Rocky Fork, Unicoi County, Tennessee

 

Worsening problems with an arthritic knee had kept me off the mountain trails for too long. With autumn colors emerging and temperatures just the way I like them, I decided the time had come to get out the camera and head for the mountains. I found the scenery I was after at a place called Rocky Fork in Unicoi County, Tennessee.

 

The road runs beside the tumbling creek, so finding breathtaking views didn't require many steps. What I didn't expect to find on this Tuesday morning, however, was such solitude. During the couple of hours I was there only one truck passed by. Thus, my visual experience was accompanied by an aural one.

 

Can any sound match that of a mountain stream when it comes to producing inner peace? They say water is purified in only a short distance in such fast-flowing water (though the prevalence of E. coli today cautions us against drinking from creeks). Though I didn't stoop to drink from Rocky Fork, my soul certainly felt cleansed by having spent that time. I've demonstrated numbers of times the power of God's creation to wash the stress of daily living from my life.

 

(If you'd like a small sample of the beauty I found at Rocky Fork, navigate on over to www.Joycaster.com and look in the "Waterfalls & Mountain Streams" gallery.)

 

Others have found peaceful messages out in nature. You've heard David's words in Psalm 19:1? "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork." David observed the orderliness and stability of the stars in the sky, and learned lessons about the One who created and arranged them. Paul declared that many of God's attributes are revealed in nature: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead ..." (Romans 1:20).

 

The cleansing power of water is also seen often in God's word. Naaman saw his dreadful leprosy miraculously removed as he dipped for the seventh time in the River Jordan (2 Kings 5:10-14). In this case, of course, it wasn't the water that effected the cure, but Naaman's obedience to a command from God's prophet. But how could he have obeyed without a trip to the river?

 

That same principle is recorded later in the cleansing of Saul (later to be renamed Paul). After three days of grief over his tragically mistaken path, Ananias appeared at Saul's door with a message from Jesus: "And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16). Again, it wasn't the water that washed away his sins, but his obedience to God's command. But if he was to obey God's command he had to get to water.

 

The good news is that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). What, then, has the Lord said about our own cleansing from sin? "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16). It's not a difficult command to understand.

 

My trip to Rocky Fork resulted in inner peace which I continue to enjoy. But coming to the waters of baptism with a believing and penitent heart will result in a peace that will never end!

 

Timothy D. Hall