WHEN GOD SPEAKS

What do we hear?

Does God talk directly to you?

I don’t think he talks to me, as in, “Rick, that was a pretty stupid thing you just did. Drop and give me 20.”

No, I’ve always figured God has enough going on in the world that he’s not hyper-focused on every little thing I do or say. That’s not to say he shouldn’t be super-focused on me, given my propensity to mangle things. I just don’t think he is, because there are enough other people and issues out there that seem more deserving of his time.

Worrying about climate change, for one. The 300 kidnapped girls in Nigeria, for another. The various Kardashians’ lives, for sure. Maybe the fate of the Trinity Tollroad, although perhaps even God can’t make that thing just go away.

I bring this up after listening to a Sunday School lesson a while back. At the time, this idea didn’t register, but the more I thought about it (meaning the teacher did a great job), the more I wondered what I actually had learned.

The lesson in question involved the teacher sitting next to a woman during a lengthy musical performance. The woman had soaked herself in a perfume the teacher didn’t enjoy, resulting in what the teacher described as akin to an existential problem: If the perfume was as overwhelming to everyone else as it was to the teacher, shouldn’t someone step up and say something?

On the face of it, it makes sense: Why should the many suffer because of the ignorance of the few (or, in this case, the one overly perfumed woman)? And so the teacher told the class she said a prayer asking what to do, and then she decided to man up, telling the woman at intermission (as the teacher left to find a scentless seat) that maybe the woman should be more considerate of others next time and not slather on so much perfume.

That isn’t the comment that later troubled me. The next statement is what drew my attention, after I had mulled the scenario:

The teacher said she was doing God’s work in letting the perfumed woman know her thoughts, believing that by speaking up, she was giving the woman an opportunity to learn from her mistake. The teacher said she was glad God empowered her to make a difference in the lives of others.

So would God really take the time to intervene in a situation like this one? Would he use divine inspiration to induce one person to tell

DISTRIBUTION PH/214.560.4203

ADVERTISING PH/214.560.4203 office administrator: JUDY LILES

214.560.4203 / jliles@advocatemag.com display sales manager: BRIAN BEAVERS

214.560.4201 / bbeavers@advocatemag.com senior advertising consultant: AMY DURANT

214.560.4205 / adurant@advocatemag.com senior advertising consultant: KRISTY GACONNIER

214.264.5887 / kgaconnier@advocatemag.com advertising consultants

SALLY ACKERMAN

214.560.4202 / sackerman@advocatemag.com

CATHERINE PATE

214.292.0494 / cpate@advocatemag.com

NORA JONES

214.292.0962 / njones@advocatemag.com

FRANK McCLENDON

214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com

GREG KINNEY

214.292.0485 / gkinney@advocatemag.com

EMILY WILLIAMS

469.916.7864 / ewilliams@advocatemag.com

MICHELE PAULDA

214.292.2053 / mpaulda@advocatemag.com classified manager: PRIO BERGER

214.560.4211 / pberger@advocatemag.com director of digital marketing: MICHELLE MEALS

214.635.2120 / mmeals@advocatemag.com

EDITORIAL PH/ 214.292.2053 publisher: CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

214.560.4204 / chughes@advocatemag.com senior editor: EMILY TOMAN

214.560.4200 / etoman@advocatemag.com editors:

RACHEL STONE another that her choice in perfume should be reconsidered? And just how could the teacher be so sure she was acting as God’s instrument?

That’s one of the great wonders of life for those who believe in a higher authority, and surveys show that more than 90 percent of us still do. Those who believe in a God tend to believe their actions are governed by the beliefs their God has set forth. And as we know from history, people who believe they are doing God’s work — correctly or otherwise — aren’t easily dissuaded or defeated, because they believe God is on their side. After all, he told them so.

All of this brings me back to that original question: Do you believe God talks directly to you?

And if you do, how do you satisfy yourself that you’re hearing him correctly?

I like to believe I know the answer, but most of the time, I’m not so sure.

Rick Wamre is president of Advocate Media. Let him know how we are doing by writing to 6301 Gaston, Suite 820, Dallas 75214; or email

214.292.0490 / rstone@advocatemag.com

BRITTANY NUNN

214.635.2122 / bnunn@advocatemag.com senior art director: JYNNETTE NEAL

214.560.4206 / jneal@advocatemag.com designer: KATHRYN ROCHA

214.292.0493 / krocha@advocatemag.com designers: LARRY OLIVER, LISA DUDLEY contributing editors: KERI MITCHELL, SALLY WAMRE contributors: GAYLA BROOKS, SEAN CHAFFIN, ANGELA HUNT

GEORGE MASON, BLAIR MONIE, ELLEN RAFF, PAM HARRIS, KRISTEN MASSAD, WHITNEY THOMPSON photo editor: DANNY FULGENCIO

214.635.2121 / danny@advocatemag.com photographers: JAMES COREAS, MARK DAVIS, DAVID LEESON, KIM LEESON, ELLIOTT MUÑOZ, JENNIFER SHERTZER copy editor: LARRA KEEL interns: SAMMI BRAUN, VALIRIE MORGAN

Swimbabies

The phone rang. Dad stepped away to answer it, leaving his two young children in the freshly drawn bath. Then, tragedy struck: One of his children drowned.

It was an accident. Regardless, Child Protective Services took the surviving child into custody, and Mom and Dad had to prove to the state that they were capable parents before the child could return home.

Linda DeSanders says the death of her cousin’s child in the tub that day shook her entire family. Since then, the owner of Dol- fin Swim School in the Lake Highlands area has worked to prevent such accidents.

“I just want kids to be able to enjoy the water for the rest of their lives,” she says.

According to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May 2012, drowning results in more deaths among 1- to 4-year-olds than any other cause except birth defects.

DeSanders directs the Texas Drowning Prevention Alliance and teaches lifelong aquatic skills, beginning with some of the most vulnerable swimmers: babies.

“It’s fascinating to watch my babies become incredible swimmers when they are just 13 months old,” she says. “We call them our waterbabies.”

Last summer, about five million people viewed the controversial YouTube video, “Baby Swims Across Pool,” in which a 16-month-old is seen swimming underwater and holding her breath in a three-footdeep pool. DeSanders says that teaching babies to swim prevents drowning.

Because babies are born in amniotic fluid, they kick and hold their breath naturally, but around 6 to 8 months of age, they lose those aquatic instincts. As a teacher, DeSanders takes that instinct and turns it into a trained behavior.

DeSanders, an avid swimmer herself, became a lifeguard and swim instructor at age 18. When she had her first child in 1980, she wanted to teach him to swim as early as possible. But at the time, Red Cross would not offer swimming lessons to children younger than 6.

“I didn’t want to wait until he was 6 years old,” DeSanders says. “So, I used my experience to teach my own kids. By the time each of them were 2, they were capable swimmers. They jumped off high boards and dove to the bottom of the pool for toys.”

At Dolfin Swim School, babies can begin classes at 3 months old. First, they learn to float on their backs, a skill that they can use the rest of their lives.

Every April, parents can practice drowning-prevention techniques. DeSanders asks parents what they would do if their child fell in a pool, and almost unanimously they say that they’d jump in. But she says that that’s not necessarily the best response.

“Most children are near the side of the pool when they fall in. It’s not like they fall into the middle of the pool. Instead of jumping in, parents should calmly reach in, pull them out, and start talking to them to distract their mind that something bad happened. It really works.”

In 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission released a report that Texas leads the nation in child drowning deaths. In response, DeSanders contacted every local water safety advocate she could find. The next year, 22 people came from all over the state, and within a year the Texas Drowning Prevention Alliance (TXDPA) was born. The group has members in Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas, El Paso and Lubbock.

An integral partnership between TXDPA and the Texas Pediatric Society has resulted in the distribution of 16,000 drowning brochures, available in English and Spanish, to pediatric patients and their parents at annual checkups. Still, Texas continued to rank first in child drowning in 2012 and 2013.

“I want the word to get out to more people,” DeSanders says. “I know we have so much to do.”

—Whitney Thompson