Just keep paddling

Yesterday we took our high school wrestling team down the Kinnikinnic River on a what we planned on being a quick trip.  With several newbies, it lasted twice as long as expected.  I like putting our student-athletes in new and challenging situations because it's part of developing the Total Athlete - Body, Mind and Soul.  When they're out of their element, they're forced to think quickly, make adjustments in order to adapt to their surroundings and handle some unforeseen adversity.  It was an activity meant to "stretch" them.  I floated down alongside these teenagers, often getting out of my boat to help someone get back on track, and saw many valuable lessons right before my eyes.  I'm constantly on the lookout for teachable moments and our trip was full of metaphors that can help us through life.

After ruined iPhones, kayaks full of water, and lost glasses and sandals, here's what I learned while kayaking with a bunch of teenagers (who weren't very good kayakers):

Wear sunscreen.
In other words, be prepared.  Whether you have a kayak trip planned or something else that you're looking forward to, take the opportunity to do the little things in advance so that you can enjoy the journey.

Let the current take you where you're going.
Fighting the current seems to be the default for most first time kayakers.  Almost like a fact of life, when kayaking with a bunch of wrestlers, the first bend in the river brings the chaos of overturned and sunken boats and kids frantically looking for lost items or paddles.  There's an art to going with the flow or letting the current get you to the end of the route.  It takes a little practice on the river as well as in life.  Why make things difficult for yourself?

Avoid rocks, especially the ones that are visible.
Speaking of making things difficult for yourself...the water flows over enough rocks that are barely visible and will get you hung up, so you would do well to avoid the ones that you can actually see.  Often times we find ourselves, or see others, run directly into road blocks hoping to go straight through them.  Maybe it's unhealthy habits, toxic relationships or other things that we know full well are less than best and keep us from becoming who we're created to be or in contrast to our potential.  Still, we think we can go over them or through them.  The reality is those rocks don't move, do they?

Paddle through your problems.
On the lower Kinnikinnic River, you're bound to run into a rough spot where a tree is blocking the way down stream or the current takes you into a rock wall.  It's best to keep paddling through those rough spots.  Rookies panic and lift their paddle above their head and it ends badly, usually with getting wet.  In life, when things get tough, you have to keep moving forward.  You have to push and pull your way through instead of sitting idle and letting the issue get the best of you.  On the other side of the troubled spot is calm waters.  Just keep paddling.

Stay right...or left.
As the river meanders back and forth, our eyes play tricks on us when deciding whether we should stay right or go left.  Many times it's a lucky (or unlucky) guess.  We bottom out in the shallow water and have to scoot forward or even get out of the boat and give a little push to get back into the current.  There's no sense in looking back and letting one decision define the entire 3-hour trip, right?   In our lives, we get hung up on small mistakes and allow them to define us.  You should have gone right instead of left?  Okay, now move on because you'll get another chance in a few hundred feet.  Maybe you'll guess right and be right, or you'll be wrong again.  Keep moving because you'll begin to understand, but not if you keep looking backwards.

Use your oars.
If we sit back and let the river take us, it's possible that we'll eventually get to the end of the route, but we might get hung up along the way, too.  So, use your oars to keep the front of the boat facing down river.  We have access to a lot of great tools in life that are designed to keep us on the right path.  Take advantage of them.  Some of those tools offer wisdom in decision making, help us through an obstacle, or provide the balance needed to stay above water.

You'll always find someone else's sandal.
Spending a few hours on the river, you're bound to see "footprints" of others who have gone before you.  Remnants of previous trips like sandals, shirts, hats, etc. aren't uncommon.  It's evidence that you're not going through this journey alone.  You're not the first one to face the meandering river of life with unexpected obstacles or hidden rocks.  You're apart of something bigger and you're going to make it.

The river wins.
No matter what we have at our finger tips, how qualified we are, how prepared we are, or aware of our surroundings, the river will have her way.  We can't change what God has already set in motion.  We can fight the current or go with the flow.  Use our oars to keep paddling and miss every rock or crash into all of them.  We can lean on others and make the best decisions, or not.  However, when all is said and done, the river does as it pleases.  She might take us safely down stream or dump us several times. It's a humble reminder that we simply can't control everything.