The water parted on either side of the boat as we sped across the lake. The children were enthralled with the ride on their uncle’s speedboat. We sat back in our seats, there was no effort on our part, only pure enjoyment. “Could this be like life?” I mused. “The waters part for us if we learn to sit back and trust our Lord …”
That day the children’s uncle and aunt had promised to take us as a family out on Apple Valley Lake to go swimming, boating, and tubing.
A picnic supper was in a basket and on the boat with extra towels, life jackets and such.
The youngest three children and I were dropped off at a sandy beach where we swam and cooled off while the three oldest children went on a spin with their aunt and uncle.
A while later they passed our sand bar with Austin on the tube, as happy as could be. The girls’ turn came next to ride on the tube, which is specifically made for taking rides and is attached to a rope securely fastened to the boat. What could be better on a summer day?
After a while, we swapped — the oldest three swam while Jesse, Elijah, Joshua, and I took a turn on the boat.
We made our way down the lake as Daniel’s brother pointed out various landscaping jobs, boat docks, and sea walls Daniel’s brother Tobias and his workers had done. There was even a job Daniel had done, which I remembered from bygone years. We sped on. I reflected on it all. Daniel is now at his eternal home; he doesn’t even need events like this, yet in my heart, I knew he would want his wife and children to be doing just this with his family.
“Faster! Faster!” It was the little boys with big ideas.
“I’ll take you faster soon,” came the calm reply.
Little Joshua, who was on my lap, hung on for dear life as we picked up speed, then turned to the right, then the left. The boys shrieked in delight.
“More! More!”
Seeing the boys enjoy themselves, their uncle gave them another round of delightfully scary thrills, sailing over the waves of other boats and then guiding and gunning the speedboat just enough to have fun yet be safe. In the meanwhile, the axles of my brain were churning. Isn’t life much like a boat ride? There was no way for those on the boat to be controlling what that speedboat does or doesn’t do, it was in the hands of the captain.
At one point the boys decided it was enough now, and asked for a calmer ride, which their uncle gave them, but in my mind, I could hear myself pleading with God, “Isn’t this enough now? Can we stop this scary ride?” Sometimes God says, “Yes,” then for reasons beyond our grasp, at times it’s, “Wait, keep hanging on.”
The phrase of a song kept coming back to my mind, “Just as long as You’re my Captain when my ship gets lost at sea, then I know I’ll reach the harbor when you calm the storm for me.”
Surely life doesn’t always take us where we want to go, and many times it doesn’t even look possible, but if we have our Heavenly Father as the Captain, He’ll keep parting the waters in each moment at hand. As a boat could never part waters a hundred feet ahead of it, so God cannot give us what we need for the next day. And you know, as we hit those sharp curves of life where we feel like we’re going to fly out and lose it, if we keep going, there will be rainbows of promise and love awaiting us for that moment.
All too soon, it was time to head back to shore again. We picked up Mary and the three older children and headed for a boat dock to eat our picnic meal.
As the boat neared the dock, Hosanna’s sweet voice asked, “How are we going to stop?”
I smiled, and inwardly shook my head in wonder. Out loud I responded, “I don’t know, but uncle knows how, and that’s all we need to know to be safe.”
At times I too, wonder how God will manage this or that. Just like my little girl, I do not have to know right now, the only thing I need to know is who is driving the speedboat of life. Aunt Mary made these jalapeno poppers for us last week. It used to be one of Daddy’s favorite foods.
Bacon Jalapeno Pepper Poppers
8 jalapeno peppers
1 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice
Cup bacon bits
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Mix cream cheese with cheese, bacon bits, and garlic salt.
Cut peppers in half. Remove seeds and spoon cream cheese mixture in the cavities.
Place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
