Sometimes a disaster is a disaster and we remember it for what it was. But sometimes a disaster turns into an adventure over time.
I was reflecting the other day on a camp adventure – I mean disaster – I was party to many years ago …
I was directing a week of junior high camp north of Edmonton at Camp Nakamun.
For one of the activities that week I planned to take the whole camp of about 60 campers, plus councillors and support crew, on a lazy river float.
I got the owner of a tire company to give me 100 inner tubes. It was going to be awesome!
The plan was to plop ourselves in the water at a designated spot, float for one and a half hours, then pull up to shore and get picked up by the bus.
It was a great plan … but I wasn’t there when they did the trial run. Everyone assured me that it would go like clockwork so I had no fears.
The day came and we all got in the water and started floating down the Pembina River. About a half a kilometre downstream, I floated by one the staffers who had gone on the trial run. He was looking back at the bridge from which we were dropped into the river.
He said to me very calmly, “I’m not sure that’s the spot we started from when we did our trial.”
I said, “What?! … How are they going to know where to pick us up then?” It’s not like the road followed the river; it actually only intersected the river in a few spots.
At the time I thought, “Oh well. It will work out.”
We had great fun for a while, linking inner tubes together to form a flotilla, splashing each other and, of course, overturning the odd inner tube, dumping the owner into the river.
What we didn’t have was medical personnel, life jackets, or food. They never met up with us.
The day was a little cooler and too overcast to call it ideal weather, so about an hour and a half into the float people were getting hungry, cold and ready to get out of the water.
We kept floating, hoping to find the arranged meeting spot. It was nowhere in sight.
It started to sprinkle rain and the natives started asking more questions. Still we kept floating on.
About two hours into the float, we beached the tubes on the shore and climbed the steep banks of the river.
We found a home close by and the kind owners built a bonfire on their lawn for the kids to keep warm.
It was another hour later before the bus finally found us.
That night I had quite a few hostile junior highers in my camp. They let me know they were not happy with me.
My hour and a half outing turned into a little bit of a Gilligan’s Island tour!
I thought it would go down as the great camping disaster, but the next year some of the kids who’d been on that float talked about it as if it was the greatest adventure.
Years later I look back and laugh at that outing; we all came back alive to tell the tale.
Here’s the thing: When we go through difficult things in life don’t miss the adventure of having God with you. Recall how God managed to get you through the disaster so that you can look back on it as an adventure through which you grew.
That’s Life!
Paul
Question: Anyone remember a lazy river ride like that? Leave your comments below.
It’s funny how things happen. I’m not a big Facebook user but I do have an account so I can see what is happening in my sons’ youth groups. Today I happened to be clicking around and I stumbled upon this post…it has been 24 years since Paul married my dear husband and I:)
I was on this rafting adventure so many years ago and yet it seems like just yesterday! I remember standing in the kitchen of this amazing couple who opened their home to dozens of shivering youth. This “adventure” was a true defining God moment for me in my life and one that I often think back on!
It’s almost cliché but these little adventures in life really do prepare you for the truly big things in life! It was this experience that showed me as a teenager that God is always with you, even when things don’t go the way we as humans plan our lives!
I’m now living with stage 4 breast cancer that went to my bones. Time and time again, God has been with me and my family every step of the way. God is amazing! While I don’t love cancer, I love the way God uses my cancer to teach me something new every day. I love that He never leaves me and the way He puts people in my life that I can learn from, and sometimes, He even uses me to teach others about Him. I especially love that he has given wisdom to doctors and researchers to create drugs that can hopefully control my cancer for years and years to come!!
We serve an AMAZING God! When I was first diagnosed 3 and a half years ago, I thought that all my hopes and dreams were over and yet God has gone on to open windows that I never thought would open. The prayer of my heart is that God will use me and my life to teach others about Him. From the first day of diagnosis, my husband and I decided that we are going to truly “live” our faith so our sons can see our faith in action. We don’t want to just talk about our faith, we want to live it. While things definitely didn’t go the way we planned, it has given us countless ways to show our sons our faith. In fact, when I was especially concerned about some test results last summer, my 17 year old son said “Mom, if you are going to pray about your health, you can’t worry. But if you are going to worry, don’t bother praying. God has been faithful so far so why are you worrying now?”. Yikes…that put me in my place!
I don’t know the plans that God has for my life but I know that He has plans. He has proven himself through every experience in my life (even though He shouldn’t need to prove himself!) and even when the adventure is vastly different than what I had planned, He is faithful and He is always there. He carries me when I need to be carried, He walks beside me and He calls me his beloved daughter.
Blessings to you and your family, Paul!!
Lisa (Pede) Sauder
Dear Lisa,
It is so good to hear from you. Thank you for sharing what’s been happening in your life. Lily and I were both struck with so many emotions when reading your testimony and what God is doing in your life. We’re so sorry and deeply saddened to learn of what you’ve been facing. Yet, when reading your testimony we were amazed at what God has been and is doing in your life. It is evident that God has been faithful. We are filled with joy at how you have embraced God through this most difficult trial. Your sons have a great model of faith hope and love before them as Christ shines through you.
Lily and I will be praying for you, Lisa. May God continue to reveal Himself to you, and through your life to all those around you.
Greetings to Randy.
Love you,
Paul