"Well dad I will be seeing you next Tuesday" I replied
from a pay phone in Baton Rouge. "O.K son we all love
you and be safe out there" my father replied knowing
he would not talk to me again until he sees me in New
Orleans in a week. "I will be safe love you all to bye"
As I hung up the phone I began to reflect on on how
far I had come. It took me 85 days to reach Baton
Rouge by way of canoe from my hometown of Millersburg,
Ohio. My goal was to raise money and awareness for the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society. My sister suffers
form MS and was my main inspiration for making such a
trip. So far things had been great. Several newspaper,
Television, and Radio stops set up by my father made
the trip a even better success than I had anticipated.
I also celebrated my twenty-fourth birthday. After
Baton Rouge There were no more press stops until New
Orleans. This would be by far the longest stretch of
time without being expected to call in for my
itinerary of stops. Just a whole week to paddle and
not worry about checking in.
Paddling away from Baton Rouge I can recall thinking
how much fun this last week would be. Little did I
know what lessons were waiting to be learned. My first
clue should have been the sudden change in weather. I
got about five miles from Baton Rouge and the wind
really kicked up. I was only able to paddle another
five miles before the river became to rough. While
doing a little exploring I ran across a small snake.
It was only a baby, However it was the first snake I
had seen on the entire trip. Later I seen a much
bigger and more aggressive snake. I made extra sure my
tent was all zipped up that night.
Things started to get worse Wednesday morning. I awoke
to find my turtle gone. I had caught a turtle with a
broken foot near Vicksburg, Mississippi. It became my
little buddy and now because I left to big an air hole
in the plastic container my turtle escaped. I could
see the path the turtle took to make the escape. I was
so upset at myself for making such a dumb mistake. I
shoved off feeling down on moral. Not long on the
river I spot my first ocean ship. These ships are huge
and very very fast compared to the barges I dealt with
most of the trip. I knew I had better watch close when
trying to cut across the river with these monsters out
there. The wind picked up out of nowhere. I pulled out
and redistributed weight to make my bow lower to catch
less wind. That helped for about fifteen minutes
because the rains came fast and hard. My canoe was
filling with water. Not so fast I could not bail, but
it was annoying having water in the bottom sloshing
around and the extra weight of the water did not help
things either. I pulled off the river and made my final
stock up in the town Plauqemite at a grocery store.
It was getting darker when I got back to my canoe
the winds were hard as ever. I paddled until dark
and had to find a place to set up camp. It was miserable.
Woke up Thursday with a positive attitude. My
positive attitude was taken away with a strong gust of
wind. I knew I would have to wait out the wind before
I could go anywhere. The wind did die down some. Then
the sky opened up and it poured. I did manage to make
good time under the extremely heavy rain. Around
evening the sky started to change into a severe storm.
I looked for a place to hold up, but could find none.
The sky started to look even worse and I knew
something horrible was coming. There was no logical
choice left but to get off the river. There looked to
be some big piece of machinery off in the distance. I
tied my canoe to a tree that the river had deposited
on the sand when the river had been higher. With that
done I grabbed a tarp and ran for the machine. It
turned out to be a back hoe that was unlocked. Inside
I climbed and waited out the storm.
With the storm over it was time to see if my canoe
survived the storm. It had and it was time to find
a place to camp with darkness closing in.
My mind began to drift to what I had
pictured what the last would be like. Being
about ten or so miles away from New Orleans with a day
to spare. I would lay on the sandy beach with a
fishing pole basking in the sun. Another scenario was
I would have all this extra food and have big feast.
I had always envisioned having that last day to relax
and enjoy before my finish.
As it is now I am fighting misquotes trying to get my
tent set up before dark. Now I will need to paddle
every day to make it on time. At this point now
instead of enjoying the last week it turned into lets
just get this over with.
Friday morning started out very overcast, but by noon
the sun popped out. Things were looking up. When camp
was set that night I lay 85 miles away from my
finish. I can remember falling asleep looking at the
stars through the top of the tent thinking I can have
a day off after all. I will have all day Saturday,
Sunday, Monday, and until 11:00 am to make it on
Tuesday. Things were looking good.
About 3:00 A.M a splash of rain makes its way through
the tent. This is when it all started. The rains came very fast.
I quickly put the fly on the tent and jumped back in. Within the
next ten minutes the entire tent floor was soaked. I had just
thrown the tarp out without digging a trench because I had
not expected any rain. I tried to fall back asleep best I could.
By morning the sleeping bag was completely damp from
soaking up the water coming into the tent.
It was windy, cold, and raining. Once I unzipped the
tent I knew I was not going anywhere until things died
down. The wind cut right to my bone and I had nothing
dry to put on. The warmest place was where I had been
laying on top of the damp sleeping bag. It was early
yet maybe 8:00 A.M. I was cold, miserable, and wet and
decided I would wait until the rains and winds
stopped. I was in the middle of nowhere with nothing
to do but lay and wait for my chance to leave. I
remembered I had my Bible with me. It was the only
thing I had to pass the time.
I begun reading from Matthew. Before long I was
reading the Bible like never before. It became so much
more than like reading from a book. My eyes suddenly
let out tears, not because I was crying, but because I
was reading so fast and not blinking and my eyes dried out.
I skipped to the old testament and wondered how God
could havebeen so strict as to Instruct Abraham to stone a man
for gathering fire wood on Sunday. I flew through the
book of Job and then went back and reread parts of it.
After that I skipped ahead to Revelations. Upon
finishing Revelations I took a short nap. I felt
refreshed when I woke up. Back to reading until dark.
I used my flashlight up until It stopped working. It
had been on it's last leg for awhile.
It was still to nasty out to go anywhere. I would have
to leave first thing in the morning no matter what. My
mind was content. I had experienced an event in my
life and a level of closeness with God that was
unmatched to anything I had ever experienced in my
life.
Looking back that day was spent reading Gods inspired
word and finding things inside myself I forgot I had.
You see when your all alone and have no distractions
things just began to happen whether you want them to
or not. I addressed issues in my life that I had
avoided for years by flipping on the T.V or radio or
finding some other way to distract myself. It becomes
so easy to get caught up into society and the world
and to avoid God.
Even if your a non believer you can not argue the fact
that what is popular in the world
today is for the most part against God. Violence,
sex, getting drunk, partying seem to take center stage
for people my age in their middle twenties. It is not
cool to be Christian anymore it seems.
I took a look at myself and how I had been living. My
morals were pretty good I thought due to a good
upbringing by my parents, however I had made no time
for God in my life. I realized how far back in my life
God really was. I had quit going to church. Heck all
churches are judgmental and there is none I found I
like, and you don't need to go to church to make it to
heaven I said to myself for the past few years.
That's my way of saying in a politically correct way, look
God you let your son die on the cross my sins and
blessed me with a wonderful family and offer me the
chance at eternal life in heaven and the only reason I
even exist is because of you, but I don't really have
the time to go to church because I would rather do
something else. You would think the least I could do
is go to church or try to find one I like.
It went even beyond church. I never really talked to
God or thanked him for my meals before I ate. Come to
think of it I was not near as close to Gad as I
thought. When someone would ask if I was Christian I
would always say yes. I felt since I was brought up in
a Christian home and believed in God that made me a
Christian. How could I have let God slip out of my
life? It seems I just feel asleep I felt guilty for
not reading the bible more. Why could I not spend
fifteen minutes a day reading the bible? I had my
priories set in life and God was not on the top of the
list. I felt so down until I realized God is not that
far away from me. All I need to do is ask for him. It
is never to late to turn toward the lord. In fact that
whole time I was all alone, I was never really alone
the lord was there the entire time with me I just
failed to notice him until everything else I put above
him was removed.
My main message to anyone is no matter who we are or
where we go in life we all travel our own spiritual
path in life. We must decide what is more important to
use in life. Do we read the Bible or watch a rerun of
friends? Do we choose to say grace before a meal? Do
we choose to just talk to God? Do we ever just say
thank you for the blessings in our lives? Do we want
to lead a Christian life by example? Many people do
these things, but I had just got caught up in my
everyday life and stopped making time for these
things. I figure God knows I love him and care that
should be enough.
This is not how I wanted to live my life. It saddens
me to think it took me being separated from the world
to discover this. If you feel like you have been
putting God off for awhile remember it is never to
late to start a relationship with him.
Sunday and Monday was spent paddling and sleeping.
Tuesday morning I was in place to finish on time , but
the strongest winds of the trip kept me four hours
late. I dreaded coming back to to society. I wanted
another few days alone with God. I never did get my
day off basking in the sun. Instead I got a rainy
Saturday I will hold with me the rest of my life. .