Just recently my son Ian and I went on a father & son kayaking trip on the Catawba River in South Carolina. My boat is only a one man touring kayak, but Ian is small enough that we could both fit into the cockpit. It was just a day trip, but we still had a great time. We floated downstream for a few miles frightening the occasional blue herron and king fisher along the way until we eventually turned back upstream to explore an island which was several acres long. We found a spot where an old tree had fallen into the river, its roots exposed and some of its branches were still alive and growing leaves. We pulled the kayak onto a small sandbar right along the bank, got out and swam around for a while. While Ian swam, I sat on one of the branches and watched him try to go against the current. This got me to thinking about rivers, streams and tributaries. They're very common, but also very fascinating when you stop to think about them. These liquid arteries carry water, silt, rocks and debris miles from their original locations. The Catawba river, which we were on is a tributary of the Wateree River which empties into the Santee and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean in the brackish waters north of Chareston. The waters of the Catawba originate on the eastern facing slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina. As the mountains get their fair share of rain and snow, these waters end up in pristine mountain streams and creeks; home to the Salvelinus fontinalis or the eastern brook trout (see picture above). Some of the water also comes from underground springs, deep in the earth. These cold streams then empty into the Catawba and onward starts the journey far away from the original source. The processes of a river are amazing in their own right, but they also illustrate a profound truth concerning human sin and failure. The river illustrates what God does with the sins and shortcomings of those who look to Him for forgiveness. He takes their sins and casts them into the heart of the sea. Psalm 103 communicates this truth in a powerful way. "...as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (v.12)." Far from the sandy banks Catawba River there is another river - that river that is called Jordan in Israel. Just like the Catawba, the waters of the Jordan are meltwater from the snowy white slopes of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights. It was in this swiftly flowing river two thousand years ago that a dusty, dry, desert hermit came; he was a desert man who became a river man - this man was called "Baptist." The Bible says of him; "People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized (immersed) by him in the Jordan River (Matt. 3:5-6)." Unlike the Catawba, the Jordan empties into the lowest and deadest place on earth - the Dead Sea (1,385 ft below sea level). The imagery and symbolism of what God does with the sins of the repentant is even more striking! After we swam and played for about an hour, we packed up, pointed the nose of the kayak upstream (which took twice as much effort!) and paddled back. As I reflected back to our day on the river, it is comforting to know that there is a Heavenly Father who will forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness. He will take our sins and place them in a river and then in a sea of forgiveness.
Monday, June 29, 2009
River Man
Just recently my son Ian and I went on a father & son kayaking trip on the Catawba River in South Carolina. My boat is only a one man touring kayak, but Ian is small enough that we could both fit into the cockpit. It was just a day trip, but we still had a great time. We floated downstream for a few miles frightening the occasional blue herron and king fisher along the way until we eventually turned back upstream to explore an island which was several acres long. We found a spot where an old tree had fallen into the river, its roots exposed and some of its branches were still alive and growing leaves. We pulled the kayak onto a small sandbar right along the bank, got out and swam around for a while. While Ian swam, I sat on one of the branches and watched him try to go against the current. This got me to thinking about rivers, streams and tributaries. They're very common, but also very fascinating when you stop to think about them. These liquid arteries carry water, silt, rocks and debris miles from their original locations. The Catawba river, which we were on is a tributary of the Wateree River which empties into the Santee and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean in the brackish waters north of Chareston. The waters of the Catawba originate on the eastern facing slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina. As the mountains get their fair share of rain and snow, these waters end up in pristine mountain streams and creeks; home to the Salvelinus fontinalis or the eastern brook trout (see picture above). Some of the water also comes from underground springs, deep in the earth. These cold streams then empty into the Catawba and onward starts the journey far away from the original source. The processes of a river are amazing in their own right, but they also illustrate a profound truth concerning human sin and failure. The river illustrates what God does with the sins and shortcomings of those who look to Him for forgiveness. He takes their sins and casts them into the heart of the sea. Psalm 103 communicates this truth in a powerful way. "...as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (v.12)." Far from the sandy banks Catawba River there is another river - that river that is called Jordan in Israel. Just like the Catawba, the waters of the Jordan are meltwater from the snowy white slopes of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights. It was in this swiftly flowing river two thousand years ago that a dusty, dry, desert hermit came; he was a desert man who became a river man - this man was called "Baptist." The Bible says of him; "People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized (immersed) by him in the Jordan River (Matt. 3:5-6)." Unlike the Catawba, the Jordan empties into the lowest and deadest place on earth - the Dead Sea (1,385 ft below sea level). The imagery and symbolism of what God does with the sins of the repentant is even more striking! After we swam and played for about an hour, we packed up, pointed the nose of the kayak upstream (which took twice as much effort!) and paddled back. As I reflected back to our day on the river, it is comforting to know that there is a Heavenly Father who will forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness. He will take our sins and place them in a river and then in a sea of forgiveness.
Friday, June 26, 2009
The Unknown Land of the Blog-O-Sphere
First of all I would like to welcome everyone to my new blog. The title of the blog is taken from a phrase that was printed on ancient maps before the world was fully explored and mapped. The Latin phrase terra incognita literally means "unknown land." Ironically, after being on earth for millennia and after having been to the moon, humans are still discovering "new places" on the earth. I chose this title because I love the rich symbolism of the phrase. The first meaning, I believe, still has meaning to this day, in a culture obsessed with life in cities, urbanism and man made things. We currently live in a society that does not and cannot see the wisdom, the beauty and the truth found in the natural world. Other subtle nuances of the phrase can be taken to mean the unknown land of the interior world of thought, the spiritual world, the philosophical world, and the moral world. Unlike the physical landscape, these other "landscapes" are much more frightening and can be just as adventurous. In addition to the phrase terra incognita ancient geographers would also inscribe the words, "here be dragons" in places unknown and unexplored. I am sure that in the cyber world just as in the physical world there are plenty of dragons to watch out for. The themes I am most interested in "thinking out loud" about [or "blogging" about] are nature, exploration, adventure, truth, beauty, art, goodness, and God. I realize that this is a very broad range of topics. But, it is my contention that all of these disparate subjects are intimately connected. Please stay tuned to this blog for further updates, thoughts, musings, brain droppings, etc...The French philosopher, E. Gilson got it so very right when he wrote the words, "finding out truth is not so difficult, what is difficult is not to run from it once we have found it" (The Unity of Philosophical Experience, pg. 61).
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