Icelandic Geyser

Last week I promised regular posts from Iceland on the wonder of water, but unfortunately the wonders of technology failed me.

Now that I’m back on-line, here’s a glimpse of one of Iceland’s most famous landmarks – a hot-water spring in the town of Geysir. That name comes from the Icelandic word for ‘gush’ – and gives its name to all geysers on earth.

Geysers occur when geo-thermally heated water becomes trapped in narrow fissures deep in the earth. Cool surface water flows down on top of this hot water and pressurizes it. The super-heated steam builds to the bursting point and then gushes upward, blasting out whatever volume of water lies above it.

The Sound of Silence

"The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land-- not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
Amos 8:11

Amos had grown hoarse pleading with the wealthy farmers in the north of Israel to see that their religious faith had to translate into compassion and fair dealings with the poor – or it was completely fraudulent. He warned them that if they wouldn’t listen to God’s words, God would give them the silent treatment. And that silence would not remain golden for very long. People cannot live without spiritual resources, without answers for the questions of life. Their fears mount and they search desperately for direction.

Swimming Home

Last week I wrote about Ezekiel’s vision of a New World Comin’. Today my sister, Kathy Legg who lives in Lethbridge, Alberta, writes about her thoughts of that extraordinary vision in Ezekiel 47.

Picture this: You’re in a foreign land, a lush and lovely place, prosperous, sophisticated. But it’s not your true home, and to the locals you’re an anomaly, subject to ridicule. You believe in an unseen God. You long to worship openly without the risk you’ll antagonize someone. You try to fit in but it leaves you feeling soul-weary and fragmented. You want to go home. But you can’t -- you’re captive here. Will you ever see home again?

Radical Equality

Here’s a wonder of water – sunrise and rainfall support democracy!

Your Father in heaven causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5:45

Jesus says that God is a large-hearted, even-handed Giver. He points out that God is generous to us regardless of our degree of virtue or vice. Sunshine and rain are gifts from the Creator to his creatures with no moral pre-conditions. Jesus echoed the Psalmist a thousand years earlier who said “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all that he has made.” Psalm 145:9.

Erosion

This is Canada’s Water Week, culminating on World Water Day, March 22.

But today - one of the powerful effects of water on landscape and the human soul - erosion.

Erosion is part of the natural order. It can be devastating like a tsunami, but it can also produce magnificent scenery like the beautiful Garden of the Gods in Colorado, the Grand Canyon and the famous White Cliffs of Dover.

Erosion and the chemical process of dissolution that carves out cave systems all over the world, are signs of the universal law of attrition. Nature wears things down. Nature and time gnaw away at us – ‘erosion’ has the same Latin root as ‘rodent’. Whether gradually or ferociously, everything moves from order to disorder.

Earthquake and Tsunami

Apocalyptic!  That is how one news anchor described the scene in Japan in the wake of an 8.9 strength earthquake and its tsunami aftermath!

The focus of this blog is the wonder of the natural world of water and what it shows us about God's grace.

The stunning video footage of the tsunami shows us convincing evidence of the devastating power of water to splinter buildings, roll boats and cars, trains and aircraft like wine-corks and wipe out whole towns.

Where we might ask is the grace of God?

Thirsty in the Badlands

It was an ill-conceived military venture - Israel's kings marching out to exact revenge on their eastern neighbors, the Moabites, who had recently welched on their annual tribute obligations. This was economic thuggery, royal arrogance backed by military muscle and completely beyond the purposes of God. But this story in 2 Kings 3 showcases a God of grace who does far better for people than anyone deserves.

A seven-day roundabout march through the badlands south of the Dead Sea, left the kings and their armies stranded at the frontier of Moab, without water. In desperation they consulted the prophet Elisha for an oracle from God.

Sweet Harmony

Psalm 133 is a lyric gem about harmony in families, societies and nations. It's short but full of wonder, realism and hope.

How wonderful, how beautiful,
when brothers and sisters get along!
It's like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron's beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.

Harmony is a wonderful thing. When the whole family is getting along and enjoying each other, it’s a great feeling. It’s heaven on earth.

At the consecration of a Jewish high priest, the nation gathered together as one. The ceremonial oil of consecration was poured over the priest’s head in the name of all the tribes; it spilled down his face and drenched his robes. You could smell the fragrance, you could hear the cheering in unison, you could sense the joyful spirit of togetherness – one nation, one faith, one prayer of brotherhood. Oil flows with exuberance - all for one and one for all.

Ocean Vents

Solomon was an astute observer of nature. In his Song of Wisdom in Proverbs 8 he celebrates the intelligent design he sees in the very fabric of our complex world.

He particularly singles out the wonders of water – and how consistently it functions.

► Oceans are enormous but measurable and well-regulated. Despite tidal variations and gale-force winds, gravity holds the sea in place.

► Above us, clouds, which are the epitome of freedom in motion, are nevertheless ‘established’.

► Below us, the 'fountains of the deep' are 'securely fixed'. This doesn’t mean that geological fissures never shift, but that laws of hydrology are constant and reliable. Aquifers store water and release their stores to the world above in ways that well-drillers can rely on.

Before The Oceans . . .

The Song of Wisdom

I was born before the oceans were created,

I was there when the LORD established the heavens,

when he drew the horizon on the oceans.

I was there when he set the clouds above,

when he established springs deep in the earth.

I was there when he set the limits of the seas,

so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.

And when he marked off the earth’s foundations,

I was the architect at his side.

I was his constant delight,

rejoicing always in his presence.

And how happy I was with the world he created;

how I rejoiced with the human family!

Land and Sea

“God said, ‘Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.’”

Genesis 1:9

Photo Credit: Distantpeak.com

It’s the second dazzling water event in the great Genesis Song of Creation – the emergence of the earth out of the Sea at the voice of God - the transformation of a featureless ocean into a sculptured landscape!

Antrim Coast Northern Ireland

Imagine the forces that came into play that day, as tremors ripped through the earth’s crust, trenches gashed the sea-floor, hollowing out deep marine basins - and elsewhere giant crags of land thrusting up through the surface of the sea, catching the glint of the sun.

The dry land gives us a place to stand, to build and grow. The earth buffers us from the ocean waves, yet it drinks in the rain and holds enough water to sustain grasslands and cedar forests. Trees and people need to be rooted, as do cities and civilizations. We need the land just as we need water.

► Day One gave us Light;
► Day Two, Air and Sky;
► Day Three divided Land from Sea.

If it weren't for the Sky . . .

Day two and three of the Great Creation Story witness two stunning wonder-of-water events – the emergence of the atmosphere and the separation of dry land from surrounding oceans.

Two crucial environmental events that define the Earth as we know it! Today we’ll consider the first – and in the next post, the second.

The troposphere – what we commonly call Sky, but including the air around us – is a fragile and invisible membrane between us and the cold dark. A mere 15 kilometers of space between sea-level and the highest clouds holds most of our air. It’s where most of our weather happens.

Even the 50 kilometers out to the ozone layer is proportionately thinner than the skin of an apple, but it is a complex and highly functional domain.

In the Beginning . . .

"At first there was just ... water!"

It's a fascinating story - perfectly designed for the first week in a new year.  But how can you describe something before it exists? 

The Genesis Creation story uses two words - tohu and bohu - formless and empty, to describe the 'soup of nothingness' out of which the material world emerged.  God's Spirit moved like wind over this deep abyss - which is called 'the waters' - mayim in Hebrew.

This formless expanse of mayim is the womb of the cosmos, and hovering over this unformed sea of possibilities was the Spirit of God, the breeze that flutters, the Dove that broods.

The voice of God rings out through the emptiness.   “Light!” shatters the darkness, radiating glory and energy everywhere.

All stories are edited - and the Bible leaves out a lot of details –

Journey of the Magi

Whether you’re traveling this Christmas or staying home, I wish you the joy and wonder of
“a running stream and a water-mill.”

Let me explain. In his poem “The Journey of the Magi” T. S. Eliot describes the difficult journey of the Magi across the deserts of Arabia on their way to Bethlehem:
"A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year . . .
The very dead of winter."

The camels were uncooperative, he says, lying down in the melting snow, the night-fires continually going out, the towns unfriendly and dirty, charging high prices, and always the voices of derision, mocking their journey. Until . . .

Testing and Resting

Deserts are relentless – and humans are not well-adapted to desert demands.

As the Israeli tribes travelled deeper into the wilderness of Sinai toward their promised home, their principal need was water. Once, when the need was especially acute, God told Moses to smack a nearby rock. To everyone’s astonishment, water gushed out. God knows the map-line of every underground

aquifer and how to provide for his people. That happened more than once as God proved his faithfulness to his people.  Israel immortalized God's power in poetry and song:

He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
He brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.
Psalm 78:15-16

But song alone can’t change character and Israel never seemed to pass the trust-test, complaining constantly, testing God’s patience, quarreling with God. Moses even named a couple of memorable landmarks Massah (i.e. Testing) and Meribah (i.e. Quarreling) to mark these low-points in their spiritual odyssey.

Bitter Waters Become Sweet

Three days searching the parched desert for water – and then suddenly – the glint of a spring-fed pool! It was no mirage. Cheers of excitement filled the air.

But when the Exodus refugees finally reached the water, it was undrinkable, brackish with mineral salts, bitter and foul to the taste. Marah - bitter waters! Frustration and disappointment over-flowed in a torrent of anger and despair and the cruel sense of being betrayed by God.

As leader, Moses cried out to God and God showed him how to remediate the water so they could drink it. From aching thirst, … to soaring hopes, … crashing disappointment and finally… refreshment!

That’s the surface story. But there’s always an under-current of wonder flowing through these water stories.

What Really Made the Nile Turn Red?

It was the first of the Ten Plagues – and it wasn’t pretty. The great River was bleeding and undrinkable. In a land with no rain, people were desperate. It was an ecological disaster – and it became even worse.

Hungary's Red Sludge
Photo Credit: Newscom

There were no industries to blame – no BP Oil Spill, no Hungarian Alumina tailings leak. This was a natural disaster with serious religious undertones.

Scientifically, there are various perfectly natural explanations. The Nile normally floods every year in late summer. If the annual flood were excessively high, it may have brought microorganisms such as Pfiesteria piscicida which could redden and poison the river and cause conditions that would kill the fish. Epidemiological theories and counter-theories abound.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Water is nature’s first mirror. It reflects mountains, trees and sky

to create some of creation's most evocative art. 


Water photo-copies the reality around it and mirrors it back to us with fresh perspective and insight.

In Aesop’s fable, a dog with a bone sees his reflection in the river; greedy for the bone in that other dog’s mouth, the dog barks – and his bone drops into the river. It's not just a story about dumb dogs, it’s a cautionary tale about human greed.

The classics also tell about Narcissus who fell in love with his own image in water and became incapable of loving anyone else – a warning about the paralysis of vanity and self-absorption.

Water Into Fine Wine

I spent the week-end cleaning old wine bottles in preparation for filling them this week.

Water is a great cleaning agent, but it has even nobler roles in the world of wine.

For Better or Worse . . .
It was a wedding host’s worst nightmare - and a bad omen for the marriage. At mid-point in the reception, the wine ran out. The celebration sagged and the guests would soon start leaving. It smacked of bad planning, embarrassing poverty or, worse, shabby hospitality.

Enter the mystery guest. Without fanfare, almost before anyone knew what had happened, Jesus replenished the depleted store of wine, and the party continued.


Many Waters Cannot Quench Love

Four years ago this week . . . Tiffany and I exchanged vows of marriage, vows of life-long devotion to each other.

Our ceremony included these words about water and love from Song of Solomon 8:7:

Many waters cannot quench love;

Neither can floods drown it.

Lots of water has streamed under our bridge since then, but it has not quenched the joy or love in our hearts.