It will be sixteen years ago this summer. Cindy, Wayne, Christopher and I took an adventure of a lifetime as we, along with my nephew and a friend of Wayne’s went tubing down the Guadalupe River. It may not seem like an adventure of a lifetime to you, many people go tubing down many rivers, the Guadalupe and others, every summer. I refer to this as the adventure of a lifetime because I never in my life want to repeat that day again. To call it a difficult experience would give new meaning to the term difficult.
My parents had just moved to Boerne a month or so before we made this trip. We went out because we wanted to see where they were building their new house and to spend some nice relaxing time away from the church and school work, I was in seminary at the time, and also Cindy’s work.
After we got out there my Dad asked what we wanted to do. I told him my biggest aspiration for the week was to sit and float on the river. There are three nice parks in the subdivision where they lived. Two of them are at placed on the river where the water has pooled a bit. When I responded to my dad I meant I wanted to go down to the park and float around there. My Dad, as is often the case, took me to mean something very different.
He told us that he had been told if you put into the river at the bridge were Farm Road 474 crosses the river, it is about a four hour tube ride back to the first of those parks. While it wasn’t my plan, it did sound fun and we thought the boys would like it so we decided we would give it a try. Our plans had been to go down the river, eat lunch and then do it again. It didn’t work out quite that way.
My dad went and bought inner tubes and dropped us off at the bridge about 11:00 in the morning. When 3:00 came around we thought we were almost back which was good, we were all getting pretty hungry. When 4:00 and 5:00 passed we started getting concerned. At 6:00 and 7:00 we were getting pretty angry with my father. Wayne even said, “Dad, when we get back can I hurt Paw Paw?” My response was, “Son, you will have to wait in line.” By 8:00 it was getting dark enough we could no longer see the rocks in the river so we started looking for a place where we could get out and spend the night. We were past angry. My nephew was chilled to the point of shivering. We were all sunburned, some worse than others. Everyone was hungry and thirsty. It was all pretty frightening now.
At the time, my mother particularly, but my father too were sitting there worried and watching and waiting. Their son, their daughter-in-law, all three grandsons, and a kid from Lindale that all they knew about was his first name was Joe, not a common name at all if they had to notify his parents, we were all out there on the river somewhere and seriously overdue.
When we pulled out of the river we sent Wayne and Joe to look for help. As it turned out, if we would have stayed in the water another half hour or so we would have made it to the park, but there was no way for us to know that at the time.
To his credit, my dad did try to get us help. He called the sheriff’s department. They told him he had his information wrong. The trip was at least four hours, BY CANOE. It would be closer to eight hours if the river wasn’t low, but because it was low, it could be ten hours or more by inner-tubes.
Even with all that was bad, I wouldn’t hesitate to say God was with us that day. Several things happened over the course of the day letting us know beyond a doubt God had his hand in this little adventure, but I will save that for another time.
Do you see why I say this was a once in a lifetime experience? I don’t think any of us would have any desire to spend another minute in an inner tube on the Guadalupe River, EVER AGAIN! Well, I shouldn’t say that. I can’t speak for Joe. I have never talked to him about it. But, as for the rest of us, I can tell you, I don’t think any of us will ever repeat the experience again. In fact my Dad sold all those inner tubes shortly after we went home.
This entire story is to tell you on one particular day in July 1998 my Dad told us about something he didn’t know. He testified to something he had not seen or experienced. And, as a result, the six of us paid the price for his lack of knowledge. I have never been so sunburned in all my life. We laugh about that day whenever we go out there. We especially joke and laugh, even about doing it again, when we cross the Guadalupe on FM 474.
Of course my dad didn’t mean to put us through all that. My father has been nothing but apologetic about the whole thing. He has even apologized to Cindy’s parents for putting us in that position. Though it has been more than 15 years since the event, whenever it comes up again, as classic stories are apt to do, he once again apologizes for it. He was trying very hard to give us a day that would be a good time, a day we would always remember. He did get half of what he set out to do. It was a day I don’t think we will ever forget.
Still, whether it was his intention or not, because he didn’t know what he was talking about, we spent what turned out to be one difficult day on the river.
Has anything similar ever happened in your life? Have you ever been led astray by someone, unintentional thought it may have been?
Perhaps an even better question would be, have you ever been in my father’s place? Have you ever given someone bad advice? Have you ever testified to that which you didn’t know?
I think most all of us have experienced these kinds of things at some point in time from one side of the fence or the other.
It is not always an easy thing to tell others about what we know, though on the surface it sounds like something that wouldn’t be a problem. Sometimes what we know may hurt someone’s feelings. Telling what we know could do damage to our own pride. There could be a long list of reasons why would might not want to tell people who share our lives the things we know and have seen.
Sometimes it is easy to tell what we know. At other times we may be a great deal like my Dad and think we are doing the right thing and then it turns out to be wrong.
If we think about a court of law, we are only allowed to testify about something of which we have first-hand knowledge. You can only testify you saw me eat a second helping of some green dessert tonight at Second Sunday Fellowship if you were actually there to see me do it. Even if I tell you I ate a second green dessert, you can only testify I said I had two helpings. Even if you talk to someone who said they saw me eat two helpings, you still can’t testify that I had two. It is beyond your actual knowledge.
Our lesson this morning contains probably the most quoted verses in all of Scripture. The only possible exception I can think of would be the 23rd Psalm. Still, the 23rd Psalm is more than one verse, John 3:16 is probably the most quoted single verse, “For God so loved the world He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life.”
I think most of us who grew up in the Church know the verse by heart. But, do we know the story around the verse? The story of Jesus’ nighttime encounter with Nicodemus is a powerful story going to the root of our faith.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was a leader. As such this was a man who led a VERY religious life. It seems clear to me in reading the story that Nicodemus at least to some degree had his eyes open by the things Jesus had done. He wanted to know more. He wanted to hear something from this new teacher. So, he came to Jesus to learn.
The lesson tells us he came at night. The metaphor of light and dark is used in several places in Scripture to distinguish those who followed Jesus from those who did not. The use of Nicodemus coming at night could be taken literally because Nicodemus could have feared being seen talking to Jesus. It also could be taken metaphorically because it seems obvious Nicodemus was still in the nighttime of his life. He had yet to see the light of Christ.
Jesus begins teaching Nicodemus about being born again. Nicodemus fails to understand. Jesus talks of being born of water and the Spirit and things of the Spirit. It seems Nicodemus still does not understand what Jesus is saying. Then come the words that are our focus for this morning. “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus says, “we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen.” Then Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus of the need for belief and then one will have eternal life. They are words that form our belief. They are words that give us, as people of faith, hope for the future. “For God so loved the world He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
Perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is, what do we know? About what can we testify?
If we truly have faith as a part of our lives we know those words to be true beyond any question. We don’t know them as here say. We don’t know them because someone else, our parents, our Sunday school teacher, or our pastor told us. We know because God has that knowledge, that faith, in our hearts. God makes those words real and alive for all who choose to believe.
What do we know? We know God loves us and God is at work in our lives every day to strengthen us and empower us for whatever work God might call us to do.
What do we know? We know God gave the Son to die for us on the cross so we might find forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Jesus died to give us eternal life. This season of Lent helps us to build toward our remembrance of that event.
What do we know? We all have a story to tell about how God has worked and is working in our lives. We know our story. We know our story better than anyone else because we have lived it. We have shared that story with God.
To testify to the story God has given us is not hearsay. It is not telling of what we don’t know. Telling our story is speaking of what we know and testifying to what we have seen. It is telling of God’s work in a real life way. I believe it is a story that must be told.
I also believe our story points back to that famous verse of Scripture contained in this morning’s lesson, “For God so loved the world He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life.”
Whether we are sitting here in worship or we are stock out on the river, God is with us and God loves us. Everything God does points to God’s love for us though truly God needed to do nothing more than give us the Son. Above all else, that proves God’s love for us. Above all else, it is what we know.
