Heritage Preparatory - Middle School Experience on the Toccoa River

The whole crowd used the swinging bridge where the Benton MacKay Trail crosses the river to study the trip's most challenging series of rapids.

The August 21, 2009 trip taken down the Toccoa River by the Heritage Preparatory School’s middle school students and teachers was not only a time for fun, fellowship, and the bonding which comes through shared experiences and especially challenges; it was also a time for personal growth and education. It was particularly a time to learn about communication, how it’s done, and its importance in achieving both personal and corporate goals. Students and faculty learned about communication with each other and communication with God – especially how He communicates with us through His creation and our experiences in it. We also looked for ways the Lord communicated lessons about preparing for the upcoming school year and preparing for the rest of life.

We are all familiar with Psalm 19, Romans 1, and other parts of scripture which tell us that creation has been revealing its maker and His attributes since the beginning of time. We often acknowledge that God created not only the physical laws, like gravity and thermodynamics, which govern the physical world but also the spiritual laws which govern our spiritual lives and our relationship with Him; but it was a little bit different for some of these students to realize that a big part of God’s character and attributes are reflected in the plans He has for our lives and that the “living parables,” which He allows us to experience every day, can teach us how He expects us to live.

The river had been low for quite some time and, even before the adventure began, God proved His faithfulness in answering our prayers for rain by bringing regular rainfall almost every day in the week leading up to this trip, raising the river to an almost perfect level for beginning paddlers and to its highest level in more than a month. Not only that, but the day of the paddle was clear, relatively cool, and absolutely beautiful. The restful sound of the rain all through the previous night made it easy for my two helpers/safety boaters Kelly and Shannon and me to have everything set out and ready for the arrival of the rest of the group long before the scheduled 10 am launch time. Since the rains had started almost immediately after I received Dr. Owens’ email notifying me that he was praying for rain, it was wonderful to have him volunteer to give our pre-launch prayer for our safety and thanksgiving for all we had and would experience.

It took me a while to figure out how to get all the canoes we needed to the river. Now I had to unload them all.

One of the first things I pointed out to everyone during the pre-launch safety briefing was the all too common mistake of resting one’s paddle across the gunnels while moving through a rapid or just downstream. In spite of this warning, I saw numerous examples of students doing this, sometimes combined with a white knuckled grip on the gunnels as they moved across shoals and drops. Others may have avoided resting their paddles on the rails but still managed to keep them at such a low angle that all they could do was splash water rather than fully wet the blade. Some were lucky and made it through unscathed. Others were introduced to a new version of a lesson originally taught by Jesus about the importance of stewardship and proper use of the blessings we are given. When resting on the gunnels or used inefficiently, the paddles do no more good than if they had been left on shore. White knuckles and splashed surface water are simply signs of poor stewardship and, just like the servant with one talent who had it taken from him, a number of participants had their paddles taken from them as they found their canoes washed into rocks or logs by the river currents. We can only reach our goals when we make every stroke count. Contrarily, poor stewardship of our God given skills, time, and other assets allows us to be swept along by the currents of daily life into the deadly strainers of the world.

Another corollary to the lesson of the unused paddle which we discussed was the importance of having a common goal whenever two or more people need to work together. This takes a common vision, a workable plan, and clear communication of that plan. Sentences heard like, “Let’s go around that rock!” do little to avoid problems because there were lots of rocks and most had more than one side by which they might be passed. Others learned that words like RIGHT and LEFT needed to be interpreted clearly since to some people RIGHT means “go to the right” and to others it means “there’s a rock to the right.” I guess it’s pretty clear what the results were when the bow paddler decided to pass a rock on the right while the stern paddler passed it on the left.

We discussed the way the river forced us to realize the importance and relationship of both short term goals and long term goals. As we studied the choices which lay before us at the launch site, we realized that there were many fine short term choices to be made but not all of them, if chosen, would allow us to easily continue our downstream voyage. Likewise, making a decision about school or about life with only our immediate comfort or success in mind might impede our ability to achieve our long term lifetime goals. Many of the students suggested rightly that perhaps the best course of action was to paddle upstream a short way, against the current, so they could be better lined up to take the path which allowed easier passage all the way through the rapid. Likewise, we must often make more difficult decisions or take a more challenging route if we are to achieve our long term lifetime goals.

As we worked our way downriver, each team of canoeists picked the route they thought best.

During our stop at Rock Creek some of the students looked at a very special material I showed them. Some of them guessed it to be old tree bark and others thought maybe some of Shannon’s red hair. These fuzzy delicate strands were actually some of the fibers from a throw rope like the one used to free the boat which became stuck about 45 minutes later in the Class III rapid just below our stopping place. The obvious lesson to learn from this is that there is strength in numbers and that we can do much, much more with the support of others working together with us toward a common goal. This lesson clearly reflects God’s Word where Ecclesiastes 4:12 tells us that “a cord of three strands is not easily broken” but a deeper and probably more important fact is learned as we study how these rescue lines are put together. There are strands made of extremely strong fibers which are nearly impossible to stretch or pull apart. These strong fibers are also very dense and surprisingly so subject to abrasion that they are almost useless by themselves in a rope. Other lighter and weaker fibers are woven around the stronger denser fibers when the rope is constructed. The result is a rope that not only can pull more than a ton without stretching but one that can stand being dragged across rocks and will float on water. Romans 12:4 and 1st Corinthians 12 are but two wonderful examples of how the body of Christ is just like that rescue line, many different people with different attributes working together for the common goal of His glory and His pleasure. This same lesson had been taught all day long as participants experienced the way the paddlers in the bow used one set of skills combined with a different set used by the stern paddlers to work together to maneuver the canoes around hazards and safely downstream.

Everyone took a much needed break from paddling to cool off when we reached the intersection with Rock Creek.

Even some of the teachers enjoyed the rope swing at Rock Creek!

Many of the strainers we encountered during our excursion stretched almost completely across the river. Some of them were already clogged with a collection of driftwood and river debris which had become entangled in them after floating aimlessly downstream. On at least a couple, we spotted snakes waiting for an easy victim and all of these strainers spelled danger and destruction for anyone not being careful to choose the safe route around or through them. What clearer analogy could there be than this to Christ’s warning, as He spoke to the multitudes during His “Sermon on the Mount” saying, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction, but narrow is the path that leads to life.”

“Who has ears to hear, let him hear.” One lesson, upon which I hope all the students have had time to reflect, is that of our responsibility to others. During the safety briefing, I told everyone that they were responsible for the canoe following them, that they were to stop and wait if they ever started to get out of sight, and render any kind of help they could while remaining safe themselves. On three or four different occasions before our stop at the swimming hole we pulled over to let everyone catch up, only to discover that the fifth or sixth canoe in our group hadn’t been seen by the one behind it for quite some time. Before our hike to the swinging bridge, we discussed the importance of being a reliable leader and example to those who will follow. When we got to the bridge, again the line had been broken by those not looking after the ones who followed and about half our group missed a crucial turn along the trail. After negotiating the rapids below the bridge, we regrouped and headed on downstream to a revised take-out location. Again, when we got there, we had a steady arrival of eight or nine canoes and then nothing for quite some time. I don’t remember who said it but I do remember hearing someone say, “They were having trouble back there so we just went on around and downstream to catch up with the others.” Please folks, if the entire team doesn’t reach the goal, it hasn’t been accomplished. If we are all only looking out for ourselves, we are not acting as team players. It makes no difference whether that team is your class, your school, your company, or the body of Christ. It is our duty to support each other however possible and encourage each other without ceasing.

One of the students reminded me of an important lesson that I had been ignoring through most of the day. I thought I had prepared for everything that I had any control over. I had experienced safety boaters in place to help as necessary down the river, I had pre-arranged alternate take-out locations, I had studied the river conditions with local paddlers over the last few days, I brought not one but two separate kinds of snacks for everyone to have if they got hungry during the day, and I had brought a sealed container to help protect everyone’s lunch on our way down the river. Then I ended up beating myself up mentally all day long over the way I let myself get distracted (by a tree that had shifted across the river during the night’s rain) and left the lunches safely in the container – on shore. Somewhat thankful that everyone had been offered the snacks, I still felt the tension every time someone asked about lunch or said they were hungry. Then, when we finally took-out at the end of the day, one of the girls came up to me and mentioned what a blessing it was to have her supper waiting for her right there on the side of the river. Yes, the snacks became lunches, the lunches became dinner, and God is good – all the time! How could I forget that “all things work together for good, to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Of course, it was Jesus Himself who said, “I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and wary, and hast revealed them to the children.” (Matthew 11:25)