Some disregard man\u2019s need to be rescued as a mere trifle. David Litt, a former Obama speechwriter, describes his efforts to learn surfing. While his daredevil brother-in-law joked, \u201cIt\u2019s only drowning\u201d Litt describes in his book, \u201cIt\u2019s Only Drowning\u201d one of his worst wipeouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor a long time I was weightless. In free fall. Bracing myself to hit the water with a full-body slap. But the impact never came. The crashing lip, as powerful as a jackhammer, blasted through the surface, and I flew down the resulting sinkhole until my right hip bounced against the sand. Then the sea washed over me like a coffin lid and the hold-down buried me alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first I held it together. Don\u2019t worry. Wait it out.<\/em> But I\u2019d developed a mental hourglass\u2026and I could feel it running dry. I\u2019d never been underwater this long before. I\u2019d never pinwheeled so violently. I raised an arm, expecting to punch through the ocean\u2019s surface, but all I felt was more ocean. Water streamed up my nose and down my throat. How deep am I? How long have I gone without breathing? Something\u2019s wrong.<\/em> Panic setting in, I thrashed frantically upward, water surging through the corners of my mouth each time I fought to suppress a breath. When, finally, the wave lost interest, I burst into the sunlight and took shallow, rapid breaths. My neck was sore with whiplash, my tonsils swollen from salt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n —<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drowning is no joke. Separation from God is no joke. Spurgeon\u2019s quote could be paired with this illustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA man who is drowning does not need to be told how to swim; he needs to be pulled out of the water. And so the sinner, sinking under the weight of his sin, does not want directions, but deliverance. He is not a free agent who can save himself if he will; he is a captive, bound hand and foot, unless the strong arm of grace shall rescue him.\u201d \n
C. H. Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit<\/em>, vol. 11 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1865).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3897,4142,4808,4877,4880,4943,5298],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-65836","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-evangelism","tax_ctp_tags-helplessness","tax_ctp_tags-rescue","tax_ctp_tags-salvation","tax_ctp_tags-salvation-by-works","tax_ctp_tags-separation","tax_ctp_tags-works-righteousness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\n