When you encounter in nature the untamed power of your almighty God, you are in for the ride of your life!
SHAUNA: Hi, this is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Joni, I know you’ve got a favorite summertime memory to share with us today.
JONI: I sure do Shauna and it was decades ago, but I think of this memory every summer. It involved a happy, wild ride with my cousin, Eddie Blake. I was new to being paralyzed—but there was Eagle Scout Eddie coming up with all sorts of ideas to keep the adventurous spirit in me alive. He asked if he could take me canoeing down the Gunpowder River in Maryland. I didn’t know how that was possible, what with me being a quadriplegic. But I was dying to do stuff, especially in the outdoors. And so, I said, “Okay, let’s try it. I’m not sure how you’ll get me in a canoe, but I trust you Eddie.” And so, Eddie took a couple of bungee cords and secured a foldable beach chair in the front of his canoe. We drove to the head of the Gunpowder River, parked near the water, and then Eddie lifted me out of the car and into this cherry-rigged canoe. He grabbed his paddles, climbed into the back, and pushed us off from shore.
At first my cousin lazily paddled as we were carried along. And I thought, “This is pleasant enough.” But then came a turn in the river and when I saw white water underneath me, I became frightened. The canoe was tipping this way and that. I shouted over my shoulder, “Is everything under control back there?” “Not a problem,” Eddie yelled back. It was the oddest feeling. I was scared, yet I felt secure. Petrified, yet thrilled. And, boy, did I have the ride of my life!
You know, embracing God is something like that. It’s like rafting through white water. Author David Swartz says, “God resonates throughout his being with a wild fiery love. And all those who long to embrace God should expect boulders and white water. Sometimes God is better found in turbulence than in security; calm may be a stagnate backwater for the faithless. Or others may hold back, stick a toe in the water or splash around to test the temperature. But not us. Let us plunge into God’s love and be swept away in life abundant and eternal.”
Friend, this is the way God would have us see him. There are times when an unpredictable situation may scare us, yet knowing that God is sovereign, you feel safe. Yet never do we take him for granted, right? It’s like my cousin Eddie once told me. He said that he never really “beats” [as it were] the white water; but he sure has learned to respect it. Even the most experienced guides on river rafting trips have learned to esteem and give respect to the rapids. Psalm 93:4 says, “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.” And Psalm 29:3 puts it this way, “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.”
That’s our Jesus. That’s our mighty Lord. So, no wonder he tells us to fear him; to respect and honor him, to hold him in awe [and I mean the A.W.E kind of awe]. After Eddie took me home from that thrilling canoe ride down the Gunpowder River, I was still breathless. I sensed that our wild ride through white water affirmed something in the Word about God’s awesomeness and his power. My trip down the Gunpowder was, for me, a life-transcending moment in which I gained a new reverence for the Lord. And it can happen to you, too. Without a doubt, when you encounter in nature the untamed power of your almighty God, hang on, because you are in for the ride of your life.
© Joni and Friends