Faith Jacket

If you read my previous post, “Gondola Jesus,” you’ll remember that my mom and I could have easily drowned during what should have been a gentle float down a river. Let me catch you up with an excerpt:

“Once, I was ride-on-top kayaking with my mom and brother. I differentiate this from regular kayaking because I want to be clear that my mom and I were novices expecting a gentle float down the river as usual. Nobody was being a daredevil. She was inexperienced, and I was no pro. 

Unbeknownst to us, it had recently rained, so the river was fuller and faster than usual. It started out calm, but before we knew it, the river picked up speed. While trying to steer around a curve, she lost her balance, fell out of the kayak, and was slung into a downed tree. I was paddling behind her and had a choice: leave her behind or get slung up with her. (I’ll insert here that I’ve since learned that the safer thing would have been to pass her, then immediately get to the shore and run back to help by land. If this ever happens to you, don’t opt to get slung into a tree.)

So there we were, doing one of the most dangerous things you can do in moving water: getting tangled up in a tree. We were hanging on to the top of the trunk, unable to pull ourselves higher. Our legs were below, standing on a sturdy branch. The water rushed against us, making it harder and harder to hang on. This is so dangerous because the water pressure will push your legs under the tree, taking the rest of you with them, and then you’re trapped underwater. Obviously, this is a less-than-ideal scenario. 

I don’t know that I’ve ever yelled the name of Jesus as loudly as I did that day and without any shame whatsoever. I’m fully convinced that supernatural forces kept our legs from being sucked under that tree. There’s no other explanation for it. As you can guess, we escaped the tree and survived to tell about it. 

That happened at the beginning of a half-day float. And the only way to get back to the car was to finish the journey down the river in our kayaks. Talk about the sound of rushing water striking terror in your soul. It was a brutal afternoon.”

I left some of the details out the first time because I didn’t want to make anyone look negligent, etc., but as I thought about that frightening day, I realized that those details represent an important component of faith. Let me back up to the very beginning.

The outfitter supplies you with a kayak, an oar, and a lifejacket. In flat water like a lake, you might opt to have the lifejacket with you, not on you. Most of the more experienced members of our party were not wearing their life jackets. They believed it wouldn’t be necessary because the water would be slow-moving. I was wearing mine. I’ve been through rough water before and am not particularly adept at maneuvering. Knowing my limitations, I wanted to be confident and safe, so I wore mine and suggested that my mom do the same. 

When the first members of our party started the float, she struggled to adjust her life jacket to fit comfortably. We were all trying to stick together, so someone suggested that she didn’t need it—she could just have it in the boat. So she took it off. 

As you can guess, when she fell out of the boat, her life jacket floated away with the kayak. So there we were, hanging onto the top of this tree trunk for our literal lives, and she had no life jacket. She was strong but not strong enough to hold herself up against the current for long. Being the younger, stronger person in this unfortunate situation, I managed to take mine off and give it to her despite her extreme protests. (Nothing like a mom-daughter disagreement in the middle of a crisis.) The first miracle of the day was that she complied with my frantic insistence that she put on the jacket. 

Life jacket or not, we struggled not to be sucked under the tree by the current. We exerted all our strength, hanging on until help finally arrived. I have no idea how long it took our party to pull over to shore and then double back by land to assist us. Quickly into what felt like an interminable wait, our bodies tired. Eventually, my mom said, “I’m going to have to let go. I can’t do it anymore.” I was incredulous. What did she mean? Let go and die?! All I could do was - well, I’d love to say I encouraged her to continue, but it was much more emphatic than that. “What are you talking about?! You don’t just let go!” She was clearly so tired and had used all her strength, but somehow rallied and hung on until help arrived, thank God.

I truly believe angels assisted us that day. There was no shortage of fervent prayer. That’s for sure. Can angels swim underwater? I think so. Neither my mom nor I had the strength to continue standing on the tree branch at our feet in opposition to the water’s power. And we couldn’t lift ourselves out. All we could do was hang on and resist as much as we could. We didn’t survive on our own strength. There was something supernatural that buffered our feet and legs against the current. 

I wish I could tell you how we got out of there. All I remember is hands pulling me up and floating through leafy branches. Now, when people say, “Let’s go tubing” or worse, “rafting”, I’m like, “Nope. I’m out.” Actually, I’ve been a couple of times because my husband is a little daring and I want to be fun, but I’m fully done with being in rapid water after my most recent nightmare, which I’ll save for another day. Give me a flat lake and a paddleboard.

What does this have to do with faith? 

Hard things happen in life. People get weary. Sometimes other people need to borrow your faith like a life jacket. When we appeal to God on behalf of another person we’re using our own faith to bolster someone else’s, like a life jacket. That’s not to say that you can have a relationship with Jesus for someone else. Everybody’s got to receive their own salvation and have their own relationship. But we all lose strength and need someone to intercede for us when we’re weak.

In Exodus 17:10-13, there’s this interesting story about an Israelite battle:

So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill. As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle. (NLT)

This is a physical representation of what we are called to do for our friends as people of faith. We lift them spiritually through encouragement and prayer. We share our life jacket of faith through prayer and encouragement. You would be surprised at how open people are to being prayed for. There’s no more powerful thing you can do for someone than to hold them up to the Lord when they feel like they’re being sucked under and ask him to miraculously pull them up and out of their trouble.