Macklin lay face up in the water. His 18-month-old body was gray. He wasn\u2019t moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had only been out of his parents\u2019 sight for a few minutes that Sunday morning. The pool gate was never left open. All of the four kids had spent hours in the backyard by themselves, and nothing had ever happened\u2014not like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeing his son, Scott pulled Macklin from the water, and into his arms. The other children gathered around. “What do we do, daddy?” they asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Pray,” Scott said, and putting his mouth to Macklin\u2019s, he began to breathe air into his dead son\u2019s lungs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we believe evolutionary theory, we might say that Scott\u2019s efforts were the result of some primal urge to survive. Like a mother bird defending her young from the attacks of a hawk, Scott was just following his instincts. Except, Scott isn\u2019t a mother. And most fathers in the animal kingdom could care less about the survival of their offspring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe survival instinct\u2026 It\u2019s what drives all of us. And it\u2019s what\u2019s gonna save us,\u201d says Matt Damon\u2019s character, Dr. Mann, in the movie, Interstellar<\/em> (2014). Dr. Mann says this as he is trying to kill Cooper, the story\u2019s hero, played by Matthew McConaughey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Scott\u2019s efforts to save Macklin, the scene begs for bigger answers to our questions about \u201cwhat drives all of us\u201d\u2014\u201cand what\u2019s gonna save us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know that there is something more. We know that a father doesn\u2019t try to breathe life back into his dead son because of instinct. We know that it\u2019s Love that\u2019s \u201cgonna save us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLove isn\u2019t something we invented. It\u2019s observable. Powerful. It has to mean something\u2026 Love is the one thing we\u2019re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.\u201d (\u201cAmelia Brand\u201d in Interstellar<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scott\u2019s love for Macklin was and is powerful. It was observable. And it wasn\u2019t something that Scott invented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scott\u2019s love is that of a father. His love for Macklin is the result of choice and affection\u2014deep affection. He could\u2019ve left Macklin in the pool. But, he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One need not be a father, or a parent, to understand the type of love that Scott demonstrated for Macklin. It is the same type of love that can be experienced between siblings, extended family members, and between old friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Macklin lay lifeless, his older brother and sister (ages 5 and 7) offered up this prayer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDear Jesus, we’ve never had a dream like this before. Macklin is dead. Bring him back to life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am thankful to say that Jesus did bring Macklin back to life, that the Geer family is not now a sorrowful 5, but a more content, more grateful 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am also thankful to say that Love is what saves us, and “what\u2019s gonna save us,” and that something more powerful and more meaningful than instinct is ensuring my survival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Macklin lay face up in the water. His 18-month-old body was gray. He wasn\u2019t moving. He had only been out of his parents\u2019 sight for a few minutes that Sunday morning. The pool gate was never left open. All of the four kids had spent hours in the backyard by themselves, and nothing had ever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n