Learning to Swim...

From Morguefile

Jon Acuff in his book Quitter,

"I look at starting any endeavor kind of like swimming. You can

read all the books you want about swimming. You can participate in

blogs about swimming and buy magazines and study videos of swimming

online for hours and hours. But if you waited until you were

perfect at understanding swimming before you started swimming, you

might never get in the water. And you'd never learn to be a great

swimmer, because you have to get wet a lot first."

from IMDB (the show "Big Bang Theory"):

Leonard Hofstadter: I'm just saying that you can't approach this intellectually. 

Sheldon Cooper: However do you mean? 

Leonard Hofstadter: Remember when you tried to learn how to swim from the internet? 

Sheldon Cooper: I did learn how to swim. 

Leonard Hofstadter: Yeah, on the floor. 

Sheldon Cooper: The skills are transferable. I just have no desire to get in the water. 

Leonard Hofstadter: Then why learn how to swim? 

Sheldon Cooper: The ice caps are melting, Leonard. In the future, swimming won't be optional. 

So how do we learn anything?  Mostly by jumping in - well, at some point.  I mean, we can read about it, watch it, study it, analyze it, whatever.  But at some point, as Jon Acuff says, you have to get wet - a lot.  Probably the best way to learn a language is to be where people only speak that language.  Now, I wouldn't suggest you go there without some book study first.  My friend Michael has a great post on that here.  Michael is in the Ukraine and, well, I'm not actually sure he knew any Russian or Ukrainian before he went there...but that's who he is.  He's taking classes on the language now, while he is there (which is interesting to me).  


Anyway, we learn best by immersion.  True in our faith too, I believe.  It's hard to learn to be Christ follower by dipping our toes in the theological waters once or twice a week - we've got to jump in - we've got to get wet...a lot.  


But I'm not advocating separation here - I don't mean that we should be going to Christian gyms and Christian restaurants and Christian parks and only watching Christian movies or listening to Christian music.  Indeed, I don't think that gyms and restaurants and parks and movies and music can actually achieve salvation...  And I also know that's not what most people mean by Christian movies or whatever.  What I DO mean is that when we go to a movie, or a park, or a restaurant, that our hearts and minds are so immersed in our faith - in the "stuff of God" that what we say and do and think and are is infused with the Holy Spirit - that everything we do and are is informed by and shaped by our faith.  I don't always know what that looks or sounds like.  But I'm trying to get there...