That's where I was the past couple days, enjoying fellowship and having a blast on the river with my wonderful church family. My two day excursion to Camp Lotus was filled with exciting rapids, wonderful people, and God.
We Started up at the Nugget and rafted all the way down to Camp lotus on the first day. Meatgrinder is the first rapid, it gets its name because the shallow water and bumpy rocks. If you fall in, well, your bum goes through the meat grinder. Ouch.
There's a pretty long section of rapids that is calm enough for you to swim through. Don't get me wrong, it's still a rapid, but there are not jutting rocks and huge falls. You don't have to tell me twice to jump overboard! Last year I shot forward like a rocket! I went so fast the tree line was a blur, and I'm not exaggerating! My mom was crazy with worry, and Zach, who jumped in with me, was scared too, they couldn't see me, so the natural inclination was that I drowned. But I didn't! I was just a speed demon! This year I went a lot slower, I can actually tell you what that part of the river looks like now! My mom kept me in sight the whole time.
The biggest rapid of the first day is definitely Troublemaker. It's pretty awesome! You hit a big drop right away, then you have to turn your boat to the right to avoid rocks and go down another big drop that's guaranteed to knock you off your seat. Just make sure you fall IN, not OUT. My boat went down first so we could video tape the rest of the group, and as the boat behind was about to go down the first drop, they hit an unexpected bump and the guide fell out! As the crew started to paddle, they hit the drop and a little boy went flying out, but he was only under for a second before another man snatched him up. They made it through alright, and the guide made his way to the rocks, but then had to swim (float) through the rapid to get to his crew. No one got injured, thank God, but the rapid did live up to its name!
The second day we started at Camp Lotus and the river was pretty calm up until after lunch.
There's this huge rock off on the bank of the river, and rafters stop there, climb up it, and jump off. I did it last year, and this year I was looking forward to it! It's only about 15-20 feet up, but from the top it feels like fifty! I was one of the first people from our group to jump and the water felt like it would never come, like you were perpetually falling towards the deep blue river. But I eventually broke the surface, and plunged deep into the water. It's so thrilling!
After lunch we hit the big waves! Rapids like Deadman's Drop and Hospital Bar will toss you out if you're not careful! It may have been in Recovery Room, or during Surprise (I'm not sure) that we lost two people to the unforgiving river. Our guide had us spinning down the rapid because it's just more fun that way and we hit the dip in the exact right position to cause the whole port side of the boat (my side) to be tossed out into the rapid. I was the only person on my side to stay in the boat, and honestly, I don't know how that happened because I felt myself falling out and the next thing I knew I was looking at my crewmates float down the river. They were alright, and both made it out of the water just fine.
This is me, being me!
The river was great! If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend whitewater rafting, It's great fun:)
It wasn't just the river that made this trip so great, it was the chance to spend time in fellowship with one another. Great conversations were had over a warm campfire, kids ran around, playing games and causing trouble, but parents were too tired to care. The Holy Spirit was in our midst as we had devotionals on the banks of the American River, and as we sang worship songs instead of campfire songs. He was with us during our bible study, as well as our lunchtime prayers. It was a truly blessed weekend.
Today as I sat in church, I realized again how blessed I am to be a part of this church body. To be part of another family. It's what I love about Sundays. My chance to be with people I love, as we worship the God we love.
"Adventure is worthwhile." Aesop
-Grace
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