“The water I give will be an artesian well within gushing fountains of endless life.” Jesus

(John 4:14).

“A lot of things that used to fire me up just don’t anymore.”  

If you are paying attention, there is a lot of talk about a stress/anxiety epidemic in our country. Much of the Opioid crisis can be traced to stress/anxiety triggers. In the 1980s we visited and ministered in a lot of rural communities. More than once people told me of driving down country roads where farmers had given up and taken their lives. Stress-anxiety is not a new problem!

We sponsor a 13 year old in Honduras. She doesn’t say anything about the unrest or madness in her country, but she doesn’t live in a cave. She must be affected. This is a brutal time to be a human.

The noise level is high. Tension and threat is high. Adrenalin is high. There are few safe places and we don’t know who to trust; we don’t know who to believe. You don’t have to be a news junkie or a raging politico to notice that due process is under severe attack. The very thing that motivated Pilgrims to seek a new nation is ignored. No due process before the law=no freedom.

This is a hard time in history to be human. I heard that an orangutan has been moved into a Fort Worth zoo and has been given the status of a human. We’ve never had an orangutan for a pet so I don’t know. I do know they should absolutely be treated humanely, but to give it the rights of a human is borderline…something.

Portland, Oregon has banned urinals in public bathrooms as “too masculine for gender neutral toilets.” Wait ‘til the ladies experience the wet seats! A church we pastored built a new fellowship hall. The carpet layers were starting on the bathrooms and asked me if I wanted to have carpet wall to wall. I didn’t even think about it. Of course! Our custodian was a friend—a nice classy lady. She explained to me how seriously deranged I was to allow carpet to be put under the urinals. (Well, now that you ‘splain it to me in those words….) I think there is a vast ocean of derangement that has taken the national mind. All the markers are being torn down or moved.

I didn’t intend to, but I’ve started talking about Psalm 1. A friend said, “It is the Living Water. I want to get close to the stream you talk about.”

It seems our “artesian well” is somewhat dependent upon being close to the streams and those who are “planted there.”

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water…” (Psalm 1:3).

There are counties in Iowa still trying to recover from the spring floods. Only in a few places is being planted by streams of water a safe place. A tree can get taken out by those swirling, rushing, roiling waters, and replanted in another county or vomited onto an island. Turmoil, tempest, raging emotions and atmosphere.

Where are the streams to be planted next to?

I want to get this right—if we are to maintain and sustain “fruit in his season, non-withering leaves, everything he does prospers’ (Ps 1:3) there are flood walls. And those sea walls are usually people and groups of people who shape our thinking and encourage our souls.

1. Know agendas of those you “walk” with and share their counsel. (Ps 1:1)
2. Don’t stand (hang) around with “sinners”—those who oppose God and His plans, instructions.
3. Don’t sit around with mockers. Cynicism has become a second national language especially, it seems to me, in the worlds of social media and TV. Like flood waters lapping at sandbags and levees the vicious chatter and screaming undermines those elements that give us protection and guidance. Guard, therefore,  your sense of reality, realm of peace, wholeheartedness and ability to hear/discern God’s voice.

The streams equate to energy, peace, clarity and direction.

Who in your world is “planted by the stream?” Where are they? How do we access them? Who has God raised up equipped with wisdom, authority and anointing? Who can you ask to help you understand what is going on in your personal world and in Western Civilization? God has a reputation of “doing nothing without telling the prophet(s)” (Amos 7:11).

We need those “streams”—restorative resources—to inform us how to fit into the creative plans God has to “heal your land”?

An acquaintance had a national TV platform and is one of my favorite speakers/singers. Things have changed for them due to illness and changing styles. I asked him the other day how he and his wife were doing. He responded, “We are busy living life.” In a murky and destructive cultural tornado,  living life demands preparing our minds for action and paying attention. (1 Peter 1:3)

Who do you know who is planted by streams—restorative resources?

©2019 D. Dean Benton,  Wonderer & Writer

Website: https://deanbenton.org/

Further resources on stress/anxiety—a fresh look:

https://tunein.com/podcasts/Entrepreneurship/Building-a-Story-Brand-p854897/?topicId=133992656

Rebecca Lyons—StoryBrand podcast #159