THE RAPIDS!

As I was standing on the riverbank watching, the following was going through my mind:

"Is this really the right way?"
"Are they really going to try to squeeze between those rocks while going against the current?"
"Why didn't we go the other way?  It looked much wider and a definitely a lot safer!"
"Is he really trying to help the outboard motor by using that stick?"

"DID HE JUST JUMP OUT OF THE BOAT???"

"OK, I'm just going to watch..." 

And watch we did -At least the chosen few of us who were blessed enough to be asked to get out of the boat in order to lighten the load. 

One more time...    Why didn't we take the wider, calmer, left fork in the river? 

THAT'S WHY!!!

While we did not know it nor could we see it,  the other route led to our certain doom.  Coincidence? No. Allegory? Ah, maybe. Nonetheless, I got the message.  "Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."  Matt. 7:13 BSB

Faith and trust in our guide, was also symbolic in obvious ways which will become even more apparent later on. 

So my faith was definitely tested and strengthened at the same time, not only because of my fear and ultimate survival, but also because of all of the families that have traveled this same path as a way of life.  We were well equipped with a fiberglass boat, powerful outboard motor, river guides, and strong men.  Many of the denizens of the river we witnessed were ill equipped with hand-made rafts, sticks, children, elderly and the occasional able-bodied man.  But, they were more then adequately powered by faith, faith that powered their very existence.  That same faith, I often lack when I only symbolically try to motor against life's currents of adversity. 

I began to understand what God was trying to teach me -what my Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, in some ways, had already learned.

Last Stop: The River

Next Stop: The People