Rafting the Nile, part 3

Apparently, most of the thrill-seekers who use the rafting company we used (Nile River Explorers) are non-Christians. We found that out early in our trip as employees and river guides cussed and insinuated for the first hours of our stay there. They boasted of the “best bar in East Africa” and provided a jar of free condoms for visitors.

No big deal, if you ask me. Why should Christians expect non-Christians to follow the ways of God?

I guess no one really noticed that we weren’t drinking, carousing, or laughing at the crass jokes for the first few hours. As we stopped for lunch, our boat’s guide—Juma—told us we could take our life jackets, helmets, and clothes off if we wanted to. I had to say something, and I felt like this was my chance to openly bring God into our rafting experience. I told Juma that none of us in the boat are husband and wife, and it wouldn’t be right for us to be naked together. (My bluntness got a few laughs from my friends.) I explained God’s design of marriage and sex from a biblical perspective. Juma, a rather loud and boisterous Ugandan, asked me point blank if he was sinning because he had three girlfriends. I replied yes. He shot back with some angry comments, but when we boldly answered back unruffled, he kept the line of questioning going.

For the next two hours!

The other five Christians in our boat and I answered as clearly and as logically as we could. He rarely accepted anything we said, instead bouncing from issue to issue to deflect from plain truth. We covered the fall of man, the accuracy of the Bible, charity, the origins of the church, the resurrection, the sacrifice of Christ, angels and demons, heaven and hell. All as we munched on pineapple and paddled under the beaming sun.

Juma’s questions revealed that he heard some of the Gospel story before but that he truly knew little of what it means to be a Christian. At the end of the day—after he had proceeded to fire off questions about the economy and America and Ugandan civil war—he had heard not just the spiritual side of our faith but also its application in the real world. As we parted ways, he politely thanked us for “teaching so many things”—a respectful demeanor he hadn’t taken earlier in the day.

Although I wish that I could tell Juma became a Christian on the banks of the Nile, I can’t. Hopefully Juma’s day will come. But on that Tuesday, it was a day where the thrills and spills of God’s creation combined with the stories and glories of God’s salvation. Truth was spoken; love was shared. Non-Christian rafters all around us were bristling under their hard helmets; demons were trembling in the heavenly realm. We came to experience God’s creation; God used our words and our lives to speak of His salvation.

And that was the greatest adrenaline rush I had on my Nile River rafting trip.