HEADWATERS

The tour guide said; “If you’re careful, you can step right across without even getting wet.” So I did, and she was right, my Vans didn’t once touch that mighty and famous Mississippi. What a novel concept, considering I’d spent almost twelve years of my adult life living right next to that mighty and vast body of water.

At the place on the river where I lived, its muddy waters spanned almost a mile in width. Now that’s a pretty wide river, and I understand it gets wider the further south one goes. That makes sense when you understand fluid mechanics and how liquids like water are subject to gravity.

Anyway, as I sit in my office, taking some much needed respite from my bout with the flu and the daily grind of life, I was deep in thought while reading a book by Timothy J. Stoner, entitled, The God Who Smokes – Scandalous Meditations on Faith. Simultaneously I’m listening to Switchfoot’s album Hello Hurrican and the song The Sound came on. It’s a great song, check it out. But what came to mind was this.

Headwaters; yes headwaters. Ergo my novel use of fantasy in the first paragraph. I’ve never been to the headwaters of the Mississippi, but I did live in Davenport, Iowa for almost twelve years and I have driven over the Mississippi many times in my life. But no matter which river you are partial too, they all (okay most) start the same way. A source, headwaters, a spring, several springs, but nonetheless, very small amounts of water flowing on a continuous basis until they culminate into something many times their breadth and depth.

And much like the mighty Mississippi is a collection of streams and sources, yet ultimately coming from headwaters somewhere up in Minnesota, so too with our passions for the things of God. Let me explain.

If and when we ever come upon the sight and the sound of the impassable might of God’s presences, like the mighty Mississippi, it’s source began somewhere, and I propose it starts in the hearts and through the tears of a few. That’s right, even just a few people who incline their hearts to God and pour out their supplications and tears to the Lord, tend to find their way down stream and combine with others ultimately culminating in a powerful force to be reckoned with.

You may not agree, but the fact remains, if God’s people will. Our combined desire and passion for the sacred to be accomplished will be blended with the hearts and the tears of other saints and a powerful source for God’s presence is created. But that all powerful river, of God’s presence, begins with the simple headwaters of a single tear shed for the lost, for the will of God, for Kingdom of God, for our ongoing need to be connected to Him.

No move of God in the history of mankind was precipitated without the headwaters of the tears. The intercession of each individual flows down so as to create power like no single tear could accomplish. So do not despise the day of little things – or single tears. For God collects them all and hears the cries of His children, and He always utilizes our faith and passion to push the glacier of His will forward, regardless of the obstacles.

So bow your heart, shed your tears and plead with saints around the world, that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. For within the headwaters of your single tear, is the power of ALL the saints combined.