Lewis and I were the first through that section of the river. It seemed harmless but I had seen ones like this before and knew the power it could have if it grabbed us.  On the cutbank of the river which was only 10 yards wide, the luring strainer tried to draw in everything the river brought it.  Lewis paddled hard when I instructed him. Five hard strokes is all it required once we rounded the shallow point.  Very timed, directional and deliberate strokes.

Wanting to warn the paddlers coming I ran our canoe ashore and turned my attention to instructing the next canoe and two kayaks.  It was too late. The other canoe was sucked in. The branches of the fallen tree stopped the canoe and the force of the water quickly overcame the upstream sides of the boat and just like that both paddlers were now floaters, and the canoe was a sinker. The first kayak observed the tipped canoe and made sure to avoid the peril. But kayak number two got sucked in as well. Very matter of factly I told her to get ready to swim. Seconds later I was rescuing her and her boat as well. Fortunately the water felt good and nobody got hurt. But the river’s power was humbling.

I deal with strainers. A few intentional strokes in the right direction could spare me a lot of trouble but often I don’t catch it. I get sucked in and my life gets tipped.  These things make me so frustrated and often seem to have power over me, if I didn’t know better. Usually it has to do with my selfishness.  It leaves me wanting a redo. Then real power steps in and saves the day, thank you Jesus. 

Tara did not get her treatment again this week and she won’t next week as well. Monday the 19th is likely the next treatment, assuming all goes well.  I guess we wait. In the meantime we are optimistic about the lowering CA125 number and the shrinking lymph nodes.  All things considered it is going well. 

God is good to us, allowing us to experience life in this depth, strainers or not.