There is always intensity for those of us who love adventure and the great outdoors. Since I was raised in the jungles of South America, life was fun because I also live in “fun country” as my primary personality trait. When I was a young lad ( more than a few decades back) I lived with my parents who were missionaries to the native tribes of our area . My father, also an adventurer, felt that the Holy Spirit was leading him further into the jungle past the end of any roads. So one day he loaded up the needed gear for the trip, mostly gospel tracts, bibles, and a few clothes, some water purification tablets, and his botequin, which was a tackle box turned into a medical supply kit to treat whoever we encountered wanting treatment. He always treated first and then prayed for them. We would mostly eat what people would offer us. Berno, an older spirit filled believer who was blind in one eye, and knew the people and customs went with us. He had gone this way before and my dad was relying on him.
We left early in the morning and drove down the single track road that wound around hairpin turns and along sheer drop offs (which is currently featured as one of the most dangerous roads in the world) until we finally reached the end of the road at a lower altitude. The jungle in earnest spread out before us. We all carried a pack. Mine was a small one and had some goodies that mom had sent mostly for me I think. Dad said we had about 30 kilometers to walk to get there so we started off along the trail carved out below the giant trees and hanging vines. And then in the late afternoon we came to a river, a huge river. Swift flowing and about 90 meters wide my dad said. Rafts crossed it every few day taking passengers, but there were none there and wouldn’t be for a few days. There was no body there but us. Berno knew that is how it would be and that we would have to wade across. Berno walked up and down the river bank a few times looking at the flow of the river and finding the best place to cross at an angle as the current would be pushing us down stream. It was a dangerous crossing with slippery rocks and holes. We pretty much only had one shot at making it to an under water gravel bar and safely on across.
Berno took most of the packs including mine and loaded them on his back and then had my dad strap a heavy rock to the top. My dad put a couple of rocks in his pack. My dad and Berno took their pants off and I was told to take all my clothes off because I was going to get wet. Berno explained that the rocks were to hold us down as the water got deep or we would be swept away. And if we were swept away there were no more trails or roads down river and we could go hundreds of miles into the jungle and eventually end up in the Amazon. My dad put his belt around me with a small rope that he tied around his arm. He then showed me how to do a wrist lock instead of a hand hold. We locked wrists and waded into the fast flowing river. We inched slowly along behind Berno. The water got up to my dad’s waist and a few steps later my feet were swept out from under me and I was free floating in the current wrist locked with my dad. A few more meters and Berno was up to his armpits and then to his shoulders; I thought he would shortly go under. But then his feet felt the under water gravel bar that he knew was there, and we slowly walked up the bar to shallower water where I could finally walk again. We got to the other side and I said “let’s do it again”. Berno laughed as he took the big rock off his pack and my dad smiled at me.
So, why did I tell you this long story? Well, There is no way I could have ever crossed this river by myself. My dad could not have crossed the river without Berno who knew the river and the dangers and how to avoid disaster while crossing it. It took the three of us to get me across. The elder Berno with his wisdom and experience kept us safe. My Dad being the parent gladly followed Berno and was not about to let his child, his infant son, be carried down the river to disaster. I, as the infant, hung tightly to my Dad because I wanted to be with him. ….. We need community. It takes all of us to make it. ….. We find many infants and children washed up on sand bars and tangled up in the hopeless jungles of life. They have no community or place to safely belong. I currently, as an elder, along with Jesus, am creating a place for all to belong in a safe, healthy, life-giving way! This is my current “Day!”