The Titus Woman - Teaching What is Good

The sky was gray and the ocean looked angry. My husband and I―along with our three daughters and one boyfriend―had just arrived at our beach rental. The kids were dying to get into the water, but a red flag warned of the danger of an undertow.

Still, the white sand beckoned, so the kids slipped into bathing suits, grabbed beach chairs and towels, and headed downstairs to the beach while my husband and I unpacked groceries.

Not ten minutes later, our middle daughter burst into the room.

“He’s hurt!” she said. And I knew from the look on her face it was serious.

We couldn’t get to the sand fast enough.

At the shoreline, our daughter’s boyfriend had just been rescued from the water. In the hands of professional lifeguards, he was being placed on a gurney with a brace around his neck.

That’s when we learned he’d raced to the ocean and―unable to resist the lure of the waves― dove in head first. The undertow had pulled him under immediately, and if not for the quick thinking of a nearby swimmer, we later learned he would no doubt have drowned.

Within minutes, he was placed into an ambulance and rushed to the nearest hospital.

I don’t remember getting there. I only remember feeling like I was in a bad dream.

At the hospital, we were told our daughter’s boyfriend had broken his neck and had come treacherously close to being paralyzed. If not for the swimmer who rescued him from the undertow, he’d never have made it out of the ocean.

Still reeling, I hurriedly returned to our beach rental to pack our belongings so we could make the trip to a bigger hospital. Our young guest was being transferred by ambulance and his parents would meet us there.

Another rescue

At the beach, I stopped to gather the towels my daughters had left in the sand. That’s when I noticed a group of young adults talking to a police officer. I dropped the towels and went to see if they needed help.

Five or six college-aged kids stood in a circle. About thirty minutes beforehand, one of their friends had been drug under by the undertow and was nowhere to be found. The kids stood frozen, trying to decide which of them would call the friend’s parents from his own cell phone.

I couldn’t imagine the agony of being on either side of that phone call.

“Do you want me to pray with you?” I asked. In unison, they nodded.

We circled up, our arms around each other, and I begged God to rescue their friend. I asked Him to make His presence felt, and to bring comfort and peace to everyone involved.

As I left them, I knew I’d never forget their grief-stricken faces.

My daughter’s boyfriend went on to endure a long recovery on his college campus with a neck brace that stabilized his head with screws.

Along with his physical recovery, he underwent a spiritual transformation. His injury forced him to examine his life, spend time with God, and make heartfelt decisions.

Why does God let bad things happen?

I can’t say I know the answer to that question, but I do know that God is always ready to rescue.

When Jesus struggled in the Garden, He knew what was coming. The torture He was about to endure would be horrific. Not only would he undergo a horrendous beating and an inhumane crucifixion, but He was about to drink God’s cup of wrath and endure the punishment for our sin. “He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus knew what was about to happen. He’d predicted it. And he went to Jerusalem determined to go through with it.

Why didn’t He stop it? After all, He could have asked for thousands of angels to come to His rescue.

But what’s horrible in the moment sometimes has a greater end.

If Jesus had been rescued from the Cross, He’d have circumvented our rescue from death and our chance at real life.

“I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”

Galations 2:19-20, TLB

For Christians, without dying (to self) there’s no living (in Christ). The Resurrection came by way of the Cross.

God will rescue you

Not long after my daughter’s boyfriend was completely healed, he asked our daughter to marry him. Today he’s an amazing husband and father, and we couldn’t love him more if he were our own son.

Literally and spiritually, my son-in-law was rescued.

The truth us, whether we recognize it or not, we all need to be rescued, because we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, HCSB).

We may think we’re born alive and one day we’ll die. But the Bible says we’re born spiritually dead and must be brought to life. That’s what it means to be “born again.”

Not one of us knows what tomorrow brings or when we’ll breathe our last. When that precious college kid entered the surf that day, there’s no way he could have known his body would be recovered the next day three miles down the beach. But if, indeed, he was in Christ, then his rescue came on the other side of heaven.

Both my son-in-law and that young college kid needed to be rescued. But the truth is, we all need the real-life, glorious, eternal rescue Jesus offers us by way of the Cross.

God will rescue you. He’ll save you if you call out to Him.

Bible verses about how God will rescue you

For God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find God through human brilliance, and then he stepped in and saved all those who believed his message, which the world calls foolish and silly. (1 Corinthians 1:21, TLB)

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10, HCSB)

He died for our sins just as God our Father planned, and rescued us from this evil world in which we live. (Galations 1:4, TLB)

Therefore, He is always able to save those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:25, HCSB)

Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it, but whoever insists on keeping his life will lose it. (Luke 9:24, TLB)

Call on Me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor Me.” (Psalm 50:15, HCSB)

The disciples went to him and wakened him, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re sinking!” (Matthew 8:25, TLB)

Help me, LORD my God; save me according to Your faithful love. (Psalm 109:26, TLB)

But I call to God, and the LORD will save me. (Psalm 55:16, TLB)

Come, O Lord, and make me well. In your kindness save me. (Psalm 6:4, TLB)

Pull me out of this mire. Don’t let me sink in. Rescue me from those who hate me, and from these deep waters I am in. (Psalm 69:14, TLB)

Hear my prayers; rescue me as you said you would. (Psalm 119:170, TLB)

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:18, ESV)