When Creeks Sing

I made this observation to Axel today as we took our walk: When creeks sing, you know they’re going through something.

For long stretches when we walk by the creek, it is silent. Seemingly still, even though there is an underlying current moving it along.

But when obstacles block the customary flow — when the path narrows due to fallen tree limbs, or the water tumbles over piled-up stones or weaves through boulders — THEN the creek has a song.

We all encounter obstacles. Some are of Everest proportions. My niece’s husband, Jon, was recently diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) after feeling ill for weeks following a bout with COVID. A month ago they traveled to Switzerland to visit my other niece’s family, and he sought medical attention when they returned. He has begun an incredibly difficult journey. Already weakened by illness and painful symptoms, he is undergoing chemotherapy which is compounding the stress on his body.

I have known Jon to be a kind, soft-spoken, and wickedly funny man. He is “funny Uncle Jon” at family gatherings, sharing jokes and riddles with the kids at the OTHER table. I had no real exposure to the depth of his character beyond knowing he is a good husband and father, and that he is a man of faith. My niece, Eva, is a lovely woman who matches Jon in wit. Only she’s quieter.

But just like the creek, they are going through something. And they are singing.

On the CaringBridge site that they set up to keep others informed of Jon’s health, specific needs, and prayer requests, Eva wrote this:

“We believe in a living God who loves us.  We believe that God is FOR Jon.  God LOVES Jon.  God is WITH Jon.  God wants GOOD things for Jon.   We believe that in all things, God works GOOD for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose  (Romans 8:28).   Even suffering.  We do not know God’s purposes for this, but we know that God will use it for our good and HIS Glory.  That is what we want.”

The Blessing was going through my mind as I read Eva’s post.

In sharing his response to the diagnosis, Jon wrote: “As for my personal plan, it’s really just to trust in Jesus. Right now that just means abiding in his presence and waiting patiently for him to illuminate the next step. Eva and I have discussed how we’ve felt like God has been preparing our hearts for something like this and we are ready. Knowing it has already been difficult and may continue to be more so, we both feel his peace is at work in our family and while we don’t always get to understand the why, I believe that’s something he wants us all to work on – just abiding in his presence.”

It is good to abide in His presence. Psalm 73 was brought to my attention at church today: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever…. it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”

Focusing on God as their strength, their portion, and their refuge is not only, in my opinion, their best armor in this warfare; it is inspiring to so many who know and love them. Not that it is their job to encourage the brethren as they enter this brutal battle, by any means, but I’m guessing it encourages THEM (literally, in the original meaning of encourage, gives them heart) to express what God impresses upon them. Maybe that is Proverbs 27:17 in living color: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” It is one of the privileges of being in the community of Christ followers.

While I wish Jon wasn’t going through this, I’m so encouraged and grateful to know he and Eva are holding firmly to the hope they profess (Hebrews 4:14). Our pastor is currently going through Psalm 23 in his sermon series about stress, and today he mentioned a book he has been reading (Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep, by Trish Harrison Warren) that resonated strongly with me as I consider Eva & Jon’s predicament: A husband and wife had to allow their infant son to undergo a complicated, precarious surgery, and as they approached the moment they would have to surrender their child to the procedure, the wife made a statement to her husband that I am roughly paraphrasing because I didn’t capture it in the moment, “We have to decide NOW whether or not God is good. If we wait until the outcome of this (or, presumably, any obstacle / struggle in our life) to determine that, we will always keep God on trial.”

All of us go through trials of one kind or another in our days on earth. We make a choice every time the sun comes up how we will respond to whatever we face. I am blessed whenever I am witness to God’s strengthening and sustaining power in another person’s life. I am blessed to listen to their song.