Aynslee's Habitude

Aynslee's Rafting Habitude: Falling into the Rapids

Yesterday the MYP teams rafted the Pigeon River. I am from Mississippi but surprisingly I have rafted in the areas of Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina about 6 times. So when I got on this river, I pretty much considered myself to be an expert.

Our guide's name was Elle and she was hilarious. She was also nice enough to let me put some artwork on her helmet! My fellow rafters were Tawana, Renea, and Andy. So we were paddling along, everything was running smoothly. Then Elle tells us that on the next spot we better not fall out because there is another big rapid right after it. She said it was the worst spot for someone to fall out. So I'm thinking, 'well I've got this, I've done this 6 times already.' Well, you know pride goes before a fall, so guess what, at the worst spot this little southern bell hit the rapids. It was nothing I was expecting, I just kinda flew out.

The amazing thing is that it seemed like the second after I hit the water, I was back out again. For a tiny second it was cold and fear, and then I felt a hand around my arm. It was Tawana's hand, keeping me from taking off down the river to bounce around the rocks. WIth the help of Renea and Andy, I was pulled back to safety.

In a way, my experience reminds me of the experience Peter had in Matthew when he was walking towards Jesus and he began to sink. For a brief moment Peter was terrified as he began to sink into the waves. Verse 14:31 says, 'Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith,"he said, "why did you doubt?"

So what can we, as a team of leaders, learn from this? We learn that at one time or another, every single one of us, no matter how good we are at what we do, will sink or fall out of the raft. It will be a time when you're not expecting it, and all of a sudden you are fearing and doubting. This is when you must trust your brothers and sisters in Christ to reach out and grab you. When one of us know that the other is sinking or when we see them hit a rock, we have to love them and pull them back up, or else they will be swept down the river and the boat cannot be steered.