Day 2 on the River: A Day of Reflection
Today the plan was to enjoy the "slower part" of the river. There were not any rapids in today's venue and I thought it would be a great opportunity to digest all that we have been reading about over the past few days. We started the day reading about David's friendship with Jonathan. It was interesting to me that the future and rightful heir, Jonathan, took it upon himself to love David as himself. Surely Jonathan must have realized that David was a threat to his career and fortunes. The boys and I discussed how the true mark of a man was one who was resolved to submitting to God's will. Jonathan saw that God was with David and wanted nothing more than to support the Lord's anointed. His father Saul did not share these sentiments though and God sent an evil spirit to torment him the rest of his days. Why do we fight so hard against God's plans? Do we really think that we know more than He does about what is best? I suppose we live under this false allusion that we are in control and unlike other cultures and those who live in countries with such poverty and instability in the government, we have pretty good reason to think we are in control. Most people in the world do no know what they will eat the next day or if they will have a home after the next election. It is no wonder the Gospel (acknowledging our fallen nature and consequence, recognizing our only hope is through Christ, and dying to ourselves daily while picking up our crosses to follow Him) is so rapidly spreading in places where they seem to have no control in life. Perhaps it would be good for us to lose our wealth, safety, and security living in America for a while to see that we have been blinded by this destructive road being traversed mostly without Christ. David certainly was thrown into this sort of period in life being promised that he would be king yet the current king was clearly healthy and didn't have plans of giving up his reign; certainly not to a shepherd boy from the countryside. Saul sought to kill David on multiple occasions and made it his focus to do away with David. I am confident David was questioning everything about his calling to be king and whether God knew what He was doing. God must have smiled and just thought "be patient, in due time when you are ready". There was more work God needed to do in David's life to prepare him for the calling God made for him.
Well, we saw no one on the river today and arrived at the next campsite a little earlier in the day. Tomorrow was the big day on the river paddling over 20 miles and through the fiercest rapids. I was really beginning to doubt whether I made the right decision to go down the river along with the boys. If only I had someone else to go ahead of me and pick up the boys out of the river if we tipped over. How long was it anyways, before hypothermia sets in and how cold does the water have to be? What would happen if we tipped over with each kid going a different direction while I would still have to hang on to the canoe with my one set of car keys in it?
Just before I decided to call off the last day of the trip, I saw another couple come up from the river. They must have been in their late 60's and their metal canoe was older than they were. Based on their accents, I am pretty sure their names could have been Sven and Ole and it is likely they had tapioca in there small cooler that they hoisted up the hill from the river. I was preparing to ask them if they would tag along with us tomorrow and then as I got closer I realized that they might not be the right solution. This guy was a bit of an exibitionist; the shortest swimming suit shorts you could find and a hula shirt unbuttoned revealing skin that looked more like leather than what I recalled the pasty-northern people to look like. Maybe I would wait until the morning.
I couldn't sleep all night thinking through all the things that could go wrong tomorrow. What has come over me? I never think about such negative things. Ready fire aim, right? Well, having the lives of others in your hands seems to have changed this perspective a bit. I am sure I could have had DFS called on me for plenty of things in my day, but this one would top the cake if I dump that canoe. I spent most of the night praying that God would give me a solution. I didn't have answers and wasn't sure how to get out of this predicament I had gotten myself into.
Today the plan was to enjoy the "slower part" of the river. There were not any rapids in today's venue and I thought it would be a great opportunity to digest all that we have been reading about over the past few days. We started the day reading about David's friendship with Jonathan. It was interesting to me that the future and rightful heir, Jonathan, took it upon himself to love David as himself. Surely Jonathan must have realized that David was a threat to his career and fortunes. The boys and I discussed how the true mark of a man was one who was resolved to submitting to God's will. Jonathan saw that God was with David and wanted nothing more than to support the Lord's anointed. His father Saul did not share these sentiments though and God sent an evil spirit to torment him the rest of his days. Why do we fight so hard against God's plans? Do we really think that we know more than He does about what is best? I suppose we live under this false allusion that we are in control and unlike other cultures and those who live in countries with such poverty and instability in the government, we have pretty good reason to think we are in control. Most people in the world do no know what they will eat the next day or if they will have a home after the next election. It is no wonder the Gospel (acknowledging our fallen nature and consequence, recognizing our only hope is through Christ, and dying to ourselves daily while picking up our crosses to follow Him) is so rapidly spreading in places where they seem to have no control in life. Perhaps it would be good for us to lose our wealth, safety, and security living in America for a while to see that we have been blinded by this destructive road being traversed mostly without Christ. David certainly was thrown into this sort of period in life being promised that he would be king yet the current king was clearly healthy and didn't have plans of giving up his reign; certainly not to a shepherd boy from the countryside. Saul sought to kill David on multiple occasions and made it his focus to do away with David. I am confident David was questioning everything about his calling to be king and whether God knew what He was doing. God must have smiled and just thought "be patient, in due time when you are ready". There was more work God needed to do in David's life to prepare him for the calling God made for him.
Well, we saw no one on the river today and arrived at the next campsite a little earlier in the day. Tomorrow was the big day on the river paddling over 20 miles and through the fiercest rapids. I was really beginning to doubt whether I made the right decision to go down the river along with the boys. If only I had someone else to go ahead of me and pick up the boys out of the river if we tipped over. How long was it anyways, before hypothermia sets in and how cold does the water have to be? What would happen if we tipped over with each kid going a different direction while I would still have to hang on to the canoe with my one set of car keys in it?
Just before I decided to call off the last day of the trip, I saw another couple come up from the river. They must have been in their late 60's and their metal canoe was older than they were. Based on their accents, I am pretty sure their names could have been Sven and Ole and it is likely they had tapioca in there small cooler that they hoisted up the hill from the river. I was preparing to ask them if they would tag along with us tomorrow and then as I got closer I realized that they might not be the right solution. This guy was a bit of an exibitionist; the shortest swimming suit shorts you could find and a hula shirt unbuttoned revealing skin that looked more like leather than what I recalled the pasty-northern people to look like. Maybe I would wait until the morning.
I couldn't sleep all night thinking through all the things that could go wrong tomorrow. What has come over me? I never think about such negative things. Ready fire aim, right? Well, having the lives of others in your hands seems to have changed this perspective a bit. I am sure I could have had DFS called on me for plenty of things in my day, but this one would top the cake if I dump that canoe. I spent most of the night praying that God would give me a solution. I didn't have answers and wasn't sure how to get out of this predicament I had gotten myself into.
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