Hood River Part II

IF this were an actual photo of our actual raft those arrows would actually be where Michael was sitting and where I was sitting in the boat, but this is not an actual photo of our actual raft, just one I pulled off of the website. If you are in the market for a white water rafting trip, you MUST check out Zoller's Outdoor Odysseys. We had an incredible experience, and they are Christian owned.

Now, I am sure that there is something to be said for having the safety briefing immediately before you get on your raft, although I am not sure I would say anything good about it. They went over all the worst-case-scenario stuff, and terrified is the only word to describe how I felt. So terrified, in fact, that I almost didn't get on the raft, it was only through gentle coaxing (from Michael) and tears, that I inched my way into my spot. That spot also happened to be much closer to the front than I wanted. I was convinced that I was going to end up in the freezing cold water, and most likely drowning before the afternoon was over.

During the safety talk I was glancing around at the guides, and some of them looked kind of young, some of them looked kind of punkish, one of them was a first-time guide. I just started praying that God would intervene on my behalf and give us an experienced, responsible-looking guide. I even prayed that He would miraculously switch my name on the lists if I didn't already have the right guide.

Convinced I was going to die, I also had one last request for God. Could He please just show me something about Himself, and let me see something beautiful before the end...this is all so silly in retrospect, but seriously, I was scared!

In order to make a long raft trip into a short blog post, I will just tell you the answers to my prayers, that is what this is all about, how good God is.

Turns out, our guide, wears several hats, in the summer he does raft tours for Zoller's, he also has a small screen-printing company, is a coach at the local high school, and is a YOUTH PASTOR, who pointed out evidence of a "long-ago, global-flood" along the way. We got the right guide and God is good.

I saw three new birds:
Common Merganser
Cedar Waxwing
And an American Dipper

I fancy myself an amateur (very, very amateur) bird-watcher so seeing three new ones in just a few hours was exciting. Exciting and beautiful, God is good.

The spot on the raft, that was too far forward, was directly behind Michael. Our guide would call out the instructions and Michael was always spot on, and immediately knew what to do. So all I had to do was follow Michael. Do you see it? Michael listens to the guide and then all I have to do is follow Michael...this is something God shows me, whispers to me, reminds me of, constantly. It is my job to follow Michael, it is Michael's job to listen to Him. God is so good.

I asked God to show me something beautiful, He did. I asked God to show me something about Himself, He showed me how gentle and merciful He is. He showed me how He loves to answer prayers. God is good.