Want to grow? Just add Water.

In the summer of 1978, my family moved into a kids paradise. I was 7 years old and we moved from our rental home to a small house in Rose City, Michigan. The house was at the top of a hill that faced the shoreline of Loon Lake. There were about 100 old wooden steps that lead down to a dock on the water.

Behind the house was a shared parking area that faced a small cliff with a grassy top that kept the ground intact. The cliff had a steep drop of about 40 feet with an all-sand-landing. If you got a running start, you fell for what seemed like forever before you landed and slid on the warm soft sand. I wonder if I would let my kids jump off of it today, but times were different then and my brother and I spent many afternoons seeing who could cover the greatest distance without breaking any bones!

Loon Lake was spectacular. Quiet, kidney-bean shaped and probably 1/2 mile wide and 2 miles long. The perch fishing was good if you knew where to go, and there were wild animals everywhere.The house we lived in had one large room that housed 2 bunk beds, a couch, chair, sewing machine and a black and white TV. There was a tiny kitchen and a small bathroom. That was IT...I now understand that it was a cabin, not really designed for winter living, but it was the best we could find at the time, and we lived there for a summer and I loved it.

My parents were great friends to many people, and the cast of characters that I grew up around were interesting to say the least. Billy Bratton was a Honda Gold Wing aficionado, (a biker) and to this day has 4 bullets lodged in his body. Two from a drug deal gone bad and 2 from a smart-alec teen that wouldn’t leave his property one summer evening in Detroit. During the drug deal, he said he knew he was in trouble right away. When he picked up the buyers, one jumped in the front passenger side and one jumped right behind him in the back seat. When Billy heard the hammer cock of a pistol behind him he made a quick decision to drive his car INTO a police station--that just happened to be right in front of him. The robber shot Billy twice in the back before police arrested all three of them. Billy is fully healed, and a much different man now than he was before that incident.

Another friend, Steve Polgar was visiting on a memorable cool day in September. Steve was a nice guy, a Vietnam Vet like my dad and wanted to take a row boat ride around the lake with dad and I. I was ‘packing heat’ in the form of a squirt gun pistol, and at first I shot the water, and some imaginary boats. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get Steve wet though, and I emptied the lake-water filled squirt gun on him. He finally said “Jason, if you squirt me again, I’m going to throw you in the lake when we get back to shore”. I didn’t listen to him, and continued to squirt him all the way back to the dock. Surely, this 'nice guy' wouldn’t throw an innocent 7 year old in the water, especially with his father right there, I thought.When we got back to shore, I was “rear end over elbows” getting out of the boat and I felt Steve's hands grab me. I screamed and Steve tossed me into the shallow waters of the cool lake.I remember standing up, freezing cold and soaking wet in my freshly mucky jeans and a sweatshirt. My dad was not being overly comforting and I stomped and cried as I slowly made it up every one of the 100 steps hoping to find mom more understanding. She helped me get dried off, but didn’t offer much sympathy.

I was angry at her and my dad over that event for years.I have come to realize that the only person at fault was me. As much as I wouldn’t admit it, I needed that correction to help teach respect of others and to remind me that all of my actions have consequences. Whether something terrible happens that makes us consider our actions/behaviors, or a minor attitude adjustment is in store, I believe our “Heavenly Father” will allow us to go through painful experiences so we rely more on Him, and hopefully grow stronger. Prov 3:11-12 “But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction. It's the child he loves that God corrects; a father's delight is behind all this.

My father has admitted that it was difficult for him to see me go through that experience. I wonder what I would do in the same situation with my kids…Good thing they know how to swim!!

Jason