The Spire

  June 16. 2025,

Hello My Friends,

Every once in a while, God sends me a reminder of something important in my life and in the lives of all of us. This happened just recently.

As most of you know I attended my annual Catfishing Derby a little over a week ago. This is a long fishing contest that begins on Saturday at 7 am and ends at noon on Sunday. People come from states all around including some from as far south as Virginia. We fish all night on the Susquehanna River.

The river was running higher than usual when we began the derby this year, the water was like chocolate milk. (good water for catfish). As the derby progressed the water unexpectedly rose another three feet causing me and my son to retreat further up the river bank. Debris such as bamboo, weeds, branches and even whole trees flowed past us all night long, hanging up our lines and making it almost impossible to fish.

On Sunday morning at about nine, when all of you were getting ready for church, my son, Gage, looked upstream and said, “Look at all of this coming down, it looks like someone tipped a dumpster into the river.” I looked upstream and there were all kinds of things floating toward us in the current. From a distance all I could make out was the colors of the junk in the river. I could see white things, red things, and black things. As the items drew closer it occurred to me that something had happened upstream, something not so good. Then we heard sirens. The floating debris was much closer now and I could see that one of the black things was a backpack, then a large plastic cup. Gage pointed out a boot floating past. We watched as belongings of all types flowed by; it looked as if a whole camp had been dumped into the river. Someone was in real trouble.

We learned later that a boat sank, that the rescue team had been called out, and the people had to be pulled from the water. By the grace of God nobody was drowned or injured. But it reminded me of a few things. First was that things in life can change in a split second. We never know what is around the next bend or how it will affect us. We don’t always know what’s coming, or where we are going. It also occurred to me how meaningless possessions are in the grand scheme of things. Those folks belongings flowed away on the river, but they were safe, and that was the important thing, a literal answer to a prayer.

Perhaps the most important thing I was reminded of was that help is always available, if we will just reach out. Those sirens we heard, while sending hackles up my spine, were, I am sure, music to those people floundering in the river. They heralded that help was on the way. Total strangers, motivated only by the desire to be useful in emergencies, were responding to the urgent need of someone in distress. They were a blessing sent from God.

I mentioned this event to Lee Vance when we ran into each other last week and that I thought I might write about it in this week’s Spire. Lee brought up a quote from Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things, my mother would say to me, ‘Look to the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” This is part of God’s plan and how God fulfills what is written in Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." It is so often the case that God uses us to be the hand that is present in times of trouble. And God wants us to look to each other to lend that hand when we are in over our heads.

So, should the waters of life, in whatever form they may take, rise quickly around you and you find yourself in distress, please do not be afraid to reach out, make the call, and listen for the sound of someone coming in to help. And remember too that you may be the responder called to bail out, dry off, and comfort someone who, in one way or another, cannot keep their head above water. In this way, we can be God’s ever-present help in trouble.

I pray for safety and happiness for you all,

Greg