The High ...

The High Dive

Harley and Matt lived in a nice neighborhood where the people were friendly-except for one man who lived at the end of the street in a big house with a gigantic swimming pool.

His pool had the highest diving board they had ever seen-so high they could see it over the big fence that surrounded his property.

Every day Charley and Matt walked past the man’s house wishing they could dive off that diving board. But the man didn’t allow anyone on his property, especially kids.

The No Trespassing sign made that very clear, but the prohibition only made the boys want to get inside all the more.

They made a pact with each other that the next time their neighbor went out of town they would sneak over the fence late at night and dive off his incredible high dive.

Two weeks later they noticed the man load a couple of suitcases in his trunk.

Peeking through the blinds in Matt’s bedroom, they saw him drive away. Charley and Matt felt a rush.

They knew that tonight they’d get to experience the thrill they had been dreaming about.

Around 11:00 p.m., dressed in their swimsuits and wrapped in their towels, they snuck out of their bedrooms to meet at the old man’s house.

Although it was a moonless night, they didn’t use flashlights in case someone might see them. They definitely didn’t want their parents finding out.

Climbing over the fence, they entered the man’s yard.

Even in the pitch-dark night they could make out the form of a second fence right next to the pool-which they immediately climbed over.

Inside the pool area they couldn’t see a thing.

Charley was feeling his way along, looking for a place to put his towel, when Matt bumped into the diving board.

He immediately started climbing to the top of the ladder. "Last one in is a rotten egg!" he called to Charley, laughing.

"Be quiet!" Charley said as he felt his way to the edge of the pool.

He wanted to check the temperature of the water. He sat down on the edge and tried to lower his foot in the water when he heard Matt spring off the board.

And just about the time Charley made his discovery, he heard a thud and a bloodcurdling scream.

What Charley discovered was that there was no water in the pool.

The old man had drained it. Matt hit the bottom of the pool feet first and suffered a broken back and other serious injuries which left him paralyzed the rest of his life.

Charley and Matt chose to ignore the fences that the owner had put up to protect people from the danger on the other side.

God puts up a different kind of fence to protect us from getting hurt, physically or spiritually.

When we choose to ignore God’s fences-whether it’s in the area of sex, drugs, drinking, honesty, etc.-we will experience consequences that could seriously hurt us