I pray

I have a fear of drowning. Not me personally, though. I fear my son drowning. 

Last weekend, my mother said she had a dream my son, Isaiah, went straight into their pool. A few weeks earlier, my oldest brother invited me and my son to spend some time with them on a lake. I declined because I said the water was too deep there, and I didn't feel comfortable having my son around water that deep. Soon after I said that, a friend of our family mentioned her son fell into a river while they were on vacation, and she had to jump in to save him. I felt justified. 

This could be considered paranoia. If I didn't believe in the supernatural, I might agree. 

I've had more than a dozen dreams of my son falling into water since he was born. Every time I would have those dreams, I would pray over him. When my little family moved to a property with moving water (three different water sources), the dreams remained the same. 

I never kept Isaiah from playing near water, as I thought that would be counterproductive in the long run. I wanted him to feel comfortable with water and not afraid. Someday he'll have to learn how to swim, after all. Having said that, I was always nearby when he was near water. 

Last weekend, his cousins, mother, and grandmother took turns holding him tightly as he experienced a really cold mountain creek up to his shorts. He loved the squishy mud most of all, shrieking the whole while. This is a positive interaction with water, one that will hopefully lead to a lifelong love of water.

Isaiah's mother has had the same dreams that I've had. If only one of us had these recurring dreams or premonitions, I would have shrugged it off. I would have prayed, too, but I would have shrugged it off. But, three of us who've had these premonitions? That's more than an extreme coincidence. That's someone trying to tell us something. 

My son is tall for his age, but he's not as strong as he could be. He's grown so fast his muscles have had a hard time keeping up with his bones. After complaining he wasn't walking right, my parents insisted he see a podiatrist, thinking he had a flat foot or something. Well, the actual cause of his wonky gait is an antiverted hip, which turns one foot in slightly. The muscles controlling the hip have responded to physical therapy well, and his strength continues to improve. There is a list of positions he can't sit in, as they can delay the therapy's outcome. A Google search reveals that most antiverted hips heal on their own, but doctors don't like leaving anything to chance. It's a good policy. 

I, too, do not like to leave anything to chance. I feel I've been warned that something is meant to happen to my son. I'll continue to pray for him, as prayer is the most powerful tool I have. As a father, my job is multifaceted, but one of those tasks is to protect. I know I can't protect my son every moment of every day. So I pray.