Recently, I've been going back through the last three years of Days of Praise. Here's one that many replied to when it was first sent. I pray it's a blessing for many today.
"Samaria's king will be destroyed, swept away like a twig on the surface of the waters." - Hosea 10:7
When my daughter, Calley-Taylor, was 19, she and I went white-water rafting as a part of our amazing Father/Daughter week at JH Ranch in the mountains of northern California, about an hour from beautiful Mount Shasta.
An interesting thing about the white-water rafting for Calley-Taylor was what she's known for years, namely, her daddy hates water, because he's not a very good swimmer.
So here we are, with five others, in this little yellow boat, white-water rafting down a seven-mile stretch of the Klamath River. We'd already made it through the most dangerous spot called "The Rattlesnake," so I'm starting to feel pretty confident about this particular "conquer your fears" activity.
Too confident.
As we approached the next white-water rapid, I locked in my feet, as instructed at the start. But wanting to really conquer my fears, I leaned, not into the boat as instructed, but out over the water.
Not smart.
My daughter, along with the other fathers and daughters in our raft, later had some rip-roarin laughs, recounting the horrified look I had on my face as the next rapid rose above me, pulled me out of the boat, and "swept [me] away like a twig on the surface of the waters" as in today's verse from Hosea 10:7.
Lesson learned.
As life comes at ya, lean in, not out.
Lean in towards God and his word and his people. Not out over the world, where the next wave is lurking to rise up and sweep us "away like a twig on the surface of the waters."
To be sure, God is gracious. Our white-water guide, John, was more than capable of rescuing me from my foolishness.
But next time? Well, maybe God will say what he, in essence, says in today's Bible verse, "I'm just gonna have to let you learn the hard way."
So, as the white-water of life comes at ya today...heed God's instruction, and lean in, my friends. Lean in.
Lean in toward God and his word and others who do the same.
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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