November 2002

TROUBLED WATERS

I was inspired to learn more about canoeing techniques after taking a youth group down a river.  Two girls dumped their canoe which promptly pinned one of the girls to a large rock.  The rushing water caused the canoe to wrap around the rock — and the girl.  The situation turned dangerous quickly and it took a lot of time and effort to free her.

            Water is a very powerful force.  A good canoeist needs to read the water.  That’s why I took a white water canoe course several years ago.  I wanted to be able to read the water and get the canoe through the obstacles.  The course was on the Youghegheny River in Pennsylvania.  Lots of white water there.  I learned about haystacks, hydraulics and ledges.  We learned that when the water is doing something on the surface, it is because of something underneath the surface.  When the water is shallow and there are several rocks underneath, the water churns on top.  When there is a rock ledge a horizontal line forms in the water with rapids along it.  If the ledge has a high drop off, it can trap the canoe against the ledge.  A combination of several large rocks off can form a powerful and deadly hydraulic, rolling a person under water in a washing machine like turbulence.  When you see water piling up in front of you, it is called a haystack and you know that there is a very large obstacle behind it. 

            “Still water runs deep,” the saying goes. When the water is deep, the surface is calm, but when it runs shallow, and obstacles are in the way, there is a lot of trouble on the surface.  The more things under the water, the greater the turbulence on the surface.  

            The spiritual waters of my life are similar.  When something is troubling me on the surface, I look for what is beneath the surface.  So often the thing I am upset about is not what I am upset about.  If I am troubled, then I look beneath the surface to see what is going on.  Am I living at a shallow level?  Are there obstacles that I have allowed to block the flow of God’s Spirit in my life?  Are there unresolved conflicts?  Is there unforgiveness?  Is there some irrational fear that is causing me not to trust God?  Do I still believe that God is good and that life is good, even though at times difficult, or am I angry with God?  Have I become cynical?  All of these are the “below the surface” kinds of things that cause turbulence on the surface. 

            One of the lessons the course taught me was how to use an eddy.  An eddy is a spin off of water along the side of the river or behind a big rock.  You can use them to rest and consider how you will handle the upcoming obstacles, even when the river is raging.  I often look for spiritual eddies — times of calm and quiet where I can rest and consider what is going on so I can proceed down the river. 

Looking under the surface,

Rod