A Cleansing Stream

photo courtesy of CNY Flood FB page

This is a photo from my hometown in Central New York State. 

It is Herkimer, NY. I grew up in that town until I went away to college,  and walked this street many times.

My dad lives in the next town over where the flooding occurred on Friday, June 28th.

He woke up to 4 feet of muddy water in his basement as did everyone on his street and many other homes in town.  Herkimer and the surrounding towns have been hit hard.

My dad has lost almost everything in his basement which includes his furnace, hot water heater and washer/dryer along with a small tv, a cupboard, and several other items like books, photo albums, etc.

The good news is, that after my mom died in October, he moved his office up to the guest room where she had her office. So at least his important papers, etc weren't done there.  This is the town's 4th major flood since 1982.  It is devastating.

The mud!!  Oh...what a mess. Here is a photo I took with my cell phone on Sunday the 30th. Dave and I spent our anniversary helping dad do some general clean-up and providing him with ice, water, a hot meal. He just got power restored on Monday but still doesn't have his car back from the mechanic nor does he have TV/Cable restored nor hot water. The water was 4 feet high and just full of debris and mud.

His lawn is ruined.

Dad's backyard

The mud is thick. It has dried in the sun because Sunday, thanks be to God, was a dry day for the most part.  And then Monday came with another flood watch due to heavy downpours and so more mud was generated.

It reminded me of when sin enters our lives.  Even as Christians, we are not immune to sin. We all sin. Every day. As my pastor says, as we grow and mature in Christ, we should be sinning less.  We should see less sin in our lives. This is truth.

But sin has a way of invading our souls, minds, and spirits.  And when we don't deal with it, it can become rooted and thickened in our hearts.  It can keep piling up if we don't deal with it. It can get thick and ugly. Like mud.  And then our souls are dirty and muddy.

We need to let the Son shine through to crack those muddy spots in our hearts.

We need to allow the Spirit of the Living Water to wash and cleanse us.

Dad was out using a hose on his concrete patio/sidewalk area. He just kept washing and washing and aiming that clear, cold water onto that mud.  It took awhile to get that mud gone. The mud in the lawn is a different story. Yes, eventually it will dry up, turn to dust, etc. Dad will have to totally re-seed his yard. It will take time to recover.

We can take our sins right to the Cross and leave them there for Jesus to pick up and remove from our hearts.  We can allow the cleansing of the Spirit to plant new things in our lives.  We can be cleansed.

Let's embrace the Living Water today and live fresh, clean lives.