Thursday, April 4 | Read Isaiah 43:1-7 |
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (v. 2)
White Water
The beginning of today’s reading says that God has made us, redeemed us and calls us by name. As a child I wondered how God could know me and my name apart from all the other people in the world. Now as I look back, I know that God indeed does know me and has guided me throughout my life. I was blessed with loving parents who made sure I was baptized into the Christian faith and was taught about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through church services, Sunday school and Confirmation. My husband Mike joined me in my faith, and we were married in the Lutheran Church. And God was always there when we needed him.
As I continued this reflection, I paused at the part of the reading that talks about passing through water. I realize how important our baptisms are to our salvation. I also recall an adventurous time when Mike and I literally passed through a river and were kept safe.
We were visiting some friend in Springfield Missouri. They encouraged us to go canoeing with them on a local river. I agreed with some trepidation. I am not a swimmer. To paraphrase a quote from some forgotten speaker: “Swimming is staying alive in the water.” Our friends and Mike assured me that the river was pretty placid and that all three of them were excellent swimmers who could keep me safe in the “very unlikely” event that our canoe overturned. In addition, I was wearing a life jacket. So I gamely agreed.
It was a very warm day and the river was cold, so that a little splash of water on occasion was a welcome relief. Mike and I were in the lead canoe with our friends following. For the first half of the trip, the water was indeed calm and our journey was pleasant—until we made a turn at a bend in the river and were suddenly swept into a swift current. Neither of us really knew what to do, and suddenly we hit a submerged log and were dumped into the river.
The canoe wedged under the log and I was trapped beneath it. The water was so cold that it took my breath away and I began to panic and thrash about. But then something calmed me and I knew that I would be okay—I managed to get out from under the canoe and come to the surface. With our friends’ help, we were able to dislodge our canoe and clamber back into it and continue down the river. From then on it was a comedy of errors on our part, and we dumped ourselves back into the river many times—but I was not afraid, and I know that it was because God was there for us.
Cam Wilson
[Yesterday |Lenten Index | Tomorrow]