One of my friends John who is on team DOGS used to be a competitive swimmer throughout his life and even into college. Once he found out that the village kids weren’t surviving the floods of the rice fields he knew he wanted to make a difference. Through friends and family supporting he raised $2000!!! This money went towards paying for 50 kids ( each day ) to drive in from the villages and get personal swimming lessons from Johns team, accompanied by some members of mine! We taught them to float, kick while holding the wall, blow bubbles, and tread water / doggy paddle! Following those lessons they had free time to climb on us, go down the kiddy pool water slides and just be kids. Every kid was fed a sandwich and a coke then dropped off to their village .
A few weeks ago I got to be a part of day one of this operation and I had a blast. I was with 6 girls all wearing the same soccer uniform. It definitely went down as one of my top days of ministry so far on the race!
On Monday I had to opportunity to go help with swim lessons again. We had been awake since 6:30 am watching the Super Bowl and right when the kids arrived at the pool it went into overtime. So even though I wished to be glued to my phone, I went in the pool ( real life example of dying to my flesh ). I was teaching 5 girls. 3 who could swim pretty well and caught on by the end, and 2 who maybe should wear life jackets in the deep end.
During our free time I met a girl. She was going down the slide and being caught at the end by my friend Dom. I never learned this girls name, but I instantly wanted to be her friend. Together we went down water slides, swam in the 1.5 foot deep pool, and laughed a ton. We went up stairs together, hugged each other then went to have lunch. She ate her sandwich and I ate my chicken. I felt content, happy, and grateful. God, the creator of volcanos, rainbows, trees, and of you and me made this girl. I believe that God made no mistakes. No accidents. God chose her to come into this world and show others what true joy was.
This girl was happy, funny, strong, brave and loves Coke! People may identity her as disabled, or special needs, but I see her as someone who has different needs. She doesn’t communicate with her words, which is fine by me because I don’t speak Khmer, but rather communicates with her eyes and head nods. Her toes don’t point forward, but inward. And yet, boy she can get to the water slides faster than any other kid I saw!
When it came time to review lessons I saw that she would’ve been sitting out for that portion of the day. I thought that was silly so I brought her into the 3 foot deep section of the pool. At first I sat on the steps with her, people watching together. Then I wondered if she wanted to go into the water. So I put her on my back and she was laughing , jaw wide open, laughing louder than any other time of the day. We swam around and she held her arms around my neck she kicked her legs some which was so amazing. She was swimming. I knew she could do so many things that most people would assume she couldn’t so I let go of her arms and instead grabbed her legs. With her arms over my shoulders and my body parallel with the water she moved her arms in a breaststroke motion right over me. It was incredible. When I gave her a break she took my sunglasses right off my face and put them on her head.
That is something I want to remember forever.
I nearly forgot about the heart and passion that have for students and people with different abilities than others. In middle school I was apart of a PE class where it was half students with different abilities and half leadership students . In high school I was honored to be a part of my schools unified basketball team ( and one Covid season of track because it was outdoors ). On this team we would practice basketball and play 1 game a week against other schools unified teams. The 2 months out of the year I was on this team was the highlight of my 4 years of high school. So being back in a situation where I got to hang out with the students that aren’t commonly picked to be around was a blessing to me.
Jesus’s short time of ministry wasn’t focused on the most popular people in town( not to say he didn’t love them too), but He came to show us who we need to be loving towards in all types of people . Tax collectors, fishermen, people with leprosy , adulators , short people ( Zacchaeus joke ) and the lame are just a few examples of people Jesus intentionally choosing the unchosen.
Now I’m not nearly as compassionate as Jesus, but every day I try to be. I want to be like Him.
Though I never learned this girls name, I knew she was loved by God. I’m now praying into how working with students with different abilities will fit into my future!
What a blessing this pool day was.
Even though the 49ers lost:(
