Have you ever felt like sometimes that your life is like a raging river with rapids and strong under tow that every time you turn around you are just being swept under. You are going so fast down river that you can get things under control. You keep hitting one unseen rock after another. It seems like every time there is a rock you are just pulled down more and more under the water. It is like if you were to be pulled down just one more time your would drown and that would be it. You know we say that we know that God is there with us but to we really believe it deep down in our hearts that he is there. We say we read our bible and we attend bible study, we know that he says he is there because he tells us in his word that he is there and he is watching over us. Just like in Matthew 6: 25-31 he tells us that he knows our every need and he will meet those needs. So if we truly believe he is there then why do we do not try to call out to him more for help.
Well let me tell you I know for a fact he is there and is just waiting for each and everyone of us to just call out to him for help. I am not just saying this because I read and study my bible and I know what he promises me he will do, I know for the very simple reason that I have actually experienced what it is like to be in a river with mighty rapids, being pulled under, not being able to turn around to face down river like the guide has told you to do at the being of the trip. Where you feel that my moment is going to be your last. You come up for air and you see your best friend in the same situation and you can’t do anything to help yourself or him. Yes I have truly experience the real thing and believe me it is not something I wish to ever experience again. But I will say on that day God showed up and show off in one of the most awesome ways I have ever experienced.
On Saturday September 15th we took some of the youth White water rafting down to Ocoee River in Tennessee. It was going to be a lot of fun all the way up to Tennessee we had joked about being dumped out of the boat which you figure that sure you maybe but there is a jacket you wear and everything has to be safe because people do it all the time. Well, when we got there we all divided up into groups of six, but you see we had fourteen on the trip so that left Troy and I in a boat with three other ladies from Atlanta and the guide which was always a young lady. It was all a lot of fun to begin with until we came upon the rapid that is known by Double Suck, this is where it all goes crazy. We had already been making comments about praying and joking around about being thrown out and then it happened. All of the passengers were dumped out the guide was the only one left in the boat. Troy, myself and one other ladies was thrown down river by the current about fifty feet. They tell you the assume a white water possession and I tried very hard. The only thing I was unable to do was get turned around to face down the river. I could see Troy up river from me and he shouted for me to get turned around I told him I had tried and could not. The current was so hard and swift that I had come to the conclusion that God if this is my time okay. Just take care of my boys. I never had a panic about the possibility I knew every time that I would hit a rock with my back I was going under. I knew many more times and it could be over. Then finally I was able to get turned a little and there was a boat. I yelled for help and the next thing I knew they were there and pulled me into the boat. The lady that was in our boat had been pulled from the river just before me and Troy was pulled back into the boat we fell out of. Finally once everything had settles down we were all back in the orginial boat that we had started in going back down river. Let me tell you one thing is for sure if some of these people that were on that river did not know the power of God they did by the end of the trip.
We would stop to rest every so often to let the other boats catch up and make sure everyone was safe. Our guide saw where a couple of other rafts had pulled to the side and decided to stop also. Then there on a concrete culvert God showed off. I looked up and told Troy to look and there he was. A small cross with sun rays was drawn on the side of the culvert with six of the most beautiful words a person could ever see. I WAS HERE, I AM HERE. I knew then at that very moment that God was with us when we were going down river and was holding on tight every time we went under. He would be there on the rest of the trip and make sure we were safe.
The other two boats with the Bellevue crew did not stop in that place while we were pulled over. We found out later on that where we pulled over was not one of the regular resting spots is the reason they did not stop. You see now why I said God was showing off. The name of the section of the river that we went down was Hell’s Half Mile and praise God he took us through every inch of it.
So believe me when I say these things. When you feel like you are going down your own Hell’s Half Mile in your life just take a moment to call out to him and realize that God is everything he tells us he is, he will do everything he says he will do and He is there in the difficult time and I AM HERE to see you through the rest.
