Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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After our month of ministry, some of our squad decided to take a day and white-water raft down the Nile River. I’ve never done anything so exciting. My raft successfully made it through all of the falls and we just had one big one left. Before I could even take a breath I was out of the boat and being swallowed by the crashing rapids. No matter how hard I flailed my arms and legs, I couldn’t get to the surface. I was trapped in a vortex, I later found out. Please, please, please, please… I kept saying over and over again in my head. I was swallowing so much water and I had no control over it. The orchestra of the waters engulfing me was deafening. I quickly was out of air. I felt completely helpless.


Oh my God, I am actually going to die right now.
I remembered a dream I had last year where I drowned. I thought about it when I was struggling and was convinced my life was about to end. I guess that was God warning me or something. It’s true, what they say, that you have a million thoughts in a near-death experience. I thought about my family and how devastated they will be. My mom won’t make it. And my team. What would happen? Would they be okay? Why did God bring me to Uganda to die?

I felt myself give up hope and stop fighting. Then like a hand reaching for me, I broke to the surface and gasped for air before I was pulled under again. A guide on a kayak came and grabbed me and I was now finally at the safety of our raft. I started crying. I’m alive.

 
The realization of my mortality was terrifying. I keep seeing that scene in my mind when I close my eyes. But He saved me. He didn’t let me die. Thank you, thank you, Jesus for saving me.

 

This near death experience has helped me focus more than ever before. It brings everything into perspective. I’m not just floating around life without purpose. God has a plan for my life. I have a destiny. He loves me. He saved me from death. I’ve always known this. But there’s a difference between truth you know in your head, and truth you know in your heart.