Where Peaceful Waters Flow

I love sitting on a log or blanket, nestled in a grove of trees overlooking fast-flowing rapids from melting snow.  The birds singing in the trees make it serene and lovely.  It’s a wonderful environment to bask in, while sensing the presence of our Creator and enjoying His handiwork.

Time alone with God, whether in the woods, my office at home, or sitting comfortably in my easy chair in the family room, helps to open my mind to receive what the Lord is sharing with me for another writing to post on my blog.

Fast-flowing rapids remind me of the day that my older brother, 14 years my senior, came by and picked me up.  I was thrilled to be with my big brother.  He drove us to a location in Antioch, California, about 16 miles from my house.  He chose a nice place where there was a flowing body of water called the Delta.  

He was excited to try out his 8-foot hydroplane that he had just completed building.  It was a small one-man craft with a 35-horse outboard motor secured to the stern…not too much horsepower, just enough for the size of the craft.

It was getting close to dusk and the water was becoming a bit choppy, but not too bad.  I think I was 13 or 14 years old and asked my brother if he would let me take his longtime project out for a solo run.  I couldn’t believe my ears when he said, “Sure.”

I don’t know where his head was in letting me do this, but I was delighted that he trusted me.  As I got farther out in the middle of the Delta, the wind suddenly picked up, creating whitecaps all around me.  I started getting that helpless, what am I doing here, feeling.

I was becoming distressed as the waves intensified.  I thought I was reducing my speed, but instead, I shoved the throttle lever all the way forward rather than pulling it back, which gave the motor full power.

Time seemed to stand still.  I was scared to death as huge amounts of water splashed over the bow into my face.  It was like a bad dream that I was hoping to wake up from at any moment, but the traumatic experience was happening to me in real time.

I could hear the motor revving high as I plowed through the whitecaps at full speed.  There was so much water splashing into my face I couldn’t see where I was heading. 

My panicking mind finally realized what I had done and quickly yanked back on the throttle instead of moving it slowly.  Instantly, the wake from behind swamped the boat.  Talk about panic.  I was certainly praying for an appearance of Jesus walking on the water and the winds to cease at His command.

The saving grace of my near demise was my brother’s foresight in building large air pockets on each side of the hydroplane within the cavity of the plywood construction to prevent sinking, should a situation arise like the one I was in.  Thank God he did.

I was too far from shore to successfully swim back to where my brother was, but it all ended well.  I was safe and secure back on shore after my encounter with Mother Nature, as was the hydroplane after we removed all the water.

This dramatic experience reminds me of the time when Jesus’s disciples were caught in a dreadful storm, while crossing the Sea of Galilee.  They were fearful of perishing when Jesus appeared, walking on the water.   He got into the boat and calmed the raging storm but was disappointed in His disciples for their lack of faith to calm the elements as He did.

I have read in the Bible that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.  I have learned, through personal experience, that faith in God calms the storms of life when we sincerely ask that something be done.  God answers prayer when we ask in Jesus’ name.

(Hebrews 11:1), “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  

Water can become dangerous if circumstances turn bad and even deadly.  My lack of experience added to the calamity that day and the results could have turned out differently, but God was with me.  I may not have seen the Lord walking on water, but He was in the boat with me.

Know this, there is water that flows calm and peaceful from God’s throne, unlike the Delta and Sea of Galilee when we need peace in our life. 

(Revelation 22:1), “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

This peaceful flow provides the soul with comfort and sustainability against the howling wind of Satan’s hot breath as he roars like a lion.

(1 Peter 5:8), “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

There is also water that we can drink and never thirst again.  In the following scriptures, Jesus is talking to a woman at a well about eternal life and that He is the water of life that she needs.

(John 4:13, 14), “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,’ “(vs 14) “ ‘but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ “

A person may survive without drinking water for just a few days.  The body needs water to live, whereas the spiritual man needs the water of life to survive spiritually.  Jesus is that sustenance that we need to live an abundant life and inherit eternal life in heaven.

It is free to whoever desires that their spirit lives forever in heaven with Jesus.  We never have to fear the water of life or feel panic when we are bathed in God’s fountain and having our sins forgiven.  The Lord is the Bread of Life and the Springs of Living Water.  He is where peaceful waters flow.

Written by,

Papa Boyd