Cover Story

Albion Adventure!

I want to tell you about an adventure my brother Leon, Wesley, and I had on our biology trip in Albion, California. When it came time for our class to go canoeing, I had wanted to canoe with one of my other friends, Chuck or Alex. But no, I got stuck canoeing with Leon and Wesley.

None of us had really paddled a canoe before, and everyone else had gotten the good canoes by the time we arrived. We got one of the old raggedy canoes, and when we actually got on the water, everyone else was already out of sight.
I know now that three inexperienced guys don’t need to be in a canoe; never let anyone who doesn’t have good balance sit in the middle of the canoe; and learn to canoe before you actually try to do it on an estuary, where the water tide meets a river current and is deep! Most important, pray before embarking on what might become a life-ending adventure!

Anyway, Leon took the canoe’s back seat, Wesley sat in the middle, and I, the best paddler of the three of us, sat in the front. It took us about five minutes to go 20 feet. We just kept going in circle after circle. Fortunately for us, we weren’t the last students to begin our canoeing adventure. Our class-mates Cambria and Alisa paddled up to us and gave us a little advice on how to steer our canoe.

We seemed to get the hang of it, but Cambria and Alisa didn’t hang around. Within five minutes they too were out of sight. That left us slowly paddling upstream by ourselves.

We nearly tipped over our canoe, because Leon and I had told Wesley to balance the canoe while we paddled. Did he do his job? No! Our near tip caused us to take some water into our canoe.

Before we embarked on our canoe trip, our biology teacher had told us, “Watch out for the man who lives in the house in the middle of the river. Don’t talk to him unless he talks to you.”

I thought about the advice as the man’s  house came into view. We’d heard this guy was not only a hippie but an excellent marksman too. Let’s just say that we were a little scared of him—well, I wasn’t, but they were.

“Hey, you guys,” I said as quietly as I could,  “just calm down and pray.”
We slowly paddled past his house, and thankfully he didn’t come outside.
To make a long, humiliating, horribly tiring story short, we soon saw our classmates paddling back toward us. As soon as we saw them, we started turning around. We didn’t want to be last twice. On the way back we had a good time, since we’d actually learned how to paddle.

As we neared our starting point, I saw our classmate Guy coming toward us in a kayak. He looked suspicious.

“What are you doing, Guy?” I asked.

He shot back, “What are you doing?”

Then Leon screamed, “He’s going to splash us!”

Leon freaked out Wesley, who tried to splash Guy as hard as he could. In turn, Guy then  splashed us as hard as he could, and Blake helped him. This is where it gets complicated.

You see, Wesley’s job in the middle of the canoe was to balance our canoe. Let’s just say he can’t multitask—balance and splash at the same time, that is. He caused the canoe to tilt all the way to the right, and our canoe took on more water.

Fortunately, Leon started balancing the canoe for Wesley. I then started yelling at Wesley, because I personally didn’t want to get into the 50-degree water. “Wesley, balance the canoe!” I commanded.

Did he listen? No! Then  we tilted all the way to the left. This time the water really came into the canoe.

Leon and Wesley jumped out of the canoe, and all of sudden I felt water rush around my feet. The canoe just started sinking! By the time I got in the water, Leon was halfway to shore. Wesley was panicking, since the poor guy can’t swim very well.

Luckily Guy and Blake cared that we were in the 50-degree water and tried to help us. Sure, we had life jackets on, but they were made for 5-year-olds it seemed. Mine only covered  half of my chest.

Guy got Wesley out of the water, but I stayed in it, holding the half-submerged canoe. Blake tried to pull the canoe and me, but it just didn’t work. So we left the canoe, and I headed to shore.

Leon went back in the water to help pull out the canoe, and I went to take a warm shower!

A promise

As I reflect on that canoeing experience, I thank God so much for protecting us. It’s funny because we had prayed halfway in the middle of the trip for us not to sink or fall into the river. Some people might say, “God didn’t hear your prayer.” Well, I believe He did. Though we sank, we did it in a spot where we were close enough to shore that people could help us.

God promises never to leave us or forsake us. So when you feel like you’re all alone and no one can help you, remember that God is always with you (Joshua 1:9), and He will help you—maybe just not the way you expect. He does it because He loves you and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to you, because you’re one of His children.

Lawrence Brown is a high school student in California.

 

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