Quick! Without thinking too much…. What’s the hardest thing you’ve done at Deerfoot? Many of you just said “My point-and-back” or “Doing the spillway-and-back”. This requirement to get your canoeing basic can take years of practice and determination. If you understand the canoe’s design, its hull, its keel, and the mechanics of the J-stroke, you know it is a system designed to go straight. The wind, waves, and your own weariness take you off course. If we ignore what the canoe is trying to do and try to muscle through it, we end up going in circles. 
This summer, Chief Craig and I will be following the theme “Godly strength” in our after-breakfast bible studies. We will be exploring the question, “Should the man of God be weak or strong?” (Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and courageous” vs 2 Corinthians 12:9 “my power works best in weakness”). Like being in the canoe, we often struggle with how much power we should use versus how much we should finesse the natural track of the canoe.
From trying to physically carve a camp out of the mountains last year at Blue Ridge to dealing with COVID-19 this year; this topic has been at the forefront of my prayers, devotions, quiet times and discussions for the past 24+ months.
If you’ve received any correspondence from me you may have noticed that I often use the valediction or complimentary close (I had to google those); SEND ME from Isaiah 6:8. I don’t use those two words as a chest-thumping, follow-me, “once more into the breach” proclamation. Saying “Send me” is a prayer. It is a petition to Jesus, from whom I receive all my strength, asking Him to send me. I know that is the only way Deerfoot happens.
As I am getting in my canoe and looking across wrinkled water at the summer of 2020, my inner 70-pound, woodsman-camper comes out. I pray to our Lord that if he can make use of these humble hands then, here am I! Send me.
As you face uncertainty in the days, weeks, and months ahead, make your prayer “send me”. Ask Jesus to be the initiator in your life. His timing is the best timing, His strategy is the best strategy, His plan is the best plan, and His strength is the only strength we need.
Send me,
Chief Nick
Follow-up: Read John 17. How may times does Jesus use the word “Sent”?
What do you think it meant for Jesus to know that God the Father was the initiator and that He was sent?
In Verse 18 Jesus says “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” So, what does this mean for us?
What is an area that God has initiated in your life that you need to give back to Him?
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