Isn't this a word for every one of us here? There is not a person in this room who does not know what it means to be paralyzed with fear, There is not a person listening to the sound of my voice who does not know what it is to wake up in the morning at 3:00 when everybody else is asleep and wonder how in the world you are going to face the coming day. John is saying that if you will listen to Christ, He will guide you and guard you and take you through. I want to lift up the extraordinary power we receive when we are willing to listen to His direction and simply keep on going even when we are scared.

I discovered this truth while my wife and I were living in New England. I was attending Yale Divinity School and I worked in the summers as a YMCA counselor, taking the kids out backpacking and canoeing. We had one group that was really advanced. We wanted to take them white water canoeing. It would not be serious white water, not the type that could actually hurt somebody, but we wanted to give them a taste of what it meant to hit really exciting waves. We found a place on the Housatonic River where the water narrows underneath an historic old covered bridge. It looks like a scene right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, and under that covered bridge there were no hazards or rocks. Nobody could get hurt, but the waves were wild. The water just foamed and fumed and it was extraordinarily exciting. I thought, "The kids will love this."

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I took them up them river and I put them in a line. I put the two biggest boys in the front canoe. I mean these were good looking guys. They were strong. They looked like they stepped out of a GQ magazine. I figured if the first canoe went through OK, all of them would get through OK. I looked at those guys and said, "Now, all you have to do is point that canoe straight down the river. Go right under the bridge. I am going to be calling out instructions and advice while you go under the bridge. Just listen to me, do what I say, and point the canoe straight down the river. Don't worry about anything. You will be fine. Can you do it?" They said, "Count on us, Steve! We're ready."

I got them all in the river in their canoes. I ran down the bank and got up on the bridge so I could shout instructions as they came past. I cried, "Come on down!" They looked so good. The boys in the front were paddling their way down the river in perfect form. Then, they saw it. They saw the white water. When you are in the canoe, your eyes are only two feet above the surface of the water. You can't see what is coming at you until you are right on it. But now they were there, and it looked like Niagara Falls! I mean, the river just dropped away. It wasn't dangerous, but it looked horrifying.

I saw the look of fear in their eyes, so I started shouting, "Don't worry! Don't worry! Just paddle." And they did. They started back-paddling as hard as they could. The problem was that they were already in the current. When the river narrows it forms a "V". If you go into that current, the river is stronger than you are. Once you are in the "V", you can't get out. They were in the "V" so when they started back paddling, they just succeeded in turning the canoe in circles! They just started spiraling down toward the white water. This wasn't good. I knew that. So I shouted at them, "Stop! Don't back-paddle. Just steer. Just try to steer the canoe!"