelled in place of her silent voice…“help me, help me.”

The beach scene yesterday reminded me of how grateful I am for these OCBP lifeguards and the ever present life guard of all, whom we can trust and have faith in…because He never ever…goes off duty.

Below is a re-post of the original blog post I wrote exactly one year ago, 15 hours after our girl was rescued from a flash rip current and our hearts had recovered from the panic and fear.

Original Blog Post: “Rescue Mission” from July 3, 2020:

“Mommy! Daddy! Eve can’t get in!”

In a split second things can change.

Yesterday was one of those split second reminders.

No sooner had Shawn and I come out of the water from swimming in the ocean with our three daughters and their friends to dry off and sit down…when we were abruptly beckoned back into the waves on a dual parental attempt for a rescue mission we were not trained for.

It happened so fast.

Minutes ago we were a a family of five being tumbled and tossed together laughing and diving under the waves, holding hands, shouting “UNDER!” or “OVER!” 

And now those same waves were wrapped around our oldest daughter holding her hostage inside a rip tide. With each wave taking her farther away from shore and unable to “get in.”

With hearts pounding we raced into the water. I not so gracefully, fell face first tripping over the the first touches of water from the the adrenaline thumping.

And then…as we high knee skip-stepped though the shallow water, trying to go as fast as we could, we came upon another younger girl who was alone and also needed help. 

A friend hollered to Shawn to “grab her!”

My head whipped left to catch the eyes with the lifeguard who was already standing in his chair.

I waved my hands high in the air to him and yelled:

“WE NEED YOU!”

Like a bullet, that lifeguard shot out of his chair and sprinted towards us.

While Shawn swam farther out and grabbed the other younger girl who was in great need of assistance, he reached her and gave her a heavy push towards me. I grabbed for her arm and did my feeble best to help pull her closer, out of the crashing waves hitting from both behind and in front of us.

Her own mother met us in the shallow water, wrapped her daughter in her arms and my eyes darted right back to Eve who still seemed SO far away.

But the lifeguard was ON IT.

Flying through the waves on a rescue mission, he WAS trained for.

Diving into the water past Shawn with his bright red rescue can bouncing behind him as he dove. 

He swam farther out towards Eve and when he came up for air, he locked eyes with Shawn and yelled to him, “GO BACK!”

The guard knew he did not want this to turn into a multiple person rescue and it quickly could have.

It happened in a matter of seconds.

I watched from the waves as the guard reached Eve who had been treading for several minutes now and was still swimming parallel to the shore. 

She was calm.

She was composed.

Even from a distance she appeared confident. 

I never heard her once yell or scream. She never flailed her arms in alarm.

She just kept swimming, staring at us…and waiting for help to come

We thanked the guard as he delivered Eve to shore and raced back to his post. As we walked back to the sand, I asked Eve is she was ok to which she replied. 

“I’m just tired.”

Our girl did everything right in a moment when it mattered.

We sat for a few moments, she collected her breath, wrapped up in a towel, leaned against me on the sand and I told her I was proud of her.

I told her that she didn’t do anything wrong…that the ocean doesn’t care who you are, how old you are or how good of a swimmer you are.

Rip currents having a way of sneaking up on you. 

One minute you are OK and then the next you are not.

Things can change quick…things can escalate even quicker….even on a glorious beach day with friends with the sun high in the sky and sparkling waves calling your name to play…things can get scary.

Five minutes after our heart pounding experience…the sound of the lifeguard’s collective whistles blew up and down the beach…signaling they were now…

“OFF-DUTY.”

The guards jumped out of their stands, drug their tall white chairs back towards the dunes and disappeared from view. Their white post vacant until the next day.

If our little moment of heart-racing panic had happened just ten minutes later…I am not quite sure what would have happened. 

I would like to think that Shawn would have had no problem making it out to our girl and together they would have successfully swam to shore without a rescue buoy, but hand in hand…and safe.

But I am not sure.

On the beach after the rescue, as I was sitting beside Eve, Maci our middle daughter hovered closely.

I asked Maci…

“What made you come and get Mommy and Daddy?”

…to which Maci replied:

“Eve said she was fine at first…

but I knew she wasn’t”

I turned to Eve and told her she should thank her sister for running to get help…because we were not aware soon enough that our girl needed us.

“He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.

Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.

The Lord himself watches over you!

The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.”

PSALM 121:3-5

Do you ever replay an event over and over again after the emotional adrenaline of the actual moments come to pass?

That was me last night…over and over and over. 

And after dinner, I was still in the replay “mom-mode” of processing just what had happened, how it had happened and each long second that escalated and eventually culminated into the grateful rescue.

As I continued to reflect on the course of events, a new realization came to the surface…who the REAL HERO was.

The real hero was our daughter, Maci.

The one who quickly recognized the first sign for help needed. Even when everything may have looked fine at first glance, she knew her sister needed help and she rushed to the first place she knew to get it. 

So, I pressed Maci again…and asked:

“What REALLY made you leave the ocean and run to get us? What was it exactly that made you know you needed us?

To which she replied:

“I was scared.”

She felt the fear rising and knew she needed to get help. 

Every time, I think of how Maci felt in that ocean, having the instincts to know something was different from every other ocean swim they have shared. And every time I think about how Eve felt in that ocean watching us stare at her from a distance, unable to get to her quick enough…my eyes leak.

It was a day.

What I do know…

is that I am thankful THE LIFEGUARD WAS ON DUTY, because that made all the difference.

The ocean may not care who you are…

BUT GOD DOES.

The lifeguards may go “off-duty”…

BUT GOD NEVER DOES.

We may not be trained for missions that suddenly are dumped into our laps.

BUT GOD IS. 

Friend, I don’t know if there is a place where you may be needing “help” today. Maybe a rip current has snuck its way into your day or life, without you realizing it, taking you far away from your familiar shore. 

Maybe the currents of our world’s brokenness have you drifting in and out of feelings you don’t recognize. Forcing you to kick kick kick under the waves of tumbling emotions that you are not used to feeling. Maybe nagging feelings of depression, anxiety are threatening to drag you down, down, far under and it’s a struggle to keep your head above water.

Whatever it may be…know that God IS NEVER OFF DUTY.

In case you need an anthem to remind you that HE HAS YOU…Listen TO THIS. 

He never sleeps or slumbers, He knows every single hair on your head, He knows you by name and He knows the waves you are forced to face every day when you open your eyes. 

You do not need to wait until the undertow gets scary…you can call HIS NAME NOW. 

He will keep your head above water and He will sustain you for the days and waves that await. 

“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

ISAIAH 46:4

Friend, it is no small thing to pray

Prayer changes things. 

“Arrow prayers” are some of the best prayers to start with…short and straight, to the point and aimed up to the heart of God. 

God, Help Me.

God, Search Me.

God, Heal Me.

God, Lead Me. 

God, Rescue Me.

Lord,

Thank you for being our rescuer.

Thank you for reminding us that you are never off-duty.

Thank you for reminding us that no water is ever too deep for you to reach down and pull us out of.

Thank you…that you are ABLE.

amen.

Living on a prayer,

Heather

“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.”

Psalm 46:1 NLT