EVERYDAY ADVENTURES

Up a Creek

We didn’t have iPhones or tablets when I was a kid, but we had a creek, which was far better. Instead of streaming movies, we just streamed, well, a stream.

It had all kinds of great apps on it too, games like Build a Dam, Feed the Minnows, Sail a Boat, Skip Rocks, Hunt for Crawdads, Run from Snakes and Hop Across Stepping Stones. Best of all, these apps were free and never needed updating.

It had all kinds of great apps on it too, games like Build a Dam, Feed the Minnows, Sail a Boat, Skip Rocks, Hunt for Crawdads, Run from Snakes and Hop Across Stepping Stones. Best of all, these apps were free and never needed updating.

Any time I got bored, all I had to do was go play in the creek. Problem solved. It was a source of endless entertainment for almost every season.

Take autumn, for instance. Spending Saturday afternoon at the creek was the perfect break from school. After I’d been cooped up in a classroom all week, the creek offered a welcome invitation to adventure. 

Next, we’d move into winter. If it got cold enough, the creek would freeze over and sometimes even get covered in snow. The frozen creek was a whole new source of fun. You could throw rocks at the ice or even try to skate across a shallow part if you didn’t mind doing the polar bear plunge up to your knees.

Then, in spring, the creek would swell with rain. The brook would surge into a torrent, spilling out of its banks. I would spend hours tossing in stick boats and watching them rush downstream like a muddy flume ride.

But eventually summer would hit. The creek would dry up, and the water that had been raging in the spring would dwindle to a trickle.

Not quite as much fun.

A dry creek bed didn’t provide the same level of entertainment as a flowing stream. As the temperature rose, the stagnant pools of water would begin to reek of dead fish.

A dry creek bed didn’t provide the same level of entertainment as a flowing stream. As the temperature rose, the stagnant pools of water would begin to reek of dead fish.

When that happened, it was time to move on. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, even though the creek had served me well in other seasons, I’d have to find a different playground for the dry days of summer.

It reminds me of a story from the Bible about a friend of God named Elijah. A wicked king had led Elijah’s people to worship false gods who supposedly controlled the weather. But the real God was about to set the record straight. 

He sent Elijah to the king to tell him there would be no rain for three and a half years. As you can imagine, that went over like a lead balloon. So God told Elijah to go hide out in a ravine next to, you guess it, a creek. 

During this time God sent ravens to drop off food for Elijah like feathered DoorDash drivers, and, of course, he had the stream for water. Until, one day, he didn’t. No rain for three years tends to dry things out.

After the stream vanished, God told Elijah it was time to move on, and He led him to a village called Zarephath, where God miraculously provided for Elijah in a whole new way, and blessed a poor widow in the process. 

God is a good provider, but the way He provides may change in different seasons of life. It’s often hard to let go of the old ways of God’s provision, but if we don’t, we may miss out on the new thing God wants to do. 

God is a good provider, but the way He provides may change in different seasons of life. It’s often hard to let go of the old ways of God’s provision, but if we don’t, we may miss out on the new thing God wants to do. 

I’m a creature of habit who loves routine. I don’t like changing jobs, moving or having to say goodbye to old friends. I don’t like letting go of things that are familiar or comfortable.

Sometimes when the old streams we rely on dry up, it can feel scary and sad.

In those times, however, we have to remember that the same God who provided for us in the past is trustworthy with our future. That doesn’t mean that the new season won’t be hard, but it does mean that God is always up to something good.

The Bible says it like this, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23, ESV).

I’m in a season right now where so many reliable old streams are drying up. My wife and I are soon to be empty nesters. Coworkers and neighbors who have been in our lives for decades are moving on. It seems like everyone and everything around us is in a constant state of change.

I’m in a season right now where so many reliable old streams are drying up. My wife and I are soon to be empty nesters. Coworkers and neighbors who have been in our lives for decades are moving on. It seems like everyone and everything around us is in a constant state of change.

While it’s normal to mourn some of these changes, I’m trying not to spend too much time hanging out in dry creek beds. I don’t want to be so stuck in the past that I miss out on what God’s about to do in the future.

No matter how much changes in life, there are always new people to love, new ways to serve and new things to discover about the God who provides for us in every season.

His mercies are new EVERY morning, but sometimes we have to be willing to let go of our old ways and to see the new thing God is doing. •