Growing up I have never been a need for speed, adrenaline rush kind of junkie. I have never been bungee jumping or sky diving, I have never been parasailing, or even white water rafting for that matter. Actually come to think about it I have canoed many times but even then I ended up in the trees or flipped before my trip was over and I did that once a weak at least for 2 1/2 months while working at a youth camp haha.
Maybe some of it is lack of opportunity but I think a big majority is probably fear of the unknown. In all the extreme things I have mentioned they are all under professional suppervision with extremily safe equipment and a semi controlled environment. I think out of all of these extreme adventures however, the one that scares me the most is white water rafting. I can picture it now.... little me in a huge life jacket and helmet I can barely see under, with eyeballs as big around as golf balls like one of those twisted whiskers characters on greeting cards, shivering in fear and probably coldness because i'm always freezing all while my mind is racing a million miles a minute about whats ahead. I can see the boat we will be riding in and I know the people around me that will be riding along also but I can only see a glimpse of the route we have to take on the river during our journey. The waves are crashing against the rocks so hard i'm just sure they are never usually this violent and will most definitely throw us overboard. If we aren't thrown overboard the waves will still deterr our boat from its usual route down a different one our guide doesnt know well and the next thing we know we are lost no mans land and nobody will ever find us out there all alone. Ok so maybe that scenerio is a little extreme or I will just tell you all that I was being extreme because of course I would never really act like that in real life if I were going whitewater rafting, hmmm or would I :) haha???
Extreme or not how many of us treat life like this everyday. We work ourselves up so much and allow our minds and that human instinct to take us to extremes in every situation. Life is alot like white water rafting, its very unpredictable and sometimes the waves are bigger and our trials our bigger. Sometimes we can't always see the route ahead and even when we think we know it, trials and waves can rock us just enough so that our route is changed. The truth is God is alot like our tour guid rafting though but instead of leading us through crazy waters He leads us through crazy life. Professional guides are trained viorously and know almost every square inch of the river that the rafting trails are on. They are prepared for every disaster that we could ever probably think of and they have a solution for them also i'm sure. God is like this in each of our lives. Regardless of which route we end up on, what trials we face, what triumphs we celebrate He knows and will be by our side through the entire journey. Although it may be scary and we may feel alone at times we have to remember we arent, there's always family, friends and supporters around us helping us sift through the raging waves of life along the way. When we feel like we dont know what to do we just need to trust and have faith that God will have the solution. Mark 4:35-40 "That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
Whether it's our first time rafting or trying to climb a mountain life has put in our way many people have been down the same journey before us and i'm sure there will be many after but the tricks and lessons we learn along our way is our chance to share our story and journey with others so that their ride through life isnt as tough. Every moment we can share with someone else about the journey we have been on is a moment that another person can gain wisdom and insight from. You may not see the beauty behind your story but I guarantee someone else will. There are trials in life that we can't explain but in those moments I think God uses those things to show us something new that will bless our lives. So many times when we have traveled a route over and over we get content with whats around us and fail to see it for what its worth but then when we are sent down a different path our eyes are opened to new and beautiful things that we would have never seen otherwise.We can't always control the weather around us as we are traveling in our fragile boat and sometimes we make mistakes along the way and dont operate the boat properly. Regardless, God can take our mistakes, hurts, and whatever is thrown at us and stabilize us on a new direction. A beautiful quote I read was this,"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to still reach my destination." We can't always determine the shift in our journey but we can allow God to adjust our sails and lead us to a new destination.
I encourage you that wherever your at whether it be on the embankment scared of getting in the boat, or in the midst of the raging waters unclear of the journey ahead just know that God is in the boat right with you. He will make a way when there seems to be none, He will pick you up and hold you when you need to feel peace, He will guide you down the path when it suddenly changes and He is powerful enough that He can direct the waves and turmoil in your life to cease. I dont know what your going through today but I do know we are all white water rafting through life everyday and my goal is to not fear the unknown but yet trust Him with it instead., afterall i'm not a trained guide for troubled waters but He is.
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