Caught in the Yukon River current, three girls are rescued by a canoe who takes them safetly to shore. This story represents how we must have a strong foundation on Jesus Christ our Lord.
The sound of the rushing water and passing beach made us nervous as we furiously paddled against the current in our small Coleman raft. Barely fitting on the raft were us three girls, I was the youngest at age 18. Then Caitlin, 19, and Amanda, 24. We only had two cheap paddles that came with the $89 raft. Every few minutes we would rotate paddlers to let one rest.
“We’re still drifting back!” Yelled Caitlin, soaked from the splashing waves. “I don’t think we can make it- the fishing camp is way out of sight!” I scanned the left-hand side of the muddy Yukon River and saw a plume of smoke. That smoke belonged to the natives who were smoking the fish they caught earlier today- we spotted that fishing camp when we realized the current was too strong to battle.
“I think I can see Luke’s canoe, he’s docking it on the right side of the river,” I strained forward for a better look at the bow of the raft. It was 1:30am. A late Alaskan June night with the sky still brightly lit. I learned quickly that during Alaskan summers, the sun rarely takes a break. Tonight, the sun would only disappear behind the mountain peaks for one hour and a half. Thankfully we could see clearly in attempt to maneuver the raft toward the safety of the muddy Yukon banks.
“They are turning around to get us!” squealed Amanda excitedly. We now switched paddles and I started paddling faster toward the oncoming canoe. It felt like we were gaining because of the quick current passing around our little raft, but if you would look out to the sides of the wide river, you could see that we were slowly drifting along with the river traveling further and further away from our destination.
I thought back to dinnertime when a group of us- 11 people from the camp-decided to venture down to the lake to go fishing. Excited for adventure, this is more than what I had bargained for. Little did we know while we were drifting along a branch in the lake, we actually merged onto the Yukon. We followed our friends in the canoe, and behind us was another raft like ours, barely afloat with the weight of three adults.
“Grab the rope, Chris!” Luke tossed me the end of a skinny rope from the canoe and I fumble to grab a hold of it with my cold, stiff hands. I finally pinned the rope down and gingerly teased it through the front loop on the bow of the raft. Once secure, I give Luke a thumbs up sign to start the rowers inside of the canoe.
The four people in the canoe had enough strength to get us moving in the direction of the right bank of the river. I shifted my weight into each paddle stroke, keeping my eyes focused on the muddy river banks getting closer.
There are many stories of people getting lost at sea with no hope of survival. It is not uncommon to read of chilling news in the media. The Bible says, “the rains came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet if did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7 25).
Do we build our lives on Jesus Christ the ‘rock’ of our foundation? Will you let Jesus rescue YOU today? Jesus Christ says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” (John 14:6). Everybody has sinned and are drifting further away from life and safety- the only way to secure eternal life with Jesus in Heaven is to build our lives on Jesus, the solid rock!