Every three years in youth ministry I would take students on a week long summer trip entitled ENGAGE. ENGAGE would have morning and evening worship services, small groups, service projects and fun excursions and adventures. It was quite a big deal and our youth staff team put a lot of work into it. We really tried to create unique experiences at ENGAGE. Once we stayed in gigantic cabins in the Smoky Mountains and rented out the Gatlinburg Convention Center — just to give you an idea of what those trips were like.
One year we rented 7 huge houseboats on Cumberland Lake, Kentucky for ENGAGE. These boats were gigantic… 94 feet long 20 feet wide and multiple decks high. Each boat hosted up to 25 people. In addition to the houseboats, we rented powerful pontoon boats for water tubing as well as a giant pontoon boat that just had a flat deck. We built our stage at the front of that pontoon barge and set up tons of chairs and our sound system, lighting system and band equipment, and held services on that barge two times a day. It was quite a trip — one that I will never forget.
After we left the dock on our first day of the trip we selected a location about 10 miles away to moor our boats for the night. The easiest way to moor overnight is to pull the houseboat bow directly up to the shoreline, then attach lines from the backside of each boat and run them all the way forward to tie them off on trees. Our plan was to tie off the boats side by side in a long line along the shore so that we could all be together as a group. We had one problem that first evening though… it was windy. Really windy. I’m talking about 25 MPH sustained winds with gusts up to 40. Have you ever tried to moor a 94 foot long houseboat straight into the shoreline with a 25-40 MPH crosswind? Not fun.
Since I had the most experience operating a watercraft it was determined that I would get my boat in position first… tie it off, and then one at a time the others would pull their boats alongside. Yet, every time I slowly crept toward the shale covered shoreline a gust of wind would
push my boat sideways. I tried half a dozen times and every time we were pushed sideways. So, I determined slow wasn’t going to cut it… speed was necessary.
I warned the teen students on my boat who were going to jump off the front and pull the lines tight to tie us off (of which Austin was one by the way), to be prepared because I was going to charge the shoreline full throttle, and at the very last minute possible, I was going to slam that boat motor in reverse to stop us right at the shore. Sounded like a good plan after 6 failed attempts…
So, there I was barreling at the rocky shale shore at full throttle and at about 60 feet or so from the shore I slammed that motor in reverse… and it promptly stalled. Now, I don’t know how much you know about boats but when the motor isn’t running you can’t steer and you can’t stop. I only had seconds… I frantically tried to restart that big diesel engine but warning lights and buzzers informed me that it wasn’t going to restart right away. I looked up and there was the shore! HANG ON TO SOMETHING! I yelled… and then we smashed into that shale covered shoreline. Most of those guys on the front deck just face planted. All of the kitchen cabinet doors and drawers flew open and pots and pans and silverware and dishes went flying out onto the floor. The impact was deafening.
It worked… I guess… we did get tied off. And because those boats had hulls made out of 2 inch thick aluminum it astoundingly did no damage to the boat… just my pride. We eventually did get all the boats moored for the night.
Now, I told you that story because the reality of my life is that sometimes I don’t always exercise the greatest wisdom — and that has gotten me into trouble from time to time. Today, we are going to consider the wisdom of God. God’s wisdom far exceeds our wisdom… and some… more than others.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. Psalm 147:5 NIV
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