What does a lifeguard do? 

• ✦ Definition of “lifeguard” – an expert swimmer employed to rescue people who get into difficulty in a swimming pool or at the beach. (Google – Oxford Definitions)
• ✦ Bottom line: their goal is to save your life

I’ve read that “According to the International Lifesaving Federation, certified lifeguards and lifesavers save more than 1 million lives each year.” (source here)

Quote from the United States Lifesaving Association’s website:

• “The United States Lifesaving Association annually polls its chapters for the number of rescues, drownings, and other statistical information reported by lifeguard agencies. This is not a comprehensive list of all statistics generated by all beach lifeguard agencies, but the statistics of most major agencies are included here.
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• USLA has calculated the chance that a person will fatally drown while attending a beach protected by USLA affiliated lifeguards at 1 in 18 million (.0000055%). This is based on the last ten years of reports from USLA affiliated lifeguard agencies, comparing estimated beach attendance to the number of drowning deaths in areas under lifeguard protection.” (https://www.usla.org/page/statistics)
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But how does a lifeguard save your life? 

• ✦ Preventative – Keep you from getting into situations where your life is in danger
  • – Warn you of dangerous situations (flags at the beach, rip currents, sharks, etc.)
  • – Enforce the rules that were designed to keep you safe so that you don’t get into a life-threatening situation
• ✦ Rescue – when your life is in danger
• ✦ Resuscitate – when it appears your life is gone (CPR)

Why do you need a lifeguard? 

• ✦ Because there are things we encounter that threaten our lives 

But here’s the thing – we aren’t just physical beings. We are spiritual ones. So, we not only face things physically that threaten our existence – but we also have a very real enemy that desires to destroy us and keep us from the only One who can truly save our lives. 

John 10:10 says  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

So over the next few weeks – we’re not only going to shed light on the ways that our enemy tries to keep us in darkness and destroy us. But most importantly – we’re going to spotlight Who Jesus is and how He truly SAVES us in each of these areas!