the river

We visited our daughter, Courtney, and her husband, Ben, this past weekend.  They live in the western suburbs of Philadelphia.  While there I expressed an interest in going for a walk for exercise and they suggested that I walk part of an old river trail.  I found myself walking for a few miles beside a powerful river, called the Schuylkill.  This odd name is Dutch and apparently means something like "hidden river".  As I walked beside the water it seemed anything but hidden to me.  It looked to be about 3 or 4 football fields in width and had an impressive current of several miles per hour.  All this water was rushing towards Philadelphia where it would ultimately pour into the Delaware River and on into the ocean. It averages about 5,000 cubic feet of water per second as it empties into the Delaware.  Day in and day out the water flows.  Where does it come from?  The river is 135 miles long and is fed by many mountain streams and other sources along the way.  Over its recent lifetime, the river was the site of revolutionary war battles, the industrial revolution and transportation by canal and train.  But...all that water!  I thought about all the source of the water...the raindrops that dripped off rocks and rooftops and rain off to streams to feed into smaller rivers and eventually fuel this huge river.  The river seemed like a living thing, with its rush and its sound, as it broke over rows of rock here and there.  I thought about the river of life that is the Lord living in you and me.  His power and presence are coursing through our lives with a vitality like the "hidden river".  He is not standing still and His power starts with raindrops of faith that build to streams of trust and ultimately become an ongoing river flow that courses through and also carries us.  This powerful river of God will ultimately empty into Heaven's eternity and we are riding this river carried safely in a boat named "Jesus" and a river guide we know as "Holy Spirit".

Revelation 22:¹ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city.