Monday October 24, 2011

In my early life, I took summer classes at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana and wanted to take a trip down the Tippicanoe River in a canoe just to say that I had gone canoeing in that river (Tippicanoe and Tyler to–don’t know where that saying came from). It was a wonderful day going down that lazy river and allowing the flow of the river to carry me down or paddle down the river at my leisure. There were people fishing and swimming in the river and it was alive with all kinds of wildlife along with all kinds of people having a wonderful time. What hit my fancy was the aliveness in the river and the trees on either side of the bank.

When Ezekiel was describing the river flowing out of the temple and the width and the depth of the river, he as well described the life of the river when he said, “Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea.” (Ezekiel 47:9-10). What he was describing was what God’s word would do to those who partake in the river. That person would be alive and the river would wash away any salt that had accumulated in a person’s life. Whatever place in a person’s life the river touches, there would be life. That means that it is our choice to allow the word of God to either touch certain places in our life, or we can choose to block God’s word from impacting certain areas of our life. The consequence of that decision is that no life will form.

The river (God’s word) can positively impact our lives, or we can choose to block the river from cleansing out the salt deposits that have accumulated in our lives. Our choices and decisions daily will determine whether or not there is life flowing in and out of us. On this journey we have the choice to allow the river to bring life to our lives or to block that life from impacting everything we do. My choice is to experience life today. What about you?