Esther's Choice

My sister and I were about fifteen the summer we drove to a North Carolina beach with my mom, younger sister, aunt, and cousin. We passed the mornings at the beach, returning about 1:00 to the rented condo for lunch, and cycling back to the beach in the late afternoon.

One late afternoon when we returned we found that the tide had come in and filled in a lower almost gully type area. Thinking that it would be shallow, we started to wade through. It quickly came up to our waists and everyone decided to walk to the far end and cross on the sand. I remember watching a man wind surf in this gully. (Will some beach savvy person tell me what the correct term for something so deep is? Tide pool doesn't seem to cut it!)

After a couple hours we started to make our way back to the path. One of my sisters and I stopped at the shallow end of this strange gully to rinse the floats one last time. Two very small children scampered by and into the water. My thought was, "Tell them how deep it gets." I dismissed it thinking that their parents would be keeping an eye on them. The thought came more insistent, "Warn them." But it wasn't my responsibility, so I kept quiet.

I dunked the raft one last time and moved to follow my family. And as clear as a bell, I heard, "AMY!!!" from behind me. I turned in confusion because no one I knew was back there. In that instant, I saw the little girl bobbing and gasping and her brother going and staying under. We could barely touch the shifty, sandy bottom but we managed to pull them out.

The little girl was gasping and crying and the boy spewed saltwater onto the sand. He looked so gray I yelled at his distraught sister, "YOU HAVE TO GET YOUR PARENTS!" Away she flew. They scooped him up without a word to us and whisked the children away. A couple days later we would walk by a resort pool and glimpse them all in the shallow end.

It is one of the few times that I believe God audibly called my name.

There were lots of choice points in this story. God made two attempts to impress upon me the need for action. I dismissed those children, that situation, as "not my responsibility." I didn't respond until there was a crisis.

Sadly, my mom and my aunt didn't respond at all. My aunt was trained in first aid and CPR as a routine part of her job. She didn't come to check how things were but stayed on the opposite side of that gully. She simply said later, "He was coughing it up. That was good enough."

It reminds me of the Esther. She was a young Jewish woman who through a series of events hid her identity as a Jewess and became a queen. At one point, a man named Haman -- seeking revenge on Esther's uncle Mordecai -- plots to annihilate the Jewish population. Mordecai learns of the plot and goes to Esther and beseeches her to intervene with the king. The catch is that no one can enter the king's presence without being bidden to do so. If the king is in a bad mood, it could mean death. If he looks kindly upon someone, he might extend the royal scepter and they will be spared.

So, Esther is in a predicament. To intervene would risk her life. She hesitates, but Mordecai is insistent. In Esther 4:12 - 14 (NIV) says, "

"Do not think because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relieve and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Could Esther argue it wasn't her place? Yes. Could she say that it wasn't her responsibility? Yes. Could she say the risk was too great? Definitely.

Esther does act with much prayer and thought and exhortation. God miraculously turns Haman's plot on it's head. But what would the cost have been if she had chosen not to act? Thousands might have lost their lives.

Yes, the story on the beach is dramatic but true. At times I wonder what might have happened if I continued my belief that "it wasn't my responsibility" so I could not act? The results may have been horrific.

Though they may not be so dramatic, how often do I dismiss "smaller" things in life because I believe they are not my responsibility. No, I cannot do everything. But anything on God's heart warrants a response on my part -- a prayer, a kind word, a gift, an action. I just need to trust Him to prompt me how and when to respond and obey the first time rather than the third.

What small or large "Esther's Choice" is God asking of you? Could it be that you were placed right where you are, working, caring for children, or even in the line at Walmart for such a time as this?

Sometimes I wonder about that now thirty~ish brother and sister pair and what God might be doing in their lives because two teens chose to respond (somewhat belatedly) to a commanding voice in the midst of the sand and the sea.

God's Work In Progress,

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