Rocks on the River...

Probably one of my favorite trips we take with our Youth Group is our annual float trip.  The trip entails two nights of camping and one fun filled day on the Current River in central Missouri.  Of course, the whole weekend revolves around our time on the river.  Each year our experience on the river varies.  Some years we have a younger crowd of teens, many of whom have never been in a canoe on a river.  Other years our teens are river veterans who are able to navigate the bends and curves, the calm water and the not so calm water.  Some years, the river is low and lackadaisical with the energy of an overweight man right after the Thanksgiving meal.  Other years, the river is high and full of energy like an adolesant girl hyped up on pixie sticks at a Justin Bieber concert.   Even as you step into the river, ready to shove your canoe into the cold, cold water you can’t entirely anticipate what the river will be like. 

This year the river was perfect.  Not fast, but not slow either.  This was a good thing too because we had a few who had never sat rear-end in a canoe.  Even when one is experienced in the ways of the canoe, the river can be unforgiving and canoes can be fickle beasts.  Our normal procedure is to have a lead canoe and a canoe to bring up the rear.  The rear-end canoe serves to make sure that those in our group are making it down the river in a timely and safe fashion.  This year, I was in the final canoe and got to witness the river have its way with some of our people.

 

As my canoe partner, Casey, and I helped several in our group collect their oars, coolers, life jackets and canoes after a run in with a rock or dead tree, I began to contemplate the nature of a trip down the river.  The river, at times, has a mind of its own.  At one moment it can be calm, serene and beautiful.  At other times, forces inside and outside of the river change its complexion.  The same river can at any moment become turbulent and disruptive.  Rocks jut up from the bottom of the river to snag an unsuspecting canoe.  Fallen trees with their gnarled roots protrude from the river bank.  Rocks and fallen trees are, of course, just a natural part of the river.  To embark on a canoe trip is to expect to hit snags.  It is inevitable.  Sometimes the snags are visible, sometimes they are not.  Sometimes the water moves fast around them, sometimes it does not. 

The joy and excitement of canoeing down the river is being able to see and navigate those rocks and trees which can cause such carnage.  As one travels down the river, and is attentive, one will begin to learn how the water reacts to things just beneath its surface.  Not only that, but one will learn how to react when a canoe does strike the rock.  The inevitability of hitting snags must mean that a person engaged in cannoning down the river must learn how to appropriately respond.  The wrong move, at the wrong time, can be disastrous. 

The same can be said for our lives.  We are engaged in a journey down the river of life, and we will inevitably hit the metaphorical rocks and trees that are natural to the river.  Some of these snags lurk just below the surface of things and we are not always able to avoid them.  Some of the snags are smack dab in the middle of the river, but despite our best efforts at manning the oars, we collide with them head on.  Other snags are engaged when other canoes push us into them.  Just as important as it is in the river to learn how to navigate around these snags, when we can, it is important to deal with them when we’ve realized that a collision is bound to happen. 

One of the reasons we travel as a group down the river, with a canoe always up ahead and a canoe always to the rear, is to ensure the safety and ultimate arrival of everyone in our group.  The canoe up ahead can warn of coming danger; the canoe behind helps pick up the pieces.  Our lives are not meant to be lived as a solitary canoe on the vast river of life.  Rather, we are meant to navigate the river together - watching, learning and helping each other make it to the end alive.  If we neglect our community (for me a community of faith that confesses Jesus Christ is Lord) or never allow our community to speak into our lives giving us guidance and advice, then we will have no one to warn us of danger or help us recover the lost items of our canoe.  We will have no one from whom to learn how to navigate the river.  It is only as we surround ourselves with experienced and inexperienced river travelers alike that we will be able to navigate the river with any proficiency.