“I can call and reschedule for next week,” my husband said hopefully, looking out the window at the sky. We’d been watching the rain clouds all morning. The Weather Channel had predicted a warming trend and sunnier skies but Friday morning was still scattered rain showers and random down pours. I wasn’t too thrilled at the thought of sitting in a raft on the river and getting thoroughly drenched   in 50 degree weather either.

However, we’d promised our grand daughter and I’ve learned ten year olds have long memories about kept – and broken- promises. Rafting the Salmon River on a day trip   was Dan’s suggestion as a way to celebrate our  anniversary. With grand daughter visiting, it seemed like a great idea. So, there would be no cancellation! We were going despite the conditions. Instead, I sent a short prayer: Lord, let it be special.

And it was. The day turned out so beautifully. The clouds held off and the sun broke through with patches of periwinkle blue sky. The afternoon temperature rose. Layered in wet suit, fleece, rain jacket and bulky life vest, I never got cold. I couldn’t bend, but even when the water sprayed down my neck, I never felt chilled. It was too much fun riding the rapids, getting soaked and laughing.

In between the white water thrills were longer, quieter stretches of the river. Relaxed, we got to know our guide. He shared river history and stories, pointing out old abandoned homesteads where apricot trees were beginning to ripen. Here and there a gold mine was tucked into rocky crevices, like a toothless yawn . Thickets of blackberry bushes white with blossoms blanketed the hillsides. I spotted an orange tanager flitting along the river bank and followed an eagle’s flight as he disappeared high into the cliff tops.

“Be still and know that I am God.” Too often I pray this when I am agitated. On the quiet river I became quiet also. God’s river world is filled with endless motion, beauty and surprises at every bend. It was easy to see differently and to pay deeper attention. I noticed details, like the silvery swirls of river water  cascading from the boatman’s oars the and broken fishing lures threaded in the weeds. I saw Dan and Gretchen light up with joy and knew the Lord was very near. I felt stilled and filled, as if I were standing before a masterpiece seeing it through the painter’s brushstrokes.

Later, Dan mentioned that seeing the river from the raft was a lot different than seeing it from the road or the bank. He put into words what I was sensing. The view and perspective being in/on the river is vastly different from looking at it from above or elsewhere.

As believers, we’re called to step into the river, into the flowing, living waters of new life in Christ Jesus. Sometimes it is to cross a Red Sea, like Moses leading his people from bondage. Sometimes Jesus calls us to be Peter and walk out onto the storms of a Lake Galilee.    “Come”, He invites the Samaritan woman. “Drink of my water and you will never thirst again.”

When he was shown the vision of the river of healing Ezekial prophesied:

“…and it was a river that I could not cross for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed.” (47:5)

“…And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live, there will be a very great multitude of fish because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.” (47:9)

Jesus always invites us to be where He is and where His Spirit flows. His Spirit is the healing River we’re called to enter fully, revealed at the end of time as “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Rev: 22:1

If we are to know Jesus at all and enter into the Gospel of healing and life, where “everything will live where the river goes.”, then we need to get past our own ability to swim across. It is impossible to  do so and remain on the bank or look down from roads passing by. From those perspectives we may think about being in the river, observe the river and talk about the river, it is even possible to pray about the river, but at the end of our Christian day, our hearts and spirits,  like our feet will still be bone dry.

EAG