RIVERS & STREAMS

This exercise is designed to help you take a close look at your walk with God over the last 3-9 months. Take your time, consider as many aspects of your walk as you can. There are no right or wrong answers, just honest and dishonest. God is not surprised with your answers so lets be grateful for grace and enjoy God’s presence.

The story below is 100% true. It happened on a retreat my wife and I were on in Colorado at the base of Pikes Peak. God taught us a lot on this walk and to this day reminds us of things He said to us along the stream. I pray your hear God’s guidance as clearly as we did that day.

Our hike that afternoon started right up against a line of cliffs with a small with a small pool that was filled with water that seeped from the rocks. The pool was significant enough to work as base camp for several groups hiking the mountain. The pool was full of water that was clean and clear, almost invisible. You could see clear to the bottom. It was confusingly deep. These Texas eyes were not used to being able to see the bottom of a natural pool that was twenty feet deep but we could see that that the fish and plant life were abundant. That water came from high on the mountain. Pikes Peak is one of the 7 mountains with a summit eclipsing 14,000 ft. in the United States.

The water that filled that pool was the source of life for so many and it’s source was much higher, older and longer than any one that relied on that pool ever knew.

There are themes, values and beliefs that have worked their way in to your life, heart and soul. These are the things that source your life. They are the way you make decisions, both every day and life-chainging ones. These themes, values and beliefs often become so engrained that loose our ability to recognize them.

Take some time and consider what are 3-5 theses, values or beliefs that have SOURCED your life so far this year.

As we began our hike down the river we found crystal and smooth waters. Though the river was a few feet deep you could still see to the bottom as though it were only a few inches. Every rock with every contour. Every fish with every color. Pristine.

After just a little walk under the summer sun we took a break. Sat down, kicked off our shoes and placed our feet in the gentle waters. However, to our surprise the waters were not so gentle. They were rather powerful, there was a rather impressive current. It pulled our feet downstream and almost pulled us in to the waters. Though the waters looked calm and gentle when we stoped and looked at them we noticed there was a surprisingly powerful current. The current carried all kinds of great things and shaped the things with in it for their good.

All currents carry something. They carry what is in them.

Take a moment and consider the currents in your life. What are some of the things, people, situations or ideas that carried you through this year so far?

After our break we got back to our hike. As we turned the corner we were surprised this massive boulder, easily 3 stores tall, that had fallen from the surrounding mountains and landed on the edge of the river blocking it about half way across.

The strong current that we had just experienced was hitting something that would not budge. As the two forces collided - the current and the boulder - there was a massive white water point. The collision caused the water to be rerouted around the rock. The water fought against the force has hard as it knew how but lost. The current saw itS foe as an unworthy battle and simply detoured.

The detour on the river created a whole new landing pad for beauties of the current. The shoreline got shallow and created a place for the wildlife to enter safely and enjoy the fruits of the river.

What moments, people or situations did you encounter that caused you to detour away from your original plan and have to negotiate the things around you?

Early on in our walk we noticed incredible fish, in this river they were trout. Large, beautiful, peaceful trout. At one point in the river we saw almost two dozen trout at different places between the banks to appear to just be floating. They weren’t swimming. They weren’t even flinching. Seriously, we even threw little rocks at the to see if we could get them to move - they didn’t budge. They stayed there completely effortlessly. We knew the current was strong so their simplicity blew us away.

When we returned to our retreat center we told our retreat leader about these trout and how simple they seemed to have it in that moment. They asked what felt like an offhanded question, “Where these trout behind submerged rocks and facing upstream?” We didn’t notice so we pulled out the camera and looked over our pics. They were, each one of them, nose up against a rock and facing into the current.

The leader went on to explain that this was a technique called “shelving”. A shelf is a part of a river where the current isn’t as strong. The shelves can be found behind rocks, logs or large dips in the rivers depth. The current flows over these parts and that little shelf, behind the structure in the water, is an extremely calm part of the river.

These shelves are the places trout do two things. They eat and the rest. The get what they need. They don’t have to fight against the detours and things aren’t pushing them around as much so they can stop burning energy and actually build some energy.

What were the moments when you felt like you could stop burning your energy and allow yourself to restore some energy instead?

As we came to the spot where the river entered the little city along the river we noticed a little coffee shop / bed ’n breakfast at the edge of this town. We visited the coffee shop to refresh before we returned to the retreat center.

When we went in we noticed a lot of old industrial equipment around the building. Turns out this building that was now this little coffee shop used to a turbine plant for the city. It would run the water through and the turbine would produce electricity for the entire little town.

This current of the river, and all of its power, produced the lights, the refrigeration, the radios and telephones for the entire community.

The river produced electricity, it was a soft landing place for falling boulders from the mountains, it allowed the fish to find the energy they needed to survive. The river had fruit, a product, an output.

As you remember all of the things that have carried you thus far this year; the detours, things that didn’t go the way you imagined and all the ways you found life throughout the semester. What were the fruits of your semester? Who were those you were able to impact? How were you able to declare Jesus in other situations?