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I had one of those profoundly spiritual moments that I felt I missed as a child in the deep end of my in-laws pool.

The “accidentally” over-chlorinated pool in Bob and Joan’s backyard was where my two oldest kids spent the bulk of their days in San Antonio. My daughter swam the shallow steps, always with one hand on the stairs, lest she have to actually swim. And my oldest son, now 5, spent his time daring himself to touch the deeper parts of the pool — his fear always a bit stronger than him.

Then, on one afternoon…
I held up a diving ring (a brightly colored ring that has supplanted the quarter as the ideal object to sink to the bottom of the pool) and threw it into the deepest part of the pool, just as my son surfaced for a breath . He looked at me, realizing what I had done, and then burst into tears. He splashed me and screamed, “I wanted that thing and you threw it in the pool!”

I splashed back frustrated, “You can still have it. You just have to go and get it.”
Still crying, he blurted, “I wanted that!”
“You can still have it,” I said, now a bit calmer after the eye-sting of the chlorine had dissipated.
“It’s waaaayyy down there, though.”
“I know. But, you can get it. You can do it buddy.”

He hovered there for a bit, scanning the water below. He looked at me again. Then dove. A moment later he surfaced ring-in-hand first, then poorly fitted goggles, then beaming smile.

“I did it.”
“I knew you could do it. I’m proud of you, son. You just dove to the deepest part of the pool. Let’s tell everyone.”

A few soggy footsteps into the house later, my son announced what he had done. Everyone knew he could do it. So, they cheered, not because they doubted him, but because of what he discovered about himself and the deep ends of all pools in all the world. Whatever that is, that’s why Grandma’s and Grandpa’s and mom’s and dad’s and sisters and brothers cheer.

What else is in the deep end? What else is there that I’m afraid to face? What is it that God might actually refuse to give me in order that something deeper might be built (or broken) within me?