White caps were everywhere, the wind competing against us, water spray nearly blinding us, and the headway difficult. We were halfway to the island where we planned to spend the night. Fourteen campers and four leaders in six canoes loaded with camping gear and food. Tired muscles and the psychological impact of not making any perceivable progress worried me. What started on relatively calm water became a more significant challenge than I expected. This was day number three on our ten-day trip.

I had personally canoed many times on Big Trout Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada without concern. It was one of the larger lakes in the park, and we paddled and portaged for two days to get there, so we were well into the backcountry. Our group included a former professional football player and two other athletes, but the rest were regular people tackling their first canoe trip. And it was a mix of males and females.

Our goal in running the Canoe and Backpacking trip was to challenge young adults (ages 17-25) to stretch beyond their limits, discover the interdependence of a close-knit community, and encounter God in a unique discipleship context. The stress was designed to break down barriers and self-defense mechanisms and to learn how to deal with interpersonal conflicts under pressure. While to seasoned outdoors personnel the trip was a manageable challenge, for the campers in unfamiliar circumstances, it was quite an ordeal.

The situation in the middle of the lake was not overly dangerous, all had life vests, and our canoes were widebody Grumans with good floatation built in. But for the novices, the situation became quite scary. While some canoes could make slow headway, others were beginning to flounder. We quickly decided to send the two strongest canoes ahead to the island with instructions for the two ableist paddlers (the former pro and one of the other athletes) to empty one canoe and return to the group that was still struggling. Upon their return, we tied a tow rope from the bow of one of the lagging canoes to the stern of the returning canoe. We tied the other lagging canoe to the back of my canoe. The remaining canoe was able to keep up, and we made it safely to the island.

We fell exhausted on the shore, but all were safe. When we had regained our strength, there was great joy over the accomplishment, the hard-fought camaraderie. While some had begun to wonder if this would be their last day on the planet, now life was full of lively excitement. We had met our match, and we won! The wind and the water were not our matches, though brutal as that experience was. The test was whether we would pull together: those who had the strength to help and those who learned to trust: those who steamed ahead only to return to the harsh circumstances to help others needing help; those who accepted the help of others and all those helping or receiving support in the middle.

Fellowship is forged in the cauldron of trials, where community either grows and thrives or fails and disintegrates. The entire team made it to the island! This was a huge lesson for what the Bible calls fellowship. We each have our strengths and weaknesses, and we each need to learn to use our powers in service to others and to have the humble grace to receive help. Jesus Christ accepted help from others when someone else carried His cross to the execution site. The Bible says that we are strengthened by Christ (Philippians 4:13). So if we want to be like Christ, we should be humble enough to accept help and selfless enough to give help.