I am in a pick up with 3 other friends, pulling my boat on I-84 coming home from 5 days of fishing for catfish on Brownlee Reservoir. We had a wonderful time and caught over 100 catfish with about 10 of them being over 8 lbs with the biggest being 11 lbs. Being there for almost a week with little cell service it was a nice ”fast” from the news, social media, and information about all the crazy events happening. Riding home reading the news is depressing, saddening, irritating, and a bunch of other words. How do I respond, what do I do, what do I say, how do I live.

A couple of weeks ago I went on a 4 day white water rafting trip down the Roque River. I was operating a 15-foot rubber raft navigating it through the rapids and around the rocks. If I made a mistake I could end up in the river, with possible damage to my boat, to myself or my passenger, so I worked hard to maneuver the boat down the best and safest route, but still with some element of adventure in the ride.

The days ahead are going to require some maneuvering in regards to events and circumstances, as well as public opinion and differences in that public opinion, strong differences. It will take some pondering and thinking with lots of prayer for wisdom to try and keep from hitting any rocks. I am going on another whitewater adventure in August running the same raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon with 15 other people. This River is many times more dangerous than the Rogue River, so why am I going? For the adventure and the challenge which means excitment and fun.

So, my challenge as I deal with current events is to look at the whole deal as a trip down the Colorado River, and enjoy the ride. I will need to take careful control of my thoughts so that I can maintain the attitude of an overcome, and not that of a victim.