This story is one of the reasons I have created “Morning Coffee & Jesus”, we all have a story to tell, and this is just part of mine.
My son and I traveled to Mexico to ring in the New Year. We went with a large group which included my boyfriend and his brother. On January 3rd, we had our “beach day”. Once we got to the beach, everyone ran into the ocean to splash around except the other mom, myself and my son. My son wasn’t ready to go in just yet. After about 30 minutes, a couple of the kids ran halfway between us and the water then quickly ran back in. At that time my son looks at me and says “Mommy, I’m going to go splash around now”. I said to him “Okay baby, have fun and be careful”. He ran in and started splashing around with the others.
I sat and kept my eyes on him the whole time. The thing is my son doesn’t know how to swim. He has splashed around in the ocean, pools etc plenty of times. He’s very cautious. As I watched him, I noticed he was getting close to the rocks that were near the barrier wall between the two beaches. I sat up thinking “I think he’s getting too close to the rocks. Yeah, he’s getting too close”. I got up to go tell him to move away from the rocks and as I stepped in the water I didn’t see my son anymore. The terror set in. At the same time, two of the teenagers we were on the trip with came running out of the water screaming for help. As we were passing each other I said, “It’s Ridgley isn’t it?” They didn’t answer but I knew.
I didn’t know what to do. I kept running from the water to the beach and back to the water. There was a large group near me and no one would help. I could hear my baby screaming for help. I couldn’t see him, I could just hear him. “Somebody help me! Please help me!”
My boyfriend and his brother were in the water trying to help him, but I didn’t know that at the time. People started to gather, and I finally climbed on top of the barrier wall and as I’m walking to where it meets the water, I see my son, he’s not gasping for air, not coughing, he’s just there. He runs to me and hugs me. He’s crying and says, “Mommy I’m sorry, I’m sorry Mommy”. I said, “No baby, I’m just so glad you are safe!”, I peered over the edge of the wall and my boyfriend, and his brother are laying across the rocks. They are exhausted, coughing, still trying to catch their breath. The lifeguards are finally there and helped them up and started tending to them. They have cuts, scrapes, flesh torn from every body part and are sitting in puddles of blood because they were getting beat against the jagged rocks. My son, he had about 3 very light scratches on him.
My boyfriend’s brother said he got to my son first. He says to this day, he doesn’t know how he got to him as fast as he did because he was so far away from him and just as he got there my son was going under. They struggled to get to the beach and instead kept getting pulled out further. He made the decision to try to swim to the rocks, which he was able to do. That’s where my boyfriend came into the picture. Between the two of them they fought to save my son’s life. They say in the struggle, my son spent so much time underwater. They kept trying to put him on the rocks and they either broke or he got swept out again.
Against the odds, they all made it out of the water alive. My boyfriend’s brother says he thought he was going to lose his brother at the end and was struggling to at least hold onto his body. They had nothing left in them.
What happened that day and beyond (yes, there is more to this story!) is without a doubt a Miracle! How does this skinny little 11-year-old that can’t swim make it out alive. God’s Grace and Mercy is how. We still deal with the emotional trauma from time to time; it is a day we will never forget. I have so much gratitude in my heart for what God did for my son, for me, for all of us. My son wasn’t the only one who God saved that day. How could I continue to not put God first.