“If You’re Not Within an Arm’s Reach, You’ve Gone Too Far”

The warmth and humidity seem a little excessive inside the pool complex, as hundreds of high school students compete in an Ontario, Canada, 2025 regional swim meet. In the stands hundreds of parents and grandparents, phones and cameras in hand, record the exploits of their children as they cheer, clap, or lament the results of a particular race. The relentless December snowstorm that stubbornly tries to bury the hundreds of cars parked outside seems a thousand miles away to those inside.

From my uncomfortable seat in one corner of the stands, I follow my 14-year-old as he bravely battles older and perhaps more talented swimmers. With fifth place as his best result, he will probably never be a top swimmer. And yet I am so proud of him. He has prepared conscientiously for the competition. I find his discipline and decision not to give up worthy of emulation.

A Warning on the Wall

Between one race and the other, I begin to look around, checking on the flags, ads, trophies, and banners displayed around, many of which speak of past or recent glories. Then I see it. The big warning sign stuck on the pool end wall.

“If you are not within arm’s reach, you’ve gone too far,” it reads.

It is a sobering sign, meant to help prevent infant drowning. After all, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more children ages 1-4 die from drowning than any other cause of death, and drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 5-14. Just in the United States there are, every year, more than 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths.[1]

Infant deaths as a result of drowning, experts say, are easily preventable. All a responsible adult needs to do is always keep themselves within an arm’s length from the infant who still hasn’t learned how to swim. And yet . . .

Dying of Thirst

Hebrew, the language in which most of the Old Testament was written, is a very graphic language, linguists say. In its modern form, words to describe some emotions related to love come from animal noises and can often be traced back to the Bible, they explain.

Among those selective terms is erga, defined as a highly poetic word to describe a deep longing. It is used in modern literature and songs. But the word is not new, for it comes from the word ta’arog in Psalm 42:1: “As the deer pants for the waters brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.” While some English translations render the term as “longs,” or even “craves,” the original term is very graphic, linguists say. “Ta’arog isn’t a feeling; it’s the specific hoarse cry a deer makes when it’s dying of thirst.”[2] In that sense “pants” is probably the better translation word choice.

Dying of thirst is the opposite of drowning in a body of water, but they have, in fact, one thing in common: the ultimate demise of the person or animal affected.

Panting for God

As we embark on an unknown 2026, the good news is our absolute certainty of the Father’s closeness to our experience. Be it in the desert or the flood, He has promised He will always be within arm’s reach. He won’t let us drown. And He won’t let us die of thirst, either.

Against the backdrop of that assurance, however, what does our Father require of each one of us? Just that we seek and keep seeking His face (see Ps. 27:8). That, as a deer searching for nearby waters before dying of thirst, each one of us keeps panting for His presence and companionship to the bitter end (see Ps. 42:2).

We can’t afford to wander or swim away. Only close to our Father is there safety no matter what. Only with Him is there “life,” “fullness of joy,” and “pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11). Come what may, we are safe, because He will always be within His mighty arm’s reach.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/drowning/data-research/index.html, quoting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online], available at https://wisqars.cdc.gov/.

[2] See Elon Gilad in https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1dxDaylAtA4.