During our training camp last week, we got the chance to head on down to a Unicoi State Park.
It was one of the last days of our grieving sessions.
We went down to have some alone time with God.
As we were driving into the park, I noticed a beautiful lake right next to the parking lot.
So being that I am from Minnesota (The Land of 10,000 Lakes), I was immediately drawn to the water.
I got out of the car and went down through some brush and stood on a log that was on the shore line and stared out towards the lake.
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath…ahhhhhh…fresh Georgia air.
I lost my balance and almost fell into the water, so I decided that I should probably open my eyes again.
I looked out towards the water and enjoyed the beauty.
There were a few mallards swimming in the distance.
The leaves on the trees were starting to fill in.
It was very quiet and I could feel the cold breeze on my face.
I was really enjoying the moment.
Then I glanced down for a second and my ADD kicked in.
I started wondering if there were any fish in the water.
I started searching near weeds and around fallen trees.
I started wishing I had a fishing pole with me. While looking around for fish, I saw a few faded bobbers that were stuck in trees and hooked onto logs in the water.
I figured there had to be fish around there somewhere.
But I didn’t see any, not even a minnow, so I guess the guy that lost his bobbers caught all the fish in that little section of the lake.
Bummer.
I took of my camouflage backpack and laid it on the ground next the log I was standing on.
I sat down and stared back out at the lake.
I started praying in my head.
I was asking God to give me strength to stand up to some temptations that I have struggled with in the past.
I was also asking him for strength and courage to go out and love people in the next year or so of my life.
I was asking that he would quiet my thoughts and the voice of the enemy that often seem to be in my head.
I was asking Jesus to speak to me.
Within a few minutes, I was laying on my back on that log.
I was using my backpack as a pillow.
I was very comfortable.
So comfortable that I drifted off to sleep…
I woke up to a whooshing sound that went by right in front of me.
I quickly sat up and saw an amazing sight. A Canadian Goose had just flew by right in front of me and it had it’s wings set and it was landing in the water. It was really beautiful.
It made this incredible sound as it hit the surface. It started water skiing on the top of the water until it ran out of speed
and then it slowly settled down into the water.
So I sat up and started watching this goose.
I wondered what in the world that goose was up to.
I watched as the goose just sat there floating on the water.
Then he started dunking his head under water and quickly lifting his head up to splash water on the rest of his body.
I realized that my friend the goose was preening himself.
Geese spend a lot of their day preening (grooming) themselves.
He sat there for about ten minutes washing himself.
Then he started to use his bill to remove dirt and parasites, waterproof his feathers, adjust his feathers to make himself more aerodynamic, and basically make himself look pretty for the lady geese.
All that hard work of cleaning up must have made him hungry because he started looking for food under water.
I sat there as he swam and around and bobbed for food.
I is really quite the sight to see geese with their little white butts in the air looking for food.
A short while later, Mr. Goose was finally filled up and satisfied.
He sat up and floated around for a while.
He must have been getting a little antsy because he started swimming over to the shoreline.
I watched him as he waddled up onto to the grass.
At first he just kind of looked around.
But then, all of a sudden he decided to dry himself off.
To do this, a goose will stand up as tall as it possibly can and puff out its chest.
Then it will spread out his wings and shake them a few times before finishing up with a little rump shaking.
To me, it looks as if his is getting a little cocky and almost like he is strutting his stuff for all other animals around to see.
He strutted around for about (“a-boat” for those of you that think it is so funny when I say that word) but then the got back into the normal goose waddling posture as he walked back towards the water.
When he got back in the water, he drifted a little was off shore and immediately started cleaning himself off again.
He floated there cleaning himself for about ten minutes.
He must have thought that he was good to go so he swam back over to the shore line.
He walked slowly out of the water and back onto the shore.
He sat there and looked around and then he started strutting around again.
His puffed up his chest and he spread his wings.
He stood there on his little webbed duck tiptoes and flapped his wings before ending up with the rump shake again.
(He must have heard Nelly, the famous rapper, sing his wonderful song
Shake Ya Tail Feather, which, by the way, I don’t recommend.)
I think this goose really thought he was the coolest goose in all the land.
He was strutting his stuff for all to see.
After about twenty seconds of getting no reaction from anything, he went back to normal goose posture and headed back to the water.
As soon as he hit the water, he quickly swam about ten feet of shore and started cleaning himself off again.
This back and forth game of cleaning himself off and then getting out of the water to dry off/strut his stuff continued a few more times.
It lasted about twenty more minutes.
Then finally, it was almost as if the goose was sick of strutting around and trying to impress all the other animals that were nearby.
He cleaned himself off for the last time and just swam around a little bit.
I think that if he would have had lips, he would have had just a huge goose smile on his face.
He seemed content and calm for the first time all day.
Then a really beautiful thing happened.
He just started swimming across the lake and was happy just being in the water.
I watched my goose friend swim into the distance.
I lost sight of him as he went around a little
peninsula
that was sticking out into the water.
For a little over an hour, I got the chance to observe some amazing behavior by a goose.
Moments after he disappeared, I realized something that spoke straight to my heart.
Let me explain…
Let’s pretend I am the goose, and God is the water.
A few years ago, I was feeling pretty good about myself.
I was a goose that was high on life.
But then, it was almost as if I started falling out of the air.
I kept falling, falling, falling until I had this controlled crash into the water. (note—a controlled crash is a term my dad, a pilot, uses do describe the landing of a plan.
Comforting isn’t it.)
At first, I was curious what all this God stuff was that was all around me.
For so long, I avoided it by flying around on my own.
But then I started to realize, this God stuff isn’t so bad.
Then I realized that God wanted to clean me off and get rid of all the dirt in my life.
I was like, “Heck yeah,” and I let God cleanse me.
I submersed myself in Him.
Then, I started to do things at church that would make me look good to others.
I was finally all cleaned up and looking pretty good.
But now I was hungry for more.
I started feeding on God.
This God stuff tasted pretty good.
Actually, it was amazing.
I was taking everything that I could get from Him and just gobbling it up.
I started to feel satisfied for the first time in my life.
But then, I did what we humans are great at, I wandered away from God and tried to do things on my own.
I swam to the shore and walked away from Him.
I got out on my own two legs and started walking around.
I was confident and felt pretty good at first.
I thought I was all that and a bag of chips because God had cleansed me.
I started walking around with my chest puffed out and I would strut my stuff with the best of them.
I was living for me and what I wanted, and not for Jesus.
Doing that, I placed myself above Jesus.
I sinned.
I felt bad and a little dirty, I went back to God so He would wash away my sins again.
I got a little ways back into God and He started to cleanse me again.
I enjoyed being clean again.
It was great to feel a clean and at peace again.
So good that I thought I started thinking that life was all about me and I thought I could be in control again.
So again, I swam away from God again so that I could get out of the water and wander around on my own.
Do you see the pattern?
I would keep going to God to get clean and then try to make it on my own again.
I would quickly realize that I needed God and I would go back to Him.
But as soon as I was cleaned up, I was off to strutting my stuff again.
But this goose made me see something new on that beautiful day by the lake.
I realized that we can be content with God.
He is more than enough for us.
We need to humble ourselves and quit strutting our stuff and trying to impress people.
We need to stop trying to make it through life on our own, because we can’t do it.
We need God.
This back and forth thing with God is exhausting and personally, I don’t want to do it anymore.
Every time I am with God, I feel comfort.
Everything we need, He has in abundance and He is offering it to us.
He loves it when we just float around in Him all day long and feel His love.
He wants us to just be with Him all the time.
That day at the lake, I told Jesus that I would stop swimming away from Him.
The waves of life may get choppy from time to time and I may might think I want out, but I am trusting that He will give me comfort and keep me calm.
I am ready to swim away from shore and explore new waters.
I want to experience all that God has for me.
