I’d like to share a true story which I hope encourages everyone who was hoping for the Rapture to have occurred this Rosh Hashanah, especially those who, like me, are running low on their personal resources, and are just “hanging on”.

Way back when (in the previous millennium), a famous explorer named John Wesley Powell mapped the Grand Canyon. He was the first to do so, it was his major claim to fame, even though he did much more than just that.  Of course, going down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon for the first time presents a special problem – he didn’t know how long the trip would be. All he could do is estimate based on what he knew of the overall dimensions of the canyon. Since rivers don’t flow in a straight line, he just had to make a good estimate on how much food to supply for himself and his party. It turned out in the end that he planned it out pretty well, though no one would know that to be the case till the expedition was over.

During the expedition, the party ran low on food, so low that some people began to doubt they’d finish the trip. Two people decided to abandon the party and hike out of the canyon, thinking their chances were better on foot than following the river. They didn’t make it out alive. Powell and the rest of his party discovered the end of the Grand Canyon and civilization two days later.

Moral of the story: Stick with your captain, have faith in Him. He will bring you to the end.

Joel Fuhrmann