{"id":2624,"date":"2023-05-17T08:36:38","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T12:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2624"},"modified":"2023-05-17T08:36:38","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T12:36:38","slug":"flowing-streams-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/17\/flowing-streams-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Flowing Streams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.
\u00a0
Residents of the American Southwest are hoping against hope they won\u2019t have to face two \u201cdead pools\u201d this year.
\u00a0
That sentiment has nothing to do with Deadpool, the wisecracking Marvel comic book character played by Ryan Reynolds.\u00a0
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\u201cDead pool\u201d is the worst-case scenario for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the nation\u2019s two largest reservoirs \u2013 something that would happen if the level of the Colorado River falls so low that water could no longer flow through the colossal dams that created those lakes in the first place.\u00a0 That would essentially turn off the tap for 40 million people whose survival depends on the once-mighty river.\u00a0
\u00a0
Historically, seven states have been part of its watershed:\u00a0 Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.\u00a0 But the river isn\u2019t what it used to be.\u00a0 The raging cascade that carved the Grand Canyon now doesn\u2019t even reach its original destination, the Gulf of California, but terminates in a series of marshes.\u00a0
\u00a0
That\u2019s because thousands of siphons along its course are drawing off its water for farms, cattle ranches, sprinklers, showers, Phoenix golf courses, and the Bellagio\u2019s dancing fountains in Las Vegas.\u00a0
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Demand for the famous river\u2019s water has vastly outpaced supply.
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But for geologists, engineers, and civic planners, the ultimate nightmare has been the last 20 years of drought and rising temperatures.\u00a0 Lake Mead is now only 27% full, the lowest level in its 86-year history.\u00a0 Scores of things that were assumed lost forever have begun to reappear: sunken boats, wrecked automobiles, and gangsters who apparently received offers they should have refused.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
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Last winter\u2019s snowpack in the Colorado Basin, almost twice as much as normal, has turned out to be a much-needed gift.\u00a0 But experts say that will provide just a one-year reprieve.\u00a0 The entire region continues to live on the brink of disaster.
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And when it comes to something as irreplaceable as flowing water, you can\u2019t keep living on the brink of disaster.\u00a0
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The same thing is true when it comes to hearts that are parched for God.\u00a0 None of us can live for very long in a spiritual desert.\u00a0
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On the pages of the Bible, water is often symbolic of the flow of God\u2019s Spirit.\u00a0 Streams and rivers are mentioned more than 150 times.\u00a0 They include the four rivers that appear in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the book of Genesis, and the life-giving river of the new creation that is described in the last chapter of the book of Revelation.\u00a0\u00a0
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One of the psalmists, describing the city of Jerusalem, tells us, \u201cThere is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells\u201d (Psalm 46:4).\u00a0 This is interesting, since there has never been a river in the vicinity of Israel\u2019s capital.\u00a0 Jerusalem is, in fact, arguably the world\u2019s most important city without access to a navigable waterway.
\u00a0
What is the psalmist telling us?\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
He\u2019s describing a different kind of river.\u00a0 There\u2019s something in Jerusalem that alone can satisfy a thirsty soul.\u00a0 It\u2019s the God who dwells at Israel\u2019s temple \u2013 the place that God\u2019s people considered the intersection of heaven and earth.\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
As we turn from the Old Testament to the New, something important changes.
\u00a0
Jesus makes a stunning claim while visiting the temple.\u00a0 \u201cOn the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, \u2018If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says\u2019\u201d (John 7:37-38).
\u00a0
He is presenting himself as the new temple \u2013 the place where heaven and earth meet.\u00a0 From now on he<\/em> is the source of life-giving water.
\u00a0
That may be an insightful theological statement, but what are we supposed to do with it?
\u00a0
Try something like this: Go to your sink and turn on the tap.\u00a0 Cup your hands under the flow of water.\u00a0 Let the water fill your hands to overflowing.\u00a0 Pray quietly, \u201cLord, my soul is running dry.\u00a0 I believe that you can fill me again and again and again.\u00a0 Please help me turn to you in the days ahead, no matter what I have to face.\u00a0 Thank you that your Spirit will always sustain me.\u201d \u00a0
\u00a0
Or the next time you\u2019re standing in the shower, ask God to let his grace wash over you like refreshing water.\u00a0 Ask him to drench you with peace.\u00a0 And hope.\u00a0 And courage.\u00a0 You might pray, \u201cLord, help me remember that my life is not my own project.\u00a0 My life is your<\/em> project.\u00a0 I belong to you<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
In a dry and arid land, whether the Colorado Basin or the Middle East, proximity to water is a matter of life and death.\u00a0 Your orchards and flocks and the place where you live will have to be close enough to a deep well or a flowing river that you can be certain, every new day, that there will be enough water to survive.
\u00a0
Droughts may come.\u00a0 Rivers may shrink.\u00a0 Reservoirs may decline to critical levels.
\u00a0
In the end, you may even be forced to pull up stakes and move to wherever the water is.
\u00a0
But with Jesus, things are different.\u00a0
\u00a0
If we walk with him, his gift of living water always goes with us<\/em>.\u00a0
\u00a0
Spiritual dead pools are no match for the One whose life-giving streams never run dry.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here.\u00a0Residents of the American Southwest are hoping against hope they won\u2019t have to face two \u201cdead pools\u201d this year.\u00a0That sentiment has nothing to do with Deadpool, the wisecracking Marvel comic book character played by Ryan Reynolds.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDead pool\u201d is the worst-case scenario for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the nation\u2019s two largest reservoirs… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-2624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-spiritual-transformation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2626,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624\/revisions\/2626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}