Under the Influence

During my senior year of high school our class took an “end of the year” field trip to a place called Cane Creek Park. This park is located in Charlotte, North Carolina but the name of it is very deceptive; in reality, this “creek” is more like a large lake. When our bus arrived at the park, we all piled out and a few safety rules were given in order to prevent us from getting in trouble. For my group of friends these rules equaled a challenge to disobey. Don’t get me wrong…I was not really a rebellious teenager but I enjoyed being around a group of people who liked to live on the edge and since I have never been an extremely daring person I would oftentimes find myself in awkward situations where I was forced to go along. This field trip was one of those scenarios.Rule #1: Do not go to the other side of the lake. Rule #2: blah, blah, blah. As soon as the lecture was completed, my friends headed for the other side of the lake. I decided to tag along for fear of being called a wimp or other degrading names! Even though the distance across the lake was not too significant, the walk around seemed like it took forever. I cannot say for sure, but I it took about 30 minutes. Upon our arrival, we just hung out and laughed at the rest of our group who was still stuck on the other side of the lake…that is until they began eating lunch. At this point, the long walk back around the lake did not seem too exciting so one of my idiot friends came up with the idea of swimming across. For me, this was an easy answer – NO! I am scared of water and especially hate unfamiliar bodies of water. The rest of my friends were of the adventurous type so they thought it was a brilliant idea. They began discussing the options and finally came up with a plan. Steal a nearby canoe and row across. This may have worked if there were only 2 or 3 of us, but if my memory is correct there were 6 or 7 of us. Leaving out most of the details surrounding this ignorant arrangement, I found myself in a canoe with four people and a couple others swimming in front of us. Somehow we made it across, but not before our chaperones spotted us as well as the park ranger. Needless to say, we were in trouble. You would have never found me making this type of decision on my own, especially considering my fear of water; however, a little influence from others goes a long way. In fact, influence is a major part of our life and many of the choices we make are based on some type of influence. A person we respect, a book we read, or something we hear in the media can altar our perspective in an instant. Proverbs 4:23 warns to “above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.” Be careful about who or what you allow to speak into your life.