Bring It, Donny!!

Ok....here is the long awaited beginning of a string of several staff-retreat related blogs, as promised (AO...I can't promise any more Hebrew. I think I've exhausted it with "Shalom").

Last Saturday we boarded two big yellow school buses and headed North to Oregon for staff retreat. As you just learned in my lengthy and slightly neurotic post...I don't like fast moving vehicles or situations that I can't get out of easily. So when I learned that the first event of staff retreat was jet boating....I was NOT all about it to say the least. When we arrived at "Hellsgate Jet Boat Tours" I sort of wanted to bolt. I like boats...I went on a cruise last spring for goodness sake. However, I had this image in my mind of those speed boats that zoom across the water and barely make any contact with the surface whatsoever. Basically, I felt my death was eminent. So when Jonathan LeDuc, our fearless leader said he needed some volunteers to go on standby, my hand shot up. Then I was faced with another option. Bail entirely and go eat dinner with a small group of 8 in nearby Ashland, or stay on standby. After getting the "you're a wuss....they let people take babies on these things and there are no seatbelts" speech from several people, I started to think that maybe I should have just sucked it up and gone and actually started hoping that there would be space for me.

About 15 minutes later I found myself being herded onto a long metal boat...careful to be in the back row, in the middle. I concentrated on breathing regularly, humbled by the LeDuc's three year old who was hanging tight a row in front of me. I begged our driver, Donny, to "take it easy." I recieved no promise that he would even entertain this thought.

The first part of the ride was amazing. We rode through Hellsgate canyon at about 45 mph (which felt like about 100 mph) which is stunningly beautiful. Periodically Donny would do a 360 degree turn to make the entire boat spin around so that we all got wet. It was amazing. After about an hour and 15 minute ride, we pulled up at a beautiful lodge looking building on the cliff where we ate an amazing dinner. My table turned into an demi "accountability-group" meeting of sweet sisters in Christ talking about what the Lord has done in their lives. It was so edifying in the Spirit and encouraging.

On the ride back, Jamie Herndon (pictured with me) and I decided that we would be "team Awesome" and ride in the second row of the boat. I took everything that Donny threw at us in stride and even stood up at one point and yelled, "bring it Donny!" to which he responded (via microphone) "weren't you the scaredy girl that was sitting in the back row before?" I loved it...Jamie and I screamed and ducked whenever a tidal wave was headed our direction. By the end of the ride we were soaked and happy...and I couldn't help thinking, "I almost missed out on this." Somewhere along the ride I turned to Ronnie who was next to me and whispered a thanks for providing the opportunity to come to the Ranch and for being firm with me when I was waffling in whether or not I was supposed to come. He looked at me and said, "thanks for taking risks." Wow. Risks. And I say I'm not a risk taker....My thoughts returned to the thoughts of security that had been tumbling in my head for the past week or so (if you read my previous blog entry...you're tracking with me) and I wondered how many opportunities I had almost missed out of fear. Riding in that jet boat next to two of my friends screaming like banshees was one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done. My high school Sunday School teacher Forest Allgood told a story once about how he felt prompted by the spirit to share Christ with a particular man for years but never did. The one day he summoned the courage, the man wasn't there...and never returned to his office building. He encouraged us as high schoolers to "not miss the blessing." I've quoted this story many times, but it came back to mind on the boat ride....the ride I almost missed by being on stand by. By being too uncertain to come to the Ranch. By being hesitant to move to Nashville. By feeling silly going to meet Travis Crim who introduced me to Ronnie. By not wanting to go on the retreat where I met Travis. I could continue chasing this chain backwards and backwards (like the movie Sliding Doors...all the what if's...and if I hadn't been there's) but the point is that:

Security is found in God. Within His Will there is safety and no fear. (The Scripture teaches that perfect love drives out all fear, and certainly He loves us with a perfect Love!) Get off the stand-by list and get in the boat. Sit in the front row. Raise your arms and scream. Prepare to be drenched by the water from all around. Bring it, Donny!