(Awkwardly) caught in the current

Caption: One of several times we found ourselves in a river this summer

My (almost) 5-year-old niece is a maverick who walks to the beat of her own drum. In the early years, I bribed her with fruit snacks in an effort to make her love me. It worked, I think, though I’ve clearly built this relationship on letting her have her own way. Now, she is prone to say things like, “Auntie Holly, will you come with me everywhere I go?” 

A few weeks ago, she led me into the lazy river at a waterpark we were visiting for a church function. It was getting late, and we had the whole thing to ourselves. After one trip around, she asked, “Can we just swim and not go for a ride?” It took a few minutes before I understood the question. As it turns out, our little nonconformist didn’t want to be pulled along by the river’s current. From her preschool perspective, she was basically asking, “Can I stay in this moving water without being carried away by its flow?”

My mind instantly traveled to another waterpark and another river—this one not nearly as lazy. 

Robert and I had taken our girls to Schlitterbahn, and we stepped into an attraction appropriately named for the torrential wave that sends flailing riders speeding along a fast-moving waterway. We strapped Roxie into a lifejacket and joked about how many pairs of sunglasses I’d lost to this ride on previous family trips. 

Surprisingly, my sunglasses survived several cycles around the massive oval that is the Torrent River. I was just beginning to believe that I had total control of my person and belongings when Robert threw me directly into the wave and I went spinning into a watery oblivion. Determined not to lose another pair of shades, I focused all of my effort on keeping the $12 Walmart purchase in my possession and let the undercurrent have its wild way with me. Eventually, the river’s strength waned enough for me to find my bearings and return to the world of breathable air—disoriented but alive and with sunglasses intact.

Unfortunately, an unsuspecting woman happened to be floating in the very spot where I surfaced, and I ended up invading the privacy of the inner circle of her personal inner tube. For a brief and extremely awkward moment, all four of our legs dangled into the water below. Hastily, I ducked back down into the anonymity of the underwater realm. I hoped that the current was powerful enough to carry the accosted stranger away—taking my embarrassment with her. Alas, that was not to be. We floated in sync—though separately this time—around the last half of The Torrent, nervously laughing at the absurdity of our situation.

Back in the lazier river, I had an answer for my darling niece. It’s one that applies to all of us when it comes to the metaphorical rivers that work to draw us into their currents:

No, you can’t swim in the river and remain undisturbed by its flow. 

I’ve experienced this firsthand in waterparks and in weightier matters too. Most recently, it’s the pull of social media and its competing ideological streams that threaten to pull me in the direction of their drift. In a day when it seems like the news can’t be trusted, it is tempting to find a political ‘camp’ and take as gospel anything that is said by the loudest voices, the ones with the most influence, or those who make you feel like you are one of a privileged few who really know what is going on. But bandwagons, trends, movements, and fads are like rivers. It is far too easy to get caught up in their momentum and end up in a place you never intended to be.

That’s why the Bible portrays Christians as immigrants living temporarily in a foreign land. There is only one river we can afford to swim in if we want to remain faithful to the Gospel: 

“As obedient children, LET YOURSELVES BE PULLED INTO A WAY OF LIFE SHAPED BY GOD’S LIFE, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, ‘I am holy; you be holy.’ You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living. Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know … It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God. Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life.”–I Peter 1:15-23 (MSG, emphasis mine)

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter wrote these words to persecuted Christians who were enduring the shakings of a world that had become the battleground for an all out war between good and evil. He argues that this shaking is the very thing that will win unbelievers over to God’s ways—if God’s people, caught up in His flow alone—live a life alongside their neighbors that stands in stark contrast to the norm. 

“Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life in your neighborhood so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.”–I Peter 2:11-12 (MSG)

One of the benefits of committing wholeheartedly to the stream of faith in Jesus Christ is gaining a higher perspective as we grow to love and trust the Father more. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, we are offered a birds-eye view of the world and its lesser streams. We can see treacherous turns and protruding boulders that are easy to miss when you’re being taken for a ride. 

My prayer for myself, and for all of us who profess the Christian faith, is that we would abandon all streams but God’s, trusting Him to help us navigate the current landscape as living testimonies of His goodness and grace.

Jesus, will you take me with You everywhere You go?