River of Life-Living Water

A couple of years ago, I worked a local youth camp for kids. It was a rewarding experience with quality content and of course we also had a lot of fun…horseback riding, swimming, crafts, campfires, music and food. My favorite was the opportunity to take a group of youth floating down the local river on tubes.

It was a sunny day and we had about a 1-1 ½ hour tubing trip through beautiful and quiet forest lands along this near pristine waterway. It was a great time of reflection and relaxation for me…even surrounded by a group of 9 others. What was amazing from most of the groups including mine, were the complaints about the river and the trip. It was too cold, too slow, too many trees, too shallow...too, too, too. As if by complaining, something miraculous could happen…such as adding hot water to make it just right, or installing strategically placed jets to speed it up, or a crew would trim back all the foliage… and oh yea…the river would be dredged so some of us don’t bump our rumps. With all these miraculous upgrades meeting everyone’s satisfaction, we would have little more than a long Jacuzzi tub. The truth of all this is the river is what it is…it is living water… it does what it does, goes where it goes and flows where it will.

Our life journey has that kind of influence. In the book of John, Jesus speaks of “Living Water” or “spring of water welling up to eternal life” (chapter 4). In chapter 7, he speaks of “flowing rivers of living water” in regards to the Holy Spirit.

Wouldn’t it be great to be free enough in our faith journey that we could take afloat in the “River of life” and find joy in the ride, allowing the water of God to do what it’s going to do, go where he wants it to go, and know the source of our water flows straight from his thrown. Come on in and enjoy the water…”The Living Water of God”.

Verse of the week:
“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 …”. Rev. 22:1