How A Casual Canoe Trip Turns Into A Parable Of God's Providence

Note: This is the longest blog I have written to date. Read it when you have a few minutes.

Friday afternoon, Paige and I decided to take a little canoe trip down the Holston River. It was our first time on any body of water besides Fort Patrick Henry Lake. The plan was to put in at Laurel Run Park and float down to the Surgoinsville bridge boat ramp. By car, that is about a 5-mile trip. By boat... well, let's just say that was a miscalculation that will come into play later.

As we waited for Paige to get off from work, Ellie and I worked to pull together all the things we would need for the trip. I ran through the house with my manly fanny pack obtaining items I thought might benefit us. Flashlight, pack of matches, billfold, Leatherman, .40 caliber Glock--check. The flashlight was a complete and total God-thing-- again, more later.

We had hoped to get on the water by 4PM or so. But after a few delays, we wound up pushing off from Laurel Run at straight up 6PM with a few bottles of water, a sack full of snacks and the cutest little sea-faring, pink-clad, five-year-old you ever saw.

6:05- Feelings of bliss and satisfaction were abounding. Each of us seemed to have that feeling of having never experienced something, yet, we were immensely enjoying the great weather, wildlife and weird looking fishermen.

6:18- Ellie saw her first "gooses" of the day and promptly had her grammar corrected by her father.

6:20- We passed under the Goshen Valley Rd. bridge.

6:38- Observed how shallow the river was in most places.

7:00- Paddled around the second island we had encountered. Once again we opted to paddle around the right side.

7:15- Ellie finally asked about the "wavy water." After explaining that they were called rapids, however shallow and "unrapid-like" they may be, Ellie promptly began referring to them as "rabbits."

7:16- Ellie decides she does not like going through the rabbits and demands that they be avoided at all costs.

7:30- Ellie is hungry and has had enough of the trip. Mom and Dad decide they have had enough of her and plot to bring along a smaller rubber raft which can be pulled behind our canoe at a distance of our choosing.

7:56- I start thinking we should be seeing something that looks like Surgoinsville by now.

8:03- We enter a narrow corridor on the right side of another island that is slightly dark due to the now-setting sun and the proximity of the trees. Abandoned boats and flood debris litter the banks causing Paige to comment that it feels like we just entered a scene from "Apocalypse Now." Unbeknownst to me, Paige begins a personal prayer vigil while she paddles.

8:04- I strap the fanny pack around my thigh and unzip it to allow for quicker access to its contents.

8:27-The sun continues to plummet on the horizon and uneasiness begins to rise in our hearts. I begin to run through scenarios in my mind. Example: If I call my brother-in-law ( a Major with the Johnson City Police Department) perhaps he could get a GPS track on our cell phones without me having to create too much of a public ruckus.

8:39- Ellie awakens from her 3rd nap and wonders aloud for what seemed like the 178th time, "When are we going to be at the car?" I spot a flock of geese and in an attempt to distract her (and ease the mounting tension) I proclaim that I can speak goose. After exchanging a few honks with them, they fly off together as if on cue. I tell Ellie I told them to go find our car. Ellie doesn't seem to believe me.

8: 43- Ellie asks, "Daddy, did you really tell them to go find the car?"

8:48- Darkness is fast approaching and we are nowhere close to where we need to be. I make the decision for us to paddle across the river to the opposite side where I had spotted car lights passing by on a road. Finally, my spirit of frivolity gives way to survival mode. Paige is visibly nervous and Ellie is becoming more frightened as she senses that all is not well. I pray.

9:02- We reach the bank and make our way to a spot that we can more easily get out. My arms ache because I had been paddling with great purpose for a solid hour and, bless her heart, so it was for Paige.

After we all got out of the canoe I grabbed the front of it and hoisted it out of the river as far as I could and scotched it up behind a tree. Reaching into my fanny pack I was thankful that somehow I thought to grab that flashlight because now we faced about a 30 foot climb straight up a steep embankment, through some thick underbrush to reach the road. We could not make out foot placements because it was so dark under the trees now and even with dim light from the flashlight it was slow going. At one point Ellie became entangled in some thorns and cried out. The only thing I could do was to grab her up and carry her the rest of the way.

When we reached the road, Paige finally returned a phone call to Aunt Sue who had been one of the multiple phone calls we had received. Our cell phones had been ringing off and on for well over an hour, but we were too determined in our paddling to mess with them. MamaRie had gotten worried when she had not heard from us and rightfully so. Now Sue was in on the act.

As we walked down the road, I see that just ahead is a house with someone walking across the road in front of it. "Excuse me, where are we, sir," I ask.

"You are on Miller's Bluff Road," replied the gentleman, though I could still not make out any facial features.

"How close are we to the Surgoinsville bridge," I inquired.

"You are about four miles away," He responded.

My heart sank, but I asked, "If we continue to walk down this road will it lead us there?"

Before he could answer, he turned and began to walk toward his house and as he did so the light from his porch illuminated his face just enough for me to make out his features. I KNEW HIM!

"Stan!?" I said.

"Tiger?" he responded.

I had known this man for years. He is a licensed Christian counselor and minister who had preached at my former church once and whom I had also had the pleasure of interviewing at WCQR. He never hesitated to offer to take me in his truck to get our vehicle while Paige and Ellie stayed and warmed up in his cabin.

As we drove and talked about our misadventures, it hit me. The feeling was so overwhelming, I almost got misty eyed in his truck. My God had impressed upon me to get off the river precisely at the home of a friend who could meet our needs. A friend who just happened to be out and about at the time when we were walking by. That's my God!

In retrospect, I get angry with myself for not taking enough time to make sure I know exactly how long a trip like that should take on the water instead of the road. However, it just so happens that I have done a lot of study in recent months about living the kind of life God created us to live (Wild At Heart by John Eldridge) and taking risks and making the most of our opportunities (In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson.)

It is possible to totally minimize risk in our lives. We can map our lives out so that we can totally control nearly every aspect of it. And where does God fit into that? There have been times in my life in which God probably could have rightfully asked me, "What do you need me for?" I did not have big enough plans, nor were my goals lofty enough to merit God's interceding in them.

My family now has a story to tell of God's amazing providence in our lives all because we chose to break the mold that has dominated our lives as of late. No one can convince me that my throwing in my flashlight at the last minute or our departing the river at just the right place to find much needed assistance was anything but God's provision.

Seek Him. Be adventurous. Watch our Lord and Savior work in your midst. Tell the Good News.