Back to the River

I spent last Thursday kayaking on a southwest Missouri Ozark creek. As always, it brought me back to where I started this blog journey two or three years ago.

A river is what life is. Canoeing or kayaking a rapid stream experiences life as it really is. Life is moving. There's no such thing as status quo, maintaining, or keeping everything just as it is. A river can run slow and feel like a small lake. Then the river can shoot you through rapids. The mainstream can take you right into a brush pile. You may or may not know what's around the next bend. A familiar shoot and known barriers one year can look totally different the next year. The skills that got your canoe or kayak through the last set of rapids may be useless on the next set. No one plan of action works for a whole trip. Your plan has to change and adapt every stoke of the paddle. The water may be high or it may be low. The only certain thing is the river's steady, relentless flow to join the next river, to join the next river, to join the Mississippi, to join the sea.

If you like the predictability of a lake or a canal or something, more power to you. If you want a life that's under control, I really wish more power to you. Personally, I think you're living in an illusion. Life flows; the sooner we accept that, the better. For me, a very real and very involved God is the author of the flow and the guide. And the guide is known as the one called Jesus of Nazareth.

I'm probably making too much of a four hour float trip. Whatever...I just feel more energized to keep paddling. Hope you'll join me. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.