Short Stories

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I have to tell this story of the sinking boat. You see my cousin Heather decided to go camping. Her little girl graduated from kindergarten and that’s what she wanted do for their vacation. Heather had already talked to my husband about borrowing our boat for their trip. Now we all know that our men have their boy toys. For my honey, it is his truck, 4 wheeler and his boat. Now, not just any woman could talk my honey into loaning out his boat and if they tried, I might get upset.

Heather is not just any woman. She is so sweet. She never meets a stranger. She loves everyone and would absolutely die if she thought she did anything to hurt someone. She has this little girl innocence about her that we have loved from the beginning. She will always be my little cousin, even if she is ?? years old. Anyway, Jessie took the boat to meet them and they had a really nice spot on the river. They were calling for 50% chance of rain everyday. It’s that time of the year when you get a lot of scattered showers that come and go really quickly. She had no idea what was to come. Jessie doesn’t usually let his boat out on Sundays; he will whip it and make it stay home because it is the Lord’s Day. (That is his joke, not mine) Since it was their vacation, he decided he would let it go this one time.

Heather had not been on it at all, but Jereme, her husband, had been out fishing several times in it. They decided to take a little ride not far from the campsite. They came back and everything was fine. It was starting to rain so they went in to the tent to take a nap. Actually, it came down like a monsoon. The next thing they hear is, “Neighbors! Your boat is sinking!” Heather said when she walked out her heart sank. She became physically ill. The boat was sinking and she panicked. She didn’t know what to do. Can you just imagine coming out of that tent and seeing that boat sinking, and it’s not even yours? Oh my. Bless her heart. The neighbors helped and they found all the pots and bowls they could find to pan the water out. See I can just picture all this in my head, so it makes the story even better for me. One of the ladies asked her if they had insurance, (and we didn’t) which made it even worse for Heather knowing that she was sinking Jessie’s boy toy. She tried to stand on one end of the boat hoping it would keep the other end from going under. It didn’t work so she had Jereme, her husband get up there with her. The ladies said this would make a great youtube video, but Heather had none of that, the boat was sinking.

I was lying on the bed when I got the phone call. Heather said, “Can Jessie come get his boat, it’s sinking?” Hearing her panic over the phone, I asked her how much had sunken. Was it completely under? I heard her holler and ask someone else and they yelled back that is was not completely under, but close. So I told her I would get Jessie to come down there. I didn’t know if it would hurt for the electrical stuff to get wet or not. She said it was the back sinking first. I told her that is where the wires were. Well that just made it worse. I told her I would get Jessie up from his nap. That didn’t help either that he was sleeping. So I also knowing, that this is Jessie’s boy toy jumped out of bed and ran into the living room and told him what was going on. He just laughed and said you can’t hurt that boat. I said, “Well I know boats are made to get wet, but I wasn’t sure about submerged.” So I ran to my phone and texted Heather to let her know it was going to be fine. I had her texted within 60 seconds because I knew she was torn up, but she got irritated and threw her phone down. She never got my message that it was ok.

In her mind, she is sinking his boat and he would be so mad, he would not love her anymore. (See the child like innocence I was talking about!) She was hiding when Jessie got there. She could not stand the thought of disappointing Jessie. When she saw Jessie’s face and that there was no anger in it, just peace and some joy at the thought of this whole incident gave him, she slowly came out to see a smiling Jessie who assured her it was fine. See the boat is old and has issues, but nothing worth getting mad over. Jessie’s being there and seeing his face gave her relief and made her feel better.

Now, you can’t have a story that good and not share it. Reminds me of when we have our own storm of some kind in our life and the way we handle it. Many times in my life, I have felt like my ship was sinking. The storm had taken over and I didn’t know what to do. People would try to help me or give me advice and sometimes it felt like angels sent down to help me, but at other times, it was as if the waters seem to rise around me. I was sinking deeper and deeper until I would let myself panic. It was sometimes over finances, or a family illness, issues with my teenagers, or just major decisions in our life. Whatever the storm, I would feel like the water was going to completely cover me, but it never did, it just seemed so close.

It was then I would call on the owner. The owner of the universe. You see the Lord knew, that no matter what happened, it would be fine. That no matter how high the water got, it was okay. There was nothing to panic about. No matter how bad the situation, He would handle it. I didn’t have to hide to see if I had disappointed the Lord. I can’t stand the thought of disappointing my Lord. He comes on to the scene when I call him. He is there in an instant; actually, He never leaves me.

Just as Jessie came to Heather with a smile and joy in his heart because it was just not a big deal, Jesus is that way with us. We have to learn to go to Jesus before we panic because with Him, nothing is too big for Him to handle.

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