Day 15 (Again)

So as a late night clarifying point: If you wondered at all what was up with the title of the blog..

A stream (eh, eh?) that runs along the walls of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, which we visited last Saturday.

The passage that we're focusing in on this summer is in Jeremiah 17:7-8. It says, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."

We've been studying it portion by portion, and started project with surrender. We prayed through and took several active steps in trusting this project and ourselves in the Lord's hands. (Doesn't seem that hard, but hey, we're human. :))

This past week focused on intimacy of the Lord, and what it looks like to be the trees who send out their roots by the stream. As I was looking through some of my favorite parts of the Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis, I came across this conversation which takes place in The Silver Chair. It's between Aslan the Great Lion and Jill, a young girl who is on her first adventures outside day-to-day life in London.

“If you're thirsty, you may drink.”

They were the first words she had heard since Scrubb had spoken to her on the edge of the cliff. For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again, “If you are thirsty, come and drink,” and of course she remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world, and realized that it was the lion speaking. Anyway, she had seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a man's. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.

“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.

“I'm dying of thirst,” said Jill.

“Then drink,” said the Lion.

“May I - could I - would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

“Will you promise not to - do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.

“I make no promise,” said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

“Do you eat girls?” she said.

“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.

"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream

then."

"There is no other stream," said the Lion.

It makes me tear up just reading it again now. It's a beautiful picture of just what Jesus asks of us: even when it's terrifying, even when it makes no sense, to step forward and drink. It sounds beautiful, it looks beautiful, and the promise of that stream can drive us nearly crazy when we're without it... Within it, there are no apologies, we are his, but it is good and it is life. And there is no other stream.

This week we'll be focusing on the next part of the Jeremiah 17 passage: "...and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green." If you think of us, please be praying for refreshment and courage in the days on campus to come!

Tokyo A 2009 Team! Back Row: Traci, Emily, Jess, me, Kimi, and Amy. Middle Row: Tim, Sammy, Matt, Gen, Josh, Jack, Kyle, Andrew, and Jeremy. Front Row: Kylan and Joe.