This past Saturday, several of the interns here went White Water Rafting. Our guide, Phil, was relatively new and you could tell he was a little nervous with 6 eager and rambunctious college students. He was around our age, probably 22. So the pressure of keeping your peers safe and having fun was definitely weighing on him. Anyway. . .
We got started and right away got went from the rapids. It was so much fun. We went through a few and almost lost a couple passengers through Three Waves(or something like that) And Spike Buck and Shark Tooth were pretty intense as well. All is all it was an enjoyable experience.
As we were riding back from Canon City, I began to think about the similarities between the rafting guide and God. Not that God is nervous or succumbs to fear of peers(since technically he doesn't have any). No. More of the guiding and commanding similarities. We had to learn all these safety rules before we went and were told the numerous ways we could die. Then we learned the paddle commands. Forward, Backward, Left Turn, Right Turn, Stop. With some of those, Phil would tell us a number at the end. So a command would be like, "Forward 2." So we would all have to row together. The two people in the front had a harder time hearing the commands of Phil, who was in the back. The roaring water in the rapids sometimes drowned out his voice. I would have to yell it so the could hear it because I was in the middle of the boat.
I'm sure some of you can see the parallels. God is the one in charge of our raft. He knows the river and where the rapids are. He knows where the rocks are and how to avoid them. He gives commands and we are expected to obey. He is patient and calm, with our well being the most important thing in his mind. Not that we don't get jostled or bruised or wet, but that we make it to the end of our journey alive and safe. God wants us to make it down the river of life. When we disobey or ignore the commands of our Guide, we risk injury or death. The rapids of life can be frightening and last a lot longer than the minute or two each of the ones we went through this weekend did. You may be jostled and tossed and sometimes even launched from the boat(thankfully, I was not.) But when you listen to your Guide and follow the rules he has set in place, you will not only make it to the end of your journey safely, you may even have fun on the ride.
What if none of us had listened to Phil. We could have flipped, gotten stranded, hit rocks, or worse. Phil is trained to lead the rafts and knows the river and where to set boundaries. God does the same thing. When we ignore him, we are putting ourselves in danger. He knows the things that are ahead that we cannot see or do not know about.
I mentioned earlier that Stephanie and Tim had a hard time hearing Phil when we were in the midst of the rapids. Rachel and I would repeat his command. This is accountability. To remind those furthest from the Guide what he says and what to do. God uses others to proclaim truth and freedom into the lives of his children. Just like Phil had Rachel and me to pass on the word to the two people in front of us.
Rafting was awesome. I loved it and would love to go again with my dad. Emma and Mom would probably be sick if they did it.
We came up with a little phrase, "squeak in" every time we saw one of the rapids coming. This was where we shoved our feet tightly under the air pockets in front and behind us. By the end of the day my feet hurt from being in that position so long. But it kept us in the boat. I think that when we know a rough season is coming up(like the last year of college and graduation) we need to "Squeak in" to the truth of God and plant ourselves firmly in it. This will keep us from falling out of the boat and being shaken loose by the waves.
So today, my challenge is to "Squeak In" and listen for the next command from the True Rafting Guide.
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