A Camp Story

“The Lord works in mysterious ways.”

It was a hot summer day at camp, and naturally, I had neglected to put on sunscreen. Our task appeared simple: move a 26-foot-tall inflatable from the beach to the middle of the river. I’d already spent the morning hunting for missing concrete anchors in the murky water, so we were ready to go.

After filling the inflatable with air, we used a rope to attach it to our trusty wooden-raft-with-a-motor-on-it. Two Staff jumped on the raft, and eight of us clung to the back to propel and steer the inflatable with our feet. We planned to boat the inflatable out, utilize the swimmers (myself included) to guide the inflatable and use the carabiners to attach it to the floating yellow buoys.

As we set off from the beach, we felt a strong wind pushing us downriver. Thankfully, at full power, the motor-raft kept us moving towards the course. This might work, I thought to myself.

Then it happened.

With a sick gurgle, the motor sputtered to death. We discovered later that no one had thought to check the gas beforehand. “Start praying,” someone yelled, grabbing a paddle. Against the current, a thousand paddles wouldn’t have helped. We began drifting downriver, fast. With no engine our kicking was ineffective. To make things worse, the inflatable was shaped like a giant sail, catching the wind beautifully. In a few minutes, we were a hundred yards downstream. Everyone else watched helplessly from the dock. 

Funnily enough, our youth pastor was with us on the inflatable. Right then he said something like, “We need a whole fleet of jet skis to come by.”

I kid you not, ten seconds later two jet skis cruise under the bridge and down the river, straight in our direction. One of them slows down, and the guy asks if he can help. Obviously, yes. We quickly untie the rope from the motor-raft and attach it to his jet ski. Going at max power, he slowly pulled the inflatable back up the river. After way too long and way too much effort, we made it to our initial destination: the yellow buoys. We clipped the anchors on and thanked the jet skier for his help. Mission complete. With only a minor detour.

Our adventure at camp taught me two things, which I’ll quickly dive into. 

#1: Fill your engine before you leave.

Yes, this sounds incredibly simple, but you won’t believe how many people jump into something without filling their tank. I’m talking about their spiritual tank, of course. We often hop into the river (like we did) without filling our tank with gas.

As Christians, we need to “tank up” before we go on mission for Christ. I can’t leave for camp without preparing myself spiritually. I need to read the Word, pray, and connect with God first. If we only turn to God when we’re in need (like when our engine died), it’s way harder than turning to Him beforehand.

#2: God answers prayer…with a jet ski.

As weird as it sounds, God answers prayer in the craziest ways. I’ve seen long-term answers to prayer all summer, but this was an immediate answer. God sent us what we needed when we needed it, and not a moment later. When we called out to Him, He answered. 

If that answer means a jet ski, sign me up. I was talking with my Staff cabin leader the other night, and he asked if I’d seen a miracle in person. I responded with, “Maybe not a miracle in the ‘this is impossible’ sense, but I’ve seen some so-called coincidences that are too difficult to ignore.” A miracle doesn’t mean it’s impossible, because the jet-skier could have turned up on his own. A miracle means that without God and prayer, the chances of something happening go way down. Was what I witnessed a coincidence? I think not.

As crazy as our experience with the inflatable was, God used it for His glory. No one got hurt, and we accomplished our objective – but only because of His provision. God rescued us from drifting down the river and enabled us to do something we couldn’t have done on our own.

The moral of today’s story is this…

When we trust that His plans are greater, not even the devil can thwart them.