Guest Blogger

I received a cool note from Lee White today. Lee is a great friend to me and to Fellowship! Welcome him to the blogosphere...he had no idea I would post this...

John,
Every year our men's group in Texas went white water rafting through the Royal Gorge. It was a totally cool time with God and the bro's as we worked through some serious stuff...

The last trip we took, we timed it just perfect...It WAS PEAK DAY... Awesome water… It was flowing at 3200 cubic feet per second. No wimpy kayaks here...Full force...You got a vest on; you got a hockey helmet on... You have your paddle... And you are on the raft with 7 other guys counting on them to make it down the river...

Well, we went through this one section and we got "out of position", not a good thing. Out of position, we headed into the next rapid. There was the loud WOOOOSH, and I felt this pain in my shoulder. I look up, and there are three dudes missing from our boat...Whistles are being blown, as the other boats in the party start looking for all three dudes...one of the three in the water is our GUIDE!!!

I looked up and we were headed sideways into another rapid. We were going over if we did not turn ourselves around. We were going to flip if we didn’t get our act together...The guide in another boat started screaming instructions over to us. We made it without flipping...

I began to think of the dudes in the water. They just scattered, there was a life vest here, a life vest there. Guys were standing up doing whatever they could do to help them get in...I began to think what would happen if they didn't make it?

When these guides prepare you to go down the river, they tell you what to do if you are out of the raft..They give you a new name... You are called "SWIMMER" when you are outside of the raft...They throw you a BAG full of rope called the life line. You grab it, and you get brought back into the boat. If you grab the bag, you just keep getting further away as the rope keeps coming out of the bag...You have to grab the rope...

You see, that's exactly what Jesus does for us. He throws us a life line, but we have to grab it. Not the bag, but the rope. You see we also have a name when we are out of Jesus’ raft....We are not called swimmer, but sinner. The thing that makes us safe is grabbing that life line Jesus throws our way…not in judgment, but Grace…He pulls us back in...

Those guys that got tossed out of the raft, Don and David, when they made it back in, they looked different...They had this big smile… like they faced something incredible, but then came back from it....They said it was the wildest day in their life.. Incredible…You know, I think a lot about Men I work with... Sometimes they are in harm’s way and they go on an adventure like that raft trip. Maybe its restoring their marriage...Maybe it’s a battle with Porn...Maybe it’s just not being the man God wants you to be…You may have some days outside of the boat..But when you get to the end, it’s awesome... You are ready to live a more dangerous and uncertain life...But it’s a life knowing who is giving you the life line...

Welcome home Bro...Welcome to the life God wanted you to have. It may seem uncertain at times, ,but your physical address isn't as important as the address on your heart..You are now a guide! There may be moments when someone in another boat will need to give you instructions...There may be some guys that you invite into the raft who get tossed out and don't make it…others will get roughed up while in your care, but come through with changed lives on the other side..

Everyday look at that rope that Jesus gave you, and don’t forget what it felt like in that white water... God will bring people into your life that are pinned up against a rock… Out of the boat...Get the Bag to them…
You can't grab it for them... Just keep throwing it their way...Welcome home, Bro…Welcome home!

Be Blessed,
Lee