Robert Abel's Adventures

We headed downstream for the ride of our lives. The first few rapids spun us around backwards. We paddled hard to resume our position, but before we could get straightened out, we hit more rocks and were swept through another series of rapids sideways.

“Huge drop-off, dead ahead,” I called out.

It happened so fast. Our raft took a vertical nose dive down a six-foot drop. White splashing waves thundered all around us. Sandi, who was in the back of the boat, couldn’t hold on. She tumbled forward and knocked both of us into the water.

I could hear bubbles rushing over my ears; then only muffled silence. The freezing cold waters crushed my chest like a vise. I couldn’t tell which way was up.

Eventually I rose to the surface. I could feel the warmth of Sandi’s body against my feet five feet under. She was caught in the undertow. I could barely breathe, much less think. All I could do was raise one arm and grab the raft before it floated away. Helpless, we were both swept downstream.

Jagged rock formations appeared from out of nowhere. The raging waters sent me crashing into them without mercy. I was scared to extend my feet out in front of me for fear my legs would be ripped off my body. I hit one massive boulder after another with devastating force.

My mouth was praying the entire time, but as soon as I started hitting rocks, my spirit kicked into high gear. I could hear my spirit-man crying out from inside of me with a one-word prayer, “God!”

Seconds later Sandi surfaced beside me and she was able to grab the raft. I climbed into the raft, and after spinning around, I pulled Sandi inside. We lay in the bottom of the raft for several minutes trying to recover. When we looked up through the ever-changing water patterns that were splashing all around us, we realized God had worked another miracle. The raft had come to a complete stop in the middle of the river.

We were both amazed. How does God stop a four-man inflatable raft in the middle of a river? There were large boulders and rushing waters all around us, yet we had come to a complete standstill. It took us a while to figure it out...

 

An excerpt from The Catholic Warrior