A Dream is Like a River

A couple weeks ago I sat at my desk praying about a situation I was desperately trying to change. I was determined to turn things around. I pressed every button, tried every scheme, But what I wanted to happen, I couldn’t make happen. Exhausted and defeated, I told God, “I give up. I just can’t do it. ” Then instantly a twelve year old conversation with Mike, one of my hospice patient’s, came to mind.

Mike was 58 years old when referred to Hospice for cancer of the pancreas. He and his wife, Janet, owned and operated a successful garden center and landscaping business. Mike was a canoeing enthusiast. He showed me the frame of a cedar strip canoe he hoped to build, if his cancer “cooperated”. Well, it didn’t. But Mike never gave up. He attended a whittling class and crafted small birch bark canoes as gifts for his friends. Mike is the perfect example of healthy compensation, which declares, “I might not be able to do this, but I can do that.” He focused on what was left, not on what was lost. I was so encouraged and inspired by Mikes example that I wrote a column about him, titled, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up”, which was published in the Portsmouth Daily Times on December 15, 2001.

But the conversation that came to mind a couple of weeks ago wasn’t about determination, but about cooperation. Mike told me about a canoe trip down the Scioto River with two of his young workers: “I was in a canoe by myself and they were in a canoe together…They’d never been canoeing before…They had no idea what they were doing. They didn’t know how to read the water. They ended up dragging in shallow water…they would miss the current and I would float by them as they paddled like crazy to catch up…By the time we finished they were worn out…They kept fighting against the current instead of cooperating with it.”

At the risk of plagiarizing Garth Brooks, “A Dream is like a River” isn’t it? Life is like a white water river. I have a little white water canoeing experience, not all successful. I destroyed my $600 Grumman canoe in Paint Creek at flood stage a few years ago; it was twisted like a pretzel! Shoot! The same day I almost buckled my $800 white water canoe against a rock in only four feet of water. And I almost lost my future son-in-law. As we were gearing up for the trip, Kevin put on an undersized, child’s life jacket (against my advice) and said, “That’s good enough”. About a half hour later he was clinging to a tree like a monkey with the water swirling under him. The the rest of us made a human chain to him from the bank, yelling “Jump, we’ll catch you”. I wonder why he still doesn’t fully trust me. By the way, he’s now a Coast Guard Marine Safety Technician. God bless America!

The force of water should not be underestimated. Did you know that the water pressure against a 15 foot canoe, running at ten miles an hour, breached against a rock, is over 8,000 pounds? Now you understand why it’s wise to understand and cooperate with the current instead of fighting against it.

There are times in life when you cannot change the current (nor should you). There are times to cooperate with the direction that life is moving you. But that doesn’t mean just “going with the flow”. That could be disastrous. Experienced white water canoeists take time to scout out and know the stream; they read the water to choose a safe passage. They know that an inverted “V” in the water indicates that there is a rock in the center of the “V”; that “pillows” of water indicate a rock submerged beneath and should be avoided; that standing waves or “hay stacks” are usually the route to take; because they indicate deeper water on the other side.

Are you fighting against the current of your life right now? Are you desperately trying to change something you cannot change? You may be fighting against the very will of God; and like the force of water, the power of God’s will, should not be underestimated. Pull over, scout out the stream, and choose your passage wisely.

Consider getting some instruction. I know of no better guide than God, no better manual for navigating the rapids of life than the Bible: “This charge I commit to you...wage the good warfare…having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck” (I Timothy 1:19)