Southern Indiana Living - March / April 2024

High school boys don’t always
make the best decisions, especially
when you put us behind
the wheel of a car. Take
the day of my senior awards ceremony,
for instance. I was going to pick up a
friend who needed a ride and thought
I had plenty of time before the program
started.
On a normal day it would have
been no problem, but I’d forgotten
about the rain. We’d had a stormy
week, and a little flooding. However, by
Thursday it was nothing but blue skies
and sunshine. Unfortunately, blue skies
don’t necessarily mean dry roads.
I was cruising down the highway
with my stereo up and windows down
when I saw the road closed sign. High
water.
Well, that was a problem. Fortunately,
I’d just passed a county road that
I figured would get me where I needed
to go . . . eventually.
I’d never been down any of the
back roads in this area, but what else
could I do? This was 1990, long before
the days of cell phones and the internet
so I didn’t have a lot of choices.
Without a paper map in the glove
compartment, my only options were to
turn around and head home or go exploring.
So, I backtracked to the county
road and decided to go off the beaten
path. I drove about a quarter of a mile
through cornfields when I popped up
over a hill and saw it.
More high water. A flooded pond
had spilled out over the road into the
field on the other side. The water looked
totally dead, no current, and I thought I
could tell how deep it was by how high
it went on the fence on each side of the
road. I figured if I took it slow, I could
make it.
I know! I know! 52 year-old me
looks back at that day and screams,
“Don’t do it! Don’t be stupid!” But, like
I said, I was a high school boy. We don’t
always make the best decisions.
I tapped the gas and eased my old
Chevy Nova into the water. Once I got
about halfway across, my stomach sank
as I watched the water creep up on the
doors higher than I’d expected. A glubglub
sound emerged from the tailpipe
as water began to cover it.
What would I do if the car stalled
halfway through? It’s not like I could
call someone to come help. I had no
choice but just keep going. It seemed to
take forever.
After a few tense moments, I made
it out the other side, drove up the next
hill and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
In Deep Water
Everyday Adventures
I realized what a dumb and dangerous
move that had been and was thrilled I’d
somehow made it through.
When I topped another hill, however,
I discovered a nasty surprise. The
next valley was flooded too. It looked
slightly shallower, but was a longer
stretch of road.
It was decision time. Do I keep going
or try to turn around? I wasn’t positive
I could make it back through the
water I’d just crossed. I’d gotten myself
in so deep (in more ways than one), it
seemed like there was no good choice.
I pressed on. Another tense few
minutes, and then I climbed out the
next hill. And guess what I found on the
other side? Another flooded field!
By the time I crossed the third
water-covered valley, my stomach was
tight and hands were shaking. I was a
nervous wreck. How long was this going
to go on, and what if the next patch
of flooded road was deeper?
Thankfully, the third time was
a charm, and the road wound back
around to the highway. I’d never been
happier to see a yellow line down the
middle of a highway in my life. When
I got to my friend’s house, we took the
long way back to school, another road
that went in a completely different direction.
Hopefully you’ve never been foolish
enough to try and cross high water
like I did. Those stories don’t always
have happy endings. However, even
if you’ve never been as reckless as me,
you may have discovered it doesn’t
take actual water to get yourself in over
your head.
We human beings have an incredible
knack for getting ourselves in
trouble. Whether it’s through unhealthy
relationships, financial choices, health
choices or moral choices, it doesn’t take
much before we find ourselves in a
mess. You take one step, then another.
Then it seems like there’s no way back.
The good news, though, is no
matter how deep the water seems in
our lives right now, when it feels like
we don’t have any good choices, there
is one wise choice we can alway make:
ask for help from the God who loves us.
When a friend of God named David
found himself in over his head, he
cried out to God. Here’s how David
described God’s response, “He reached
down from heaven and rescued me; he
drew me out of deep waters” (Psalm
18:16 NLT).
God’s arm is long. His heart is big,
and He’s still in the business of rescuing
those who cry out for help. That doesn’t
mean He takes all of our troubles away,
but He will always walk through the
waters with us and show us the safe
road home. •
Photo credit: JSim2018 / shutterstock.com.
Jason Byerly is a writer, pastor, husband and
dad who loves the quirky surprises God
sends his way every day. You can read more
from Jason in his books Tales from the Leaf Pile
and Holiday Road. You can catch up with Jason
on his blog at www.jasonbyerly.com.
Southern Indiana Living • Mar/Apr 2024 • 37