Raft Naked!

Spent the weekend camping and whitewater rafting with some of our guys in the youth ministry. While we didn't raft naked, it was one of the stickers/shirts there...pretty funny. But we had a great time. The weather was perfect, the food was great, and the fellowship with the guys was the best. Nothing better than staring at the stars at night, reliving the time on the river, talking about life and faith, and of course, enjoying that there are no girls around! LOL!

On our trip, we didn't have a guide in our boat. They were spread throughout our group. The guide would pull us all over before a rapid and give us instructions on how to get through the rapid successfully. Then they went ahead and instructed us using hand signals. I remember that the first couple rapids, my raft was compimented as we went through for doing a good job...we hit the rapids hard and had a great ride. Other times, we did all we could to follow the instructions, but we'd lose control, get spun around, and hit a big rock!

That's sometimes like life. We have people who guide us, mentor us, and invest in us, and sometimes it goes really well. Other times, we try as hard as we can...and we hit a big rock and are left swimming in the water, trying to find our way back to the raft.

God is good! I can't say that lives were changed on the weekend...but we certainly know each other better...and we know each others hearts. As we ended the weekend, we prayed for one another. It was a moving moment for me to hear these young men of God praying for one another. It is my prayer that they continue doing so! Raft On!