Down By The River

This is a stairway down to the Nakamura River. I’m not sure now of the number but there are perhaps 6. We cleared this one a few years ago and I had hoped to go on to clear them all. However, we left Ajigasawa unexpectedly not long after we completed clearing this one.

When we finally arrived back this spring after a long absence this one was already silted in again at the bottom.

So we cleared it - again.

I love sitting here in the sunshine. Or sometimes the moonlight. And thinking. Or talking quietly. Or, more often, just staring.

At night we can hear the soft quacking of the ducks. Today there was a kingfisher – rather plain until he flew and then he showed a brilliant turquoise.

And most of all I love the river. Sparkling in the sunlight. Or the moonlight. Unless the day is dull or the night is dark. And then we just stand and listen to the sound of the water.

Today we brought a grandson along.

And he sat there with us quietly playing with the dog and watching the river slip by.

Then we set out to find the other stairways. All but one had disappeared under the brush and willow trees that have sprung up in the silt.

We finally found one – but only one.

It kind of reminded me of our lives, our churches.

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. - Hebrews 2:1

There is so much beauty in the every day life of a believer, a church- and we light the way for others – but when we stop giving careful attention to the Word, we drift away or perhaps we’re just gradually buried!