The drowning man – A short story

single hand of drowning man in sea asking for help

Once upon a time, a man named Sam, who could not swim, was standing by the edge of a very deep pool. A large group of people had gathered around him and were encouraging him to jump in the deepest end of this deep pool.

“SWIM, SWIM…YOU CAN DO IT”…they shouted.

With all of the commotion, Sam did not notice some very popular people within the crowd literally tying lead weights onto his feet.

“SWIM, SWIM…COME ON, IT’S EASY”…they shouted

And with that, many of the people who were crowding around the young man jumped into the pool. While madly swimming about, they kept “encouraging” the man to join them in the pool…

  • The temperature of the water is PERFECT!
  • Swimming is EASY! Everybody can SWIM!
  • Everyone is doing it!

What are you AFRAID OF? It’s not scary! It’s not dangerous! It’s perfectly SAFE, LOVELY, and FUN! Don’t be a “party-pooper”!!!

So….without much ado, Sam jumped in the pool! He quickly remembered that he could NOT swim. He began to struggle. Oh dear, what a bad idea this had been! None of the people surrounding him came to his aide. They kept shouting at him…

“COME ON! YOU KNOW YOU CAN SWIM!! TRY HARDER!!!

They FEIGNED concern as they shouted their “words of encouragement” all the louder!

Then, in walked a very large man with bright orange hair and skin. He was very concerned when he noticed the poor man struggling and bobbing up and down in the water, gasping for air. He looked perplexedly around at the crowd of people, both in and out of the water, hoping that SOMEONE, ANYONE would JUMP IN to SAVE the DROWNING man. You see, this massive orange haired man had on an EXPENSIVE SUIT that would be RUINED if he jumped into the water, so he greatly preferred someone else volunteer to RESCUE the man. But it soon became very clear that although some of the folks in the crowd FEIGNED CONCERN and PRETENDED to make attempts to RESCUE him, they were either completely incompetent, or worse, they were intentionally TRYING to DROWN him! Why could this floundering man not SEE THIS??

What the man with the orange hair did not realize at this time is that the crowd of people who surrounded the man in the water (Sam) actually HATED him. While they had PRETENDED to be Sam’s FRIEND and ENCOURAGER, they SECRETLY HATED him with a passion and wanted to see him dead. Apparently Sam, who was now helplessly flapping about in the water, was a very rich and powerful man. Sam had so much power that he greatly influenced the way that other people around the world lived. For this reason, MANY people hated him.

The crowd figured that they would do the world a favor by eliminating Sam, thus creating an atmosphere where other like-minded people could then become the world’s leaders. In-fact, MANY people in the crowd had lined their own pockets by offering to assist the world in eliminating this man. This perfect plan just seemed so easy to pull off. Here, you have an ignorant man who had no idea that his “friends” were really his enemies, and who had been standing precariously close to the edge of a deep water pool, unable to swim. All they had to do was convince Sam to jump. Easy enough since he trusted them so completely.and just like that, Sam was in the water drowning.

Meanwhile the man with the orange hair was sizing up the situation. It was obvious that Sam was in deep trouble. Although the crowd was PRETENDING to help, it soon became very clear to the man with the orange hair that their “help” was no help at all! So he made his decision. He had to jump into the water and rescue Sam, regardless of whether or not his own expensive suit would be ruined.

So the man with the ORANGE HAIR..JUMPED in the WATER!

Now, this turn of events STARTLED the crowd! What?? They had planned on the man in the water slipping down into the deep rather quickly and easily, without a fuss. Now what would they do if this enormous orange haired man were actually able to help Sam? What would the world think? What would the people who had given them so much money to sabotage him think? What would happen if Sam survived and found out that they had betrayed him? No, they could NOT let this happen! They began to shout at the man in the water...

  • “BEWARE THE MAN WITH THE ORANGE HAIR!
  • HE IS EVIL AND IS TRYING TO DROWN YOU!
  • PUSH HIM AWAY BECAUSE HE WILL BE THE DEATH OF YOU!!!
  • DON’T TRUST THAT MAN WITH THE ORANGE HAIR!!
  • HE WANTS YOUR MONEY!
  • HE WANTS YOUR POWER!
  • HE’S A VERY BAD MAN WHO WANTS TO SEE YOU DIE SO HE CAN BE IN CHARGE FOREVER!!!

Sam PANICKED and began to struggle all the harder. As the man with the orange hair tried to help him out of the water, Sam violently pushed him away, batting at him with his hands, kicking at him with his feet, and loudly shouting expletives at him!! The drowning man TRUSTED his crowd of FAKE FRIENDS who wanted to see him die rather than the man with the orange hair who had been sent by God to help. So Sam just kept repeating the angry mob’s exact words, almost as though he had been hypnotized by them.

GASPING FOR AIR…...GET AWAY FROM ME YOU ENORMOUS ORANGE HAIRED FREAK! I DON’T WANT YOUR HELP!! YOU’RE TRYING TO KILL ME!!! YOU WANT TO SEE ME DEAD!!! YOU ARE DRUNK WITH POWER!

The man with the orange hair was PUZZLED. How in the world could Sam be so deceived? How could he ACTUALLY BELIEVE that the crowd who had been trying to KILL him were the “good guys”…and that he, the orange haired man in the now totally ruined EXPENSIVE SUIT, who had been sent by God to HELP him, was an EVIL VILLAIN??? Oh, and yes, the man with the orange hair had an epiphany at that very moment that he had been sent by GOD ALMIGHTY to HELP the drowning man. Armed with this NEW REVELATION, the man with the orange hair IGNORED Sam’s panicked rantings. He IGNORED the ANGRY MOB while doubling down on his efforts to save Sam! He winced as Sam kicked him in the gut and punched him in the face, but still he REFUSED to just let Sam drown.

So what happened next? Well….We don’t know. We’re watching the US elections very closely to see if the man with the orange hair can save the drowning man. The only thing that has kept poor Sam alive thus far is God’s mercy! Otherwise he would already be dead because Sam has many hidden enemies. So, my guess is that even if it looks at this time like the CROWD of HATEFUL and ANGRY voices is winning in their attempts to KILL Sam (while PRETENDING to save him), God is still on the Throne, and if GOD has determined to spare his life, then he will be RESCUED. However, if Sam has sinned too greatly, pushing the God who loves him out of his life and trusting those who are REALLY HIS ENEMIES rather than the man sent by God…well, then we’ve got a totally different outcome to this story.

Stay tuned…God is on the Throne!

About TFJ 283 Articles
My name is TFJ, which stands for Thankful for Jesus. I'm a wife, a mom, and a grandma. I have a passion for Jesus because He literally drug me out of the pit, washed me clean, and made me new. I know He will do the same for you, if you let Him.