Nature has a way of leveling the most arrogantly prideful. So, it can do the same with a “know-it-all-teenager.” Well, maybe nature isn’t that powerful, because none of these boys really were that cocky… but I saw nature grip them just enough to silence them. For these teenagers, nature showed her power, and the boys obediently acquiesced.
When the boys take a boat out on the water, they are too far away for us to hear them, but we can see them. We watch them all across the lake, looking up to see where they are, and if the boat is still moving. If the boat stops, we assume they are fishing. If we see them drifting closer and closer to the weeds, we know they are stuck.
The first night the boys went out in the fishing boat, with its outboard motor, weeds were wrapped up and tied in the motor. We set off in our canoe to rescue them, and, just then, a storm started brewing. We moved our way over to them — which was quite tricky because of the weeds and the wind. They listened, they tried to follow our instructions, but the wind. The wind kept howling and moving them in the wrong direction. We could hear thunder … the tensions built. Frustration. “Why is nothing working?” All of us were being humbled.
Finally, we made the switch. One boy from their boat, a strong rower, jumped into our the canoe with me, and dad jumped into the fishing boat– (I held my breath during the transfer– so that the boats wouldn’t tip, and they didn’t.) We tied the fishing boat to the canoe, as the wind whipped our hair around, and the boy and I rowed them out of the weeds. Once clear, we untied our boats.
I looked at the boy in the canoe, and said, “Let’s beat them.” He grinned, and we did.We all made it safely back to the dock, before that lightning, which we knew was coming, cracked on the water, and our coats and hair were just starting to get wet. That was a fun night.
The boys, friends of our son, were new to this lake.
A couple of days later, the three boys set off on another fishing adventure. Same thing happened. This time, however, they had packed their own set of oars in the boat. Again, the wind blew them into the weeds, and the motor wouldn’t go.
We watched them. 
We could see they were stuck. I was quietly happy for the boys. For the chance to use their own ingenuity. For the chance to take things into their own hands, and work toward the coming goal and getting home safely. How easily the chance fell into their laps? A chance that would be hard to find on dry land. I never doubted they would succeed. 
So, I stood on the dock, with my camera, and just waited for them to figure it all out and make it home. This time, they rowed themselves back to shore, just as night was falling across the lake.
Do you see the moon in this picture?