After some time passed, my husband’s ‘Vet’ (his five-speed, maroon, Chevette) passed away and we decided he needed to purchase something new.  That’s when we went ‘car’ shopping and came home with our first ‘pick-up truck.’  It truly is so odd how things like that happen.  Once we purchased our small, baby-blue truck, my husband knew we had the capability to pull a boat and enjoy our beautiful lake that lay just twenty minutes from our home.  Before long, we found ourselves hurrying home from work, loading up our supplies, and heading off to the lake for fishing, sunbathing, and enjoying time on the lake.  We were in ‘high-heaven.’

I remember so well one fishing excursion we embarked on, a journey that truly scared me, and looking back thirty-plus years later—I REMAIN SCARED OF THE WHAT-IFS & COULD-HAVES.

To understand this story, one must realize that the large manmade lake that sits twenty minutes from our home has been dammed to contain the water and to keep the cities downstream—saved from imminent threat.  To that spot, below the dam, where the lake is HELD BACK, is the spot where my husband wanted to go fishing late one Friday evening.  I had never been on the water that flowed below the dam, and looking back, I never wish to go there again in my life.

That fateful, scary night, we put our boat into the water, below the dam where the water runs into the Cumberland River. Immediately I sensed the danger.  Normally, the small trolling motor on the front of the boat was all that was needed to propel the boat forward when we were fishing on the lake (above the dam); however, below the dam required a stronger force, a more-powerful engine.  In order to keep from being swept downstream, my husband needed to turn on the powerful boat engine at the back of the boat.

At first, I was just fine with this concept.  Fishing within the roar of the running engine and in the super-cold air below the dam was NOT my favorite way of fishing, but tolerable.  Then my sweet husband said, “Let’s move closer.”

‘Closer to what,’ I remember thinking.  As he increased the engine, we inched our way closer to the massive wall of concrete (the wall of the dam), and I remember thinking, ‘I am scared.’

Not only did we need the increased engine power, but we also needed to set our anchor deep in the riverbed to keep us from being swept hundreds of miles downstream.  I have NEVER been more scared in my life, EXCEPT for one other autumn night while standing in a Fall Revival, sensing the truth—IF I DIE TONIGHT, I WILL GO TO HELL & NOT GO TO HEAVEN.

• Fear is frightening.
• Fear is gut-wrenching.
• Fear requires action.
• Fear requires trust & faith.

In the boat, I needed to ‘trust’ the power of the boat’s engine to keep us from turning sideways, capsizing, and dying.

In the church that night, I needed to TRUST in the TRUTH of JESUS CHRIST, the SAVIOR to SAVE MY SOUL, to keep me from dying in my sins, forever lost.

Here I am writing, thirty-plus years later—Safe from the terrifying, ice-cold waters that swiftly flow below the dam.

Here I am (also) writing, forty-plus years later—SAVED FOR ETERNITY, SECURE IN MY SALVATION—ALL BECAUSE OF THE MATCHLESS AMAZING GRACE OF GOD!

May We Not Miss the Meaning.

• From our PAST Sins,
• Presently SAVING us from our Daily Sins &

We Shall Be Saved for ALL ETERNITY!