Lake or River?

I was in a meeting the other day at work discussing different email management possibilities. We were discussing ways to automate the moving of emails that have been declared company records into a repository once the email is placed into one of the managed folders given to every employee within their Outlook client while keeping a stubbed copy in the folder so the employee can reference it whenever they need to. (Man, that was a mouth full…Did any of that make sense?) Let me put it a different way. We were trying to find a way to make a “Lake of Information” into a “River of Information”.

I wish I could take credit for that very interesting observation, but I can not. One of the other meeting participants said, “We have a lake, we need a river. We need this information to be flowing somewhere.” If the information is a lake it is only useful to the one with the lake. If the information is a river it becomes useful to many more people in many more areas. This got me thinking. (Many of you are saying…“Here he goes again”)

As Christians, we must focus on making the things that Christ has given us and the information He has provided to us (His Word and the Holy Spirits insight on His Word) a “River of Information”. I would like to think that many of us strive to do this, but I am not so sure. (I’m pointing at myself also)

I know that we like to say that we are doing this. I even remember singing a song as a youth: (Come on…everyone sing along if you know it)

I've got a river of life, flowing out of me,
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see;
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free,
I've got a river of life, flowing out of me.

Spring up, O well, within my soul;
Spring up, O well, and make me whole;
Spring up, O well, and give to me
That life abundantly.

But, can I be very honest with you guys. It has been a long time since I have seen “The River” move with such power. It has been a long time since I walked into a church and really felt God moving in a strong way. I am not talking about an emotional response; I am talking about that “little voice” that speaks in your spirit to let you know that something special is happening right before your eyes. It’s been awhile…a long while. (Side note: I think that is why I get so emotional during baptisms at my church. It is a sign of the water breaking free…but that’s another post) :)

I feel like many of our churches today are just like many employees inboxes at work. They are great lakes of information, but that information goes no further than the inbox labeled with their address.

As Christians, we should be doing everything we can to tear down the dams that hold our water back. And if it is a natural lake with no dams, we should get our shovels and picks out and start building our own outlet to the nearest stream or river. Can you imagine the strength of a river that has all of the water from all our churches feeding it? It may just be a river that makes the lame walk and the blind see. It may just be a river that opens prison doors and sets captives free.

Keep Looking Up!