The Guide

The Guide

What a white water rafting trip taught me about God

A few years ago my wife, two young daughters and I packed up and headed to Red River, New Mexico for a vacation. For a bit of adventure we decided to try something we had never done before — white water rafting.

Before climbing into the raft, we were handed a stack of waivers to sign. You know the kind. The ones that acknowledge if you die it's all your fault. I reluctantly signed them, but I felt relief after we met our guide. He introduced himself before we pushed off, and before long I felt safe in spite of the risks clearly expressed in the waivers. And it wasn't because the river got safer or I had magically become stronger. It was something about him.

He had four qualities that made all the difference.

He was strong. One look at him and you knew — this man has been on this river a hundred times. If something goes wrong, he is getting us out.

He was kind. He wasn't just running a transaction. He genuinely wanted us to have a great day on that river and it showed.

He communicated clearly. Before we hit the first rapid he walked us through every command he would call out — how many strokes on the right, how many on the left. He had a plan. Nobody was left wondering what to do.

And he got in the raft with us. He didn't stand on the bank and shout instructions from a safe distance. He climbed in, picked up a paddle, and went through every rapid right alongside us. Whatever we faced, he faced with us.

Strong. Kind. Communicating clearly. Present in the middle of it with us.

By the time we hit the water I wasn't afraid anymore. His presence gave me something I hadn't had before we met him — confidence, courage, and comfort.

Here is what I want you to know: that is exactly what I have found in God.

We are all on a river. The water moves faster than we'd like, the rapids appear without warning, and there are moments when we are genuinely unsure whether we are going to make it. Life is beautiful and it is also, at times, terrifying.

But the God I have come to know over a lifetime is strong — powerful beyond anything we can fully comprehend, the Creator who spoke the universe into existence. He is kind — not merely tolerant of us, but genuinely delighting in us. He communicates clearly — He has spoken to us through the pages of Scripture with patience and consistency across centuries. And He got in the raft with us — in a stunning act of love, He did not shout instructions from heaven but came down Himself, in the person of Jesus. He lived among us. He died for us. And He refused to let the river take us.

That is not a distant, disinterested God keeping score from a safe distance. That is a Guide who would rather die than lose a single passenger.

If you are gripping the sides of the raft right now — if life feels fast and uncertain and you are not sure you have what it takes to make it through — I want to invite you to consider that you were never meant to navigate it alone.

The Guide is already in the raft. He's been there all along.