Faith | A poor choice had their Hells Canyon whitewater raft spinning out of control

My wife and I did quite a bit of whitewater rafting before we had kids.

Our favorite trip was rafting down the Lower Salmon River, and spending a few nights on the sandy shoreline. It was very peaceful and relaxing. Except once when we went through the “Half and Half Rapids” (Class 3) on the Lower Salmon in Idaho.

River rafting can have dangers with rapids anywhere from class 1 (easy) to Class 4 (almost undoable). We must know how to run a river properly to be successful, and knowing what is ahead and planning a course makes for a better outcome.

We were doing oars rafting where one person with two oars, about 8-10 feet long, pilots the raft, whereas in paddle rafting everyone usually has a paddle with one person giving directions.

We had all scouted “Half and Half Rapids” from the shore. Then boat number one went through as planned: Down the middle of the dark green V-current and pulling back from a hole created by a huge boulder at the bottom.

In our case at “Half and Half,” we soon discovered our oarsman wasn’t in control. I had trusted a young man who was in our river group the previous summer. He was to oar the rapid in boat two with my wife and me, but it turned out to be not a good decision!

My sister and brother-in law who were planning to follow us in boat three watched us from the riverbank, taking pictures. They saw our boat pointed at the hole, but not pulling back as planned. They watched as we were pulled and tipped sideways by the current trapping us in front of the boulder with water pouring into our boat.

I had one arm firmly hanging onto the raft, and the other arm securely around my wife. I thought that the raft might flip. When we hit the bottom of the rapid’s hole, the raft took a hard jolt, and after several seconds we were fortunately kicked through the churning water splashing over us.

I then looked behind me and saw that our oarsman was gone—and one of the oars! I immediately jumped into the oarsman seat, grabbing the spare paddle hooked on the side of the raft, and guided us through the rest of the rapids.

We soon found the young man who fell overboard and helped pull him into our raft. He was embarrassed, but relieved that all was okay. We then recovered the other oar in the river.

It was thrilling, but also a bit dangerous.

I later safely oared us through the most challenging Class 4 “Snow Hole Rapid.” From there, we eventually went into the Snake River in the north end of Hells Canyon which is over 8,000 feet deep in the lower part (the deepest gorge in North America), compared to The Grand Canyon which is only about 6,000 feet deep at its lowest point.

Just like a challenging rapid, life has many challenges.

First of all, know who is leading you or running the boat. Don’t trust in a false God or ride along with an inexperienced river oarsman. And just like in life, we need to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who we can trust to lead us. And yes, believers have as many challenges as running river rapids, but they know that God is in control.

Everybody chooses to either follow the one and only true God of the universe, or not. Choose happiness beyond your wildest dreams by believing in the most unique person of the universe, who is God the Son (Jesus Christ). He sacrificed himself on a Roman cross on our behalf, forgiving all of our sins by taking our punishment in order to give us his perfect righteousness. When we make that decision, we can live forever in happiness in his heavenly kingdom.

The “Half and Half Rapids” was said to be named that because “half the time you make it.” However, by trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord one hundred percent of the time you make it!