I love the Tommy Lee Jones movie “US Marshalls”  where they are searching for the fugitive, Wesley Snipes.  They go out into boats in a swamp and his command is “stay in the boat; if you see the suspect, put up a flare, but stay in the boat!”

I just took a mini-vacation to Southern Virginia and took one day to go kayaking with my 26-lb terrier puppy, Gizzy. I used to kayak a lot when I lived in Texas, but haven’t in the last 9 years.  I was wearing a life jacket and Gizzy was wearing one too.  Being an experienced paddler, I had complete control over the boat the whole time.  She fell overboard a couple times in the beginning and I simply reached out and grabbed her life jacket and put her back in the boat.  The Shenandoah river was up, so the many ripples were really more like baby rapids.  Every time we hit some, Gizzy almost jumped out of the boat when she heard and felt the boat hit the rocks in the shallow rapids.  She could also hear my voice – soothing and assuring her that all was fine and it was okay.  I repeatedly told her to stay in the boat.  She heard both but responded to the sound of the rapids and the rocks hitting the boat rather than the sound of my voice.  Well the 8-mile trip took about 2.5 hours.  Most of this time Gizzy was trembling with fear in between my legs inside the kayak.  She got her head in the way a few times while I was paddling and got knocked a bit.  Another thing I noticed is that I had to paddle constantly to keep the boat straight and moving forward.

It all made me think about how God is steering the kayak of my life.  The life jacket I am wearing is His salvation.  I can jump overboard but am never beyond His reach.  Though I can hear His voice, sometimes it is easier to hear the storms of life and tremble in fear.  And sometimes my head gets in the way as He is constantly steering my life and paying attention to every detail.  Even though I stay in the boat (His Presence), it is easy to respond to my fear and my feelings and tremble rather than listening to His voice calming and soothing me.  Staying in the boat keeps me in a place of safety, but choosing to respond only to His voice will keep me in a place of peace.  Just some thoughts to think about…..