~~* A Secret of the Southern Cascade Rain Forest*~~
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YOU are welcome here. This is where I go when I am compelled to pray or be still. It is a special place. Very quiet during the spring, summer and fall. The entire area is laced with shallow caves etched out of volcanic rock by winter's raging waters since the ancient past.
On the hottest days of summer it is always cool. In the winter it is the sight of the mysterious power of water. Torrents pour through the area filling the valley that surrounds the stream with the sounds of heavy drums. There is no doubt in my mind that the natives of this land called this place “singing falls” for that reason.
I am grateful to be here. Though my lifestyle is rugged and many of the “amenities&8221; of modern life escape me, I am free to wander a few hundred yards to the back of this place and be still, or pray, or weep. God is my refuge.
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MANY of the well groomed and socially erudite consider folks like my wife and I, who live far from the haunts of urban dwellers, unrefined, perhaps. But I must defend what God has told me to do. I am here to pray in His will. I am here to weep. I am here to contemplate my God and my Father and find the comfort He has provided. The tumult of these days reaches my fair dwelling. It manifests itself in too many ways to elucidate upon here...but I have a place to go.
As the waters trickle into ancient pools carved out of stone, lacy sounds echo from the surrounding stone walls. When I am still the fish come out from beneath their watery cobble stone enclaves to occasionally splash the stillness for a morsel of insect trapped by the meniscus of the waters surface. They never mind my prayers, only my movement.
I am here to rejoice and be grateful. Often I have stirred my heart to emerge from the clamor and din of the world's uncleanness to drink of pure waters from heaven. Though such invisible interludes are not confined to this little hidden nook, this cleft in the rock, I more often resort here.
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How many wounded are there who will not awaken to the solace that has been afforded us? What great conflict stands in the way of those who would enter into the invisible reality etched in True Life? No one can do it for us. We must gain our eyes and ears treading the path alone.
The desolate and empty, even if they be rich in this world, can in their desperation discover the hidden wealth. But the test will be true. It requires an honesty of heart that few are willing to pay. But to the one who has broken, this treasure alone will suffice. To the one who has been reduced to the fundamentals, sufficient only is the pearl of great price. “The ranting of a madman” you say. To YOU this may be true. But to those who have seen the barren desolation; to them I can say, there is a fountain of pure flowing Waters of Life. To you I speak. There is nothing you have, or that you are, that can purchase it's precious Quickening Cascade. It is free to the broken needy heart.It is messiah Who said, “Come all who thirst! Come and drink of the fountains of the waters of life without cost.”
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There is also that soul who strives to discover value in what it sees in this tired world. True, there is a dim glimmer of an ancient time, when all was pure. But now the world is grown weary and much effort is exerted to grasp the fading glow of a world that once was. It can not be again with the elements that now are. Don't faint - but be true to your hunger. You will be fed. If your heart and mind are one, the sound of the cry will pierce the labyrinth of vanity and confusion. This cry receives an answer from above. The God of Yaacov will hear you.
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Where water is, life can grow even on stone. When water is in want, no thing can live. The entire orientation of my life is toward remaining a vessel of the waters of life. Diversions innumerable vi for the soul. But the one taught of YHVH will defy the devices of duplicity. Yeshua Messiah said, “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” And in another place He says, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” What is this narrow way to life? Truly many are they who claim to have it but do not. Once it is found what will someone give in exchange for it? I know of souls whose path touched the way but who have succumbed to the indomitable spell of sleep that attends this night of human history. Here by the waters I stir myself awake...again and again.
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All the caves seep with water even in the most severe drought. In recent years the worst drought on record struck the land. All the streams went dry. The fish became prey to anyone's easy catch. Raccoons, snakes, and other beasts of prey feasted at the stagnant pools as they heated and evaporated. At the base of the waterfall Singing Falls, beside ancient water hewn pools, is a fissure in the rock, I imagine, to great depths in the earth. Out of it flows water...always. I recall carrying buckets of little fish to the pools during that very dry hot season. They lived because of the artesian waters. It's flow is not grand. It is decidedly meager, perhaps one half gallon per minute. It sufficed until the days of the torrents.
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I drink of water here also. But not from the stream. I have found living water in a spiritual place. A fountain of life has been shown to me. It's waters have never raged. When I was weary I freely drank and was refreshed. I wonder if there are any thirsty? If you are, I will speak to you without pretense. I have been led to spiritual waters and have found them. These waters have never failed. They are there to be found by you. They are free to the thirsty. You are welcome here. This place is for the thirsty. Those hungry for true life will find their way. There is someone to lead you. Yeshua Messiah is his name. If you have tasted of life you know him. If you have drunk of the waters you know him. We shall meet at the head waters of the Fountain.