Whitewater Adventures 2

So anyway, it occurs to me that life is a lot like whitewater rafting in a couple of ways.

The first is this: life is full of ups and downs, periods of calm and periods of intense action, thrills and narrow escapes. The best part about the harrowing, life and limb parts in rafting, as in life, is that they never last. There are times, just as in my kayak, when you get stuck between two rocks (no jokes about being stuck between a rock and a hard place, please) and you simply have to stay calm and keep on working.

The second point is this: just as with my kayak being more difficult to navigate by myself than with a guide, life is like that also. For a Christian, it’s good to know that I have a guide. He has promised to never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5); He’s with me in the calm and in the rapids. I don’t have to work alone. Check out these promises He’s made to me (they could be yours also): He said his grace is sufficient enough to get me through the tough times (2Cor. 12:9), He’s said that even though I’m in danger of being killed, I don’t have to fear anything because He is with me (Psalm 23:4), and He’s reminded me that if He is on my side, I don’t have to fear anyone or anything (Romans 8:31). There are many, many more. The point is this though, He never said there wouldn’t be “rapids”, but He did promise to be there in the midst of those “rapids.” In fact, His own disciples found that out first hand (Mark 4). They actually found that He could guide them through the rapids, He controlled the rapids.

Well, you might ask, if He controls the rapids, why not just eliminate them altogether, or at the very least, guide you around them? Good questions with good answers.

One recent morning, while enjoying my morning quiet time, I read a quote attributed to Shirley Dobson, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson’s wife. She wrote, “It’s a bit like river rafting with an experienced guide. You may begin to panic when the guide steers you straight into a steep waterfall, especially if another course appears much safer. Yet, after you’ve emerged from the swirling depths and wiped the spray from your eyes, you see that just beyond the seemingly “safe” route was a series of jagged rocks. Your guide knew what he was doing after all.”

You see, He knows the beginning and the end. He knows where the rocks are. Just as I can’t see much of the river from my vantage point in my kayak, I can’t see much beyond the next bend in my life. How many 1, 5, & 10 year plans have I made in my life only to be nowhere near the original destination when I got to the end of those plans? I don’t control much in life I’m afraid. God does, though. He knows where it’s better to go through the rapids to get to the calm, rather than run through the calm only to be grounded on the sandbar or the jagged rocks just below the waters surface.

The “rapids” also teach us something about ourselves, don’t they? In my kayak, I’ve learned exactly what I (and my kayak) can and can’t do. I’ve learned when NOT to try to turn (to avoid becoming a fiberglass and flesh dam). I’ve learned when my own strength is not enough to maneuver and when I have to rely on the river’s current. They’ve taught me to remain calm and think when things aren’t necessarily going smoothly; anger and panic won’t keep your kayak from flooding.
Don’t the “rapids of our lives do much the same thing? They teach us what we’re made of. They teach us that we have to rely on others sometimes. They teach us that some things never have been in our control and never will be. They make us stronger - if we let them.

In the end, hopefully they teach us to echo the Apostle Paul when he said, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

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