We took our third, fourth, and fifth graders on a retreat to Camp Glisson recently. That Saturday morning, we spent all day swimming in the lake. That afternoon, we took our kids to the waterfall. It’s deep enough to swim and shallow in places to wade. We said, “Here’s the rule. You all swam earlier today. We’re not swimming. You can get up to your knees in the water, but no higher.”
That lasted for about seven minutes. They were swimming. I walked to the bank and said, “Alright, that’s it. We told you no swimming. Time to get out.”
One of the third graders, waste deep in the water, looked at me and said, “Pastor Will, we’re just children. Let us live.”
I thought to myself—these poor, oppressed kids from Atlanta. How dare we enforce a rule? But the more I thought about it, what harm was there in allowing them to swim? I said, “Well, you make a good point. You may continue to live.” Jesus came to give us the abundant life. You can live again. God, let us live.
Will Zant 