President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina
As the school year ends, we come to a time of graduations and summer vacation. I offer these life lessons that I learned while rafting on the Colorado rapids several summers ago.
I had never rafted on white water before in my life. Neither had Mae or John Michael. On this river in Colorado we learned a lot.
1. Follow the GuideThe big thing in white-water rafting is to let the guide lead. This is important. Without the voice of the guide, who is constantly shouting, “Full back!” (row backward) or “Ahead!” (row forward) or “All left!” This command is especially critical. It means the rowers on the right side need to immediately move to the left side in order to avoid tipping over.
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In our spiritual lives, there are constant threats in life. The best way to get through the rapids of life is to listen to our Guide, the Lord, rather than doing it our way.
The Bible says, over and over again, that God is our Guide:
• “In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling” (
Exod. 15:13).
• “For this God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end” (
Ps. 48:14).
• “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (
John 16:13).
Our guide knew that stretch of the Arkansas River that we were rafting like the back of his hand. We had never been that way before. Our safety, our success—our lives in a sense—depended on listening to our guide.
I do well to remember this: Follow the Guide. Listen to His voice. He will get me safely home.
2. Work TogetherThis is a simple lesson. When the guide shouts out the command, we have to listen and then work together. In the picture you see two children in the front of the raft. The one on the left is our son. The little girl on the right belongs to the folks behind her (from Thousand Oaks, California). That little girl had to listen to the guide’s call, make the move, and we all had to move our oars in rhythm with hers. If she didn’t move quickly enough, our guide would give her some decisive encouragement. If we didn’t follow her motions quick enough we were told, “Come on people, work together!” Again, our safety depended on unity, as well as our success in navigating the rapids.
According to Paul, the church is a team that must work together. So he wrote to the Ephesians: “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (
Eph. 4:16).I am reminded that I do nothing alone.