A Year In My Life Through Pictures Day 30

Chandra, Forrest and Allan walking in the Mississippi "River Walk" on Mud Island in Memphis. The real deal Mississippi River is in the background and none of them wanted to put a foot into it.

The River Walk is the central focus on Mud Island, well actually it is the only focus on Mud Island that I could see. It is really need seeing a scaled replica of the rivers twists and turns. They even have different depths along the way. I imagined the engineering and planning that went on to make the River Walk a reality.

Looking across the Mighty Mississippi in its vastness was pretty awe inspiring. We have the Ohio River flowing in our downtown area here in Paducah, but it is probably only about 1/2 - 1/3 the width of the Mississippi. So, to see this much water in one place does make you think of the creative powers of God. In Genesis 1:9 we see God's creative force in shaping the Earth. Reading back a few verses you see that when He created the Earth it was totally covered with water and then in verse 9 He raises the dry parts up creating the seas and the tributary rivers that flow into the seas.

How awesome is that? God speaks and everything listens. Well, almost everything. Men have a tendency and disposition to not listen and to not acknowledge the Lord as we should. We are the only part of His creation that says "NO" to Him. We impose our own will, which is sin and we must answer for that sin. The penalty, death. After the physical death is the spiritual death if you have not trusted in the Lord and fully devoted yourself to Him. Not the halfway, "I said a prayer and took care of it when I was 8" thing. Not getting your "ticket" to heaven or walking an aisle will save you. Not even having a preacher or evangelist proclaim you as saved will do the trick. Only total denial of self and total reliance in Christ will give you life eternal.

The powers of God that created the universe "ex nehilo", out of nothing can create a new heart in you. It is actually a new creative process, a re-creation if you will. Ezekiel described it in Ezekiel 36:26 as God taking out a stony heart that is hard, cold and unmalliable and replacing it with a heart of flesh that is soft, pliable and warm. It is God that takes the heart and changes it, it is God that makes you a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17 through His grace and His restorative powers and only possible by the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.