When the river runs dry acoustic cracked#

What does that mean? What does it mean when the river runs dry? Does it mean that God’s forgotten about us? Does it mean He’s given upon us, that He’s turned his back on us? Well, the good answer is no, but that’s not necessarily a huge amount of comfort when you’re staring at the dry, cracked mud at the bottom of a river that you used to drink from, right? So, what does it look like to trust God when the river runs dry? So, that’s kind of what we’re gonna talk about today. There’s a lot of us saying, “Yeah, I’ve been there.” It’s a pretty common thing. If you’ve ever had that experience, can we just…can we be honest with each other? How many of us have had that experience? Yeah. In fact, can we just be honest with each other online and in person? If you’ve ever felt like God’s led you to somewhere and then it just didn’t turn out the way you thought, and in fact, it feels like after you got there, everything was great, but then it felt like the river started to run dry. It’s all that harder, right? And in fact, I think a lot of us have that experience. And that makes it that much harder, right? I mean, it’s one thing when the river runs dry, but what about when the river that runs dry is a river that you feel like God led you to. And it just kind of felt like everybody was mad about everything, right? And now there’s sort of economic uncertainty.Īnd I’m talking to a lot of pastors who are going, “I’m just not sure that I have what it takes to keep leading.” And that’s hard for them, in part, because they feel like God led them to ministry, and that God has been the source of their strength and their ability to lead and to love. And then there was, of course, political division. I mean, we shut down the churches and said, like, “How do you lead people that you’re not able to even talk to in person or see face to face?” You know, then on top of that, of course, you know, we had racial injustice, which led to all kinds of racial tension. And then COVID hit, right? And, you know, suddenly, everything just changed. In the world that I live in, I talk to a lot of pastors, and lately, I’ve been having a lot of conversations with pastors who are telling me that, you know, basically, up till the pandemic, they felt like they had led their congregations through just about every kind of problem. Maybe you’re one of these people who’ve always prided yourself on not being subject to, you know, anxiety or depression, but lately, it just feels like you can’t break out of that cycle, and you feel like you just don’t have the mental strength that you used to have. What happens when those relationships go south, when they kind of sour and they stop supplying some of those things that you were looking to them for? Or maybe it’s just an ability, right? Maybe it’s a physical ability that’s declining as you age, and that’s hard. You know, maybe it’s a marriage relationship, maybe it’s a boyfriend or girlfriend, or a cherished friendship, or maybe a relationship with a child. We have relationships that are the source of all kinds of things, of joy, and hope, and peace, and all those kinds of things. So, what happens when that source of identity suddenly, like, the company closes, and we get let go? Right?

You know, and that might be, like, it might be a job, right? I mean, I think we tend to look at our jobs not only as the source of our money, but they also are often kind of a source of identity. We’re starting a new series today, as Justin mentioned, and it’s based on the question “What do we do when the river runs dry?” And what I mean by that is what do you do when something that’s been providing for you, something that’s been supplying your needs, something maybe even that’s been a sense of sort of security for you, suddenly stops providing? It stops supplying. It’s such an honor to have you with us today. Craig: Well, hey, welcome to Mission Hills.