I had the great opportunity to spend the 4th of July with Wynn and his family this year. The Raley’s are so precious to me – they have welcomed me into their family with such love and open arms. I am so undeserving and very thankful that God has blessed my life with them. They have modeled for me a type of love and servant hood that I hope to incorporate into my own family one day. Sunday and Monday were spent at a family friends Lake house on Lake St. Claire. We had a ball! The afternoons were filled with tubing and jet skiing, cruising on the boat, and of course fireworks! Prior to this weekend, I had only ridden on a jet ski one time in my life – and I was much younger. Needless to say I was thrilled about being able to not only ride with my best friend but to be able to drive the giant water cruiser myself! It was late morning when Wynn finally said to me the words I had been longing to hear, “Hey, ya ready to go ride the Jet Ski?” I know a huge smile made its way to my face as I responded, “Yes!” Immediately, we raced to get ourselves dressed into our swim suits so that we were sure to secure our “dibs” before the opportunity was gone. As we made our way out onto the lake, the ride was so exciting, bumpy, and fun! As we made our way out to “sight see” all the beautiful homes I was given the glorious opportunity of taking the reigns. Wynn was a great driver, and he was excellent at explaining the entire “411” of boating and driving a jet ski on the lake. As I took hold of the gas and began speeding down the lake, a “dinging” noise began to ring. “Uh oh, we’ve got to go back, we’re about to be out of gas,” Wynn said. “Oh great,” I thought. “We are going to be stranded out here.” Wynn told me to book it back to the dock, so I listened and pressed the gas so hard I even surprised myself. (We were going so fast that a couple times I could have been sure I was going to be flying off and into the water!) Still a newbie when it comes to water sports, and giving our limited amount of unknown time before we actually ran completely out of gas, Wynn took the steering wheel as we attempted to make our way back. All of a sudden I began to notice the unfamiliarity of our location… and was pretty sure we were heading in the wrong direction. (Lake St. Claire is a huge lake and it is quite understandable that someone could get mixed up as to where they are.) We pull off to the side of the lake and try to make sense of what was happening as well as to where we were. We start to head back in what we believe is the right direction only to finally run out of gas in the middle of the lake. We began to fervently “discuss” our options. I must admit I was rather panicky but Wynn stayed calm, cool, and collected. (He is so patient with me!) Part of our conversation went something like this: “So how long are we going to sit out here Wynn? Shouldn’t we try and stop someone and ask for help?” “What are we going to tell them if they do stop? …We’re lost? They won’t even know where to take us.” “Well when do you think your dad will come looking for us? I mean it’s going to take them a while to figure out we’ve run out of gas!” “Emily, I know who my daddy is. He is going to come find us and He will know where to look for us.” As soon as he spoke those words I immediately became silent. I did know who Mr. Ben was and if anyone would know where to come look for us and how to find us, it would be him. I would have been content waiting for him to come and rescue us because I knew that having faith in him wasn’t a blind faith but a hopeful one. Too, as soon as those words left Wynn’s lips, I immediately connected our scenario to God. When we are lost and stranded in a situation that seems bleak and hopeless, we can have hope that we serve a God who is faithful. We can wait patiently and say, “I know who my daddy is!” He isn’t going to leave us, He won’t forget about us… He knows the very moment we need help and has already begun preparing His supernatural and heavenly efforts to rescue us. We obviously were rescued. Some nice boaters stopped and helped us – the adventure continued with a failed rescue attempt and a flipped over Jet Ski – but Mr. Ben sure enough showed up and we created a lifelong memory to add to our book of special moments. Isaiah 29:29, “He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.” Isaiah 41:13, “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’”
“And yes it’s true, these words still ring true, there’s no one I’d rather be stranded with than you!”
