Deliverance!

I got up very early this morning before the sun, and before the kids! Clutching my hot coffee mug, I settled onto the sofa to catch the morning news, our dog Jack curled up at my feet. I flipped through a few channels, and the movie "The African Queen" was on (Bogart and Hepburn, 1951). This is one of my favorite films, and I can never resist watching it, though I've seen it dozens of times.

It was near the end of the film, which takes place in the jungles of Africa during WWII. Charlie (a slovenly, gin-swilling captain of a tramp steamer) and Rose (the straight-laced spinster sister of a prim British missionary) make an unlikely duo who team up after the Germans destroy the Mission village. In what begins as merely an attempt to flee to the safety of civilization, they decide instead to strike back, and begin a treacherous journey down the Ulanga River in order to reach a large lake at its mouth. Therein lies the Louisa, a German boat which patrols the lake and all activity around it, preventing Allied troops from securing the region. Charlie and Rose devise an elaborate plan to sink the Louisa, but first they must make it down the Ulanga, which has never been navigated.

They brave being shot at, swarms of African insects, multiple boat troubles, and treacherous rapids which nearly dash them to pieces. At what should be the culmination of their efforts and heroism, at the base of the river they become stuck in an unnavigable tangle of reeds and high grasses. Unable to see above the reeds, they cannot tell where they are and assume that they are doomed to perish in the swampy, leech-infested bog. No longer able to push or pull their boat in any direction, they eventually collapse from fatigue and despair, and await a slow death.

What they cannot see, however, is that they are only 100 yards from the open water of their destination. Nor can they see or know of the rain storm that is beginning miles upriver in the mountains. As they sleep, the rainwater working its way downstream begins to flood the river and slowly makes its way to the marshes where their little boat sits embedded in mud. As the water slowly rises, the boat is eventually freed and begins to float again, and drifts naturally towards the open water. The sleeping occupants awaken to what appears to be a dream -- they are moving! They lift their weary heads and see their deliverance!

Sometimes it feels like we are stuck in that quagmire. We strive and trudge our way towards the finish line in our war-beaten little boats, experiencing great trials and yet little victories along the way, and just when we feel like all of our efforts for the cause of Christ should finally bear victorious fruit, our circumstances suddenly change and overwhelm us, and we can see no way out. Over time, despair, exhaustion, and hopelessness set in and we are tempted to simply give up because we have stopped moving forward -- so we think. But we must remember that God is always working and has already secured our deliverance! We will lift our head and behold the miracles He is doing on our behalf that were unseen by our limited vision, but absolutely planned by Him for our benefit and His glory! Full understanding and sight may not come in this life, but until then, we must not collapse under the weight of what we cannot see or understand. We must let Christ be our eyes, focusing on Him, and letting Him take care of the boat! And unlike The African Queen where Charlie shouts, "We did it!" when victory finally comes at the end, we will instead shout, "HE did it!" which is really the whole point, isn't it?