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Have
you ever seen Niagara Falls lately. Guess what? It's still running. Many
a person has wondered where all this water comes from.
In
early spring, Niagara Falls is quite awesome as the heavy winter ice starts
to break up. Did you know that last year the ice in the gorge was the thickest
that it has ever been-- up to 30 feet thick? This ice forms an ice bridge
that people can actually walk on to the other shore, not that I'd like to
do that.
That's like our lives at times. God's Spirit comes rushing
over the Falls, breaking up some of the bitterness present, old habits,
old thoughts lingering. He wants to flush them out of our lives and perhaps
unrepentant hearts so He can work again.
Sometimes
we like that ice bridge in our lives because it anchors and solidifies us
to our past or our traditions. But many times God wants us to move on and
seek a new dimension, something that we may have never experienced before.
And that can hurt. The ice likes to stay around but the warmer water eats
it away. The ice heaves, buckles, and is hurled down the river bed, leaving
a clean slate for God to work with. Maybe some scars remain, but God wants
a clean river bed to work with. It's the Spring season that can make the
flowers grow, the trees bud and blossom.
Further down stream is the whirlpool. Here you'll see
water and debris go around and around, always moving in a circular, counterclockwise
direction. Floating objects can stay there for weeks, constantly orbiting
in a mindless direction.
We can have the same motion in our own lives. Our excuses
could be that we were born that way, we were brought up that way, or it's
too hard to change our circumstances. Little do we know that if we allow
God's Spirit to prod us out of our giant whirlpool of life, take a tangent,
our situation could improve. Maybe we might have to take a little hectic
ride down the rapids through the narrows where the river is less than 200
feet wide called the Devil's Hole Rapids. It just below Niagara Glen but
wow, we can see a whole new part of God's creation.
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Jeremiah
29:11 says it all. " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the
Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope
and a future. Then you will call upon me and I will listen to you. You
will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will
be found by you,' declares the Lord, 'and will bring you back from captivity.'
" Jeremiah is talking to the Israelites and telling them they will will
be coming back from exile to the Promised Land.
I believe he is also talking to us, giving us hope when we
may feel that our lives are in a mindless orbit with lots of garbage and
debris floating beside us. If we but ask God to get us out of the whirlpool
that we are entangled in and get us into the channel of grace that is
just down the river, wow, the scenery could really change. Get the picture?
We might have to seek repentance, ask for forgiveness, allow some bitterness
in our lives to be dissolved, or go to someone who you have wronged or
has wronged you. In other words, get that slate clean so that God can
begin a new work within you.
Have you ever seen Niagara Falls lately? It's still
runnning over. That's like God's power-- it's unlimited. It just keeps
on a-comin'. It never dries up. And God's power is probably more constant,
still running over. His Spirit can enter our lives and make us a new creation
for His Glory! Can't beat that aye?
It's our prayer that we can somehow get down that river
of life so that one day we can see God's glorious redemption, only found
in our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
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