Take Me to the River

God often works in unexpected ways. Is there a muddy river in which we need to take a dip?

Rivers have had a romantic and imaginative place in human history ever since Adam and Eve cavorted around in the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates near their Edenic home. Poets, writers and philosophers have extolled the beauty, power, persistence and imagery of rivers. Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, the first person to explore the idea of “camping” as a recreational pursuit (see Walden), said, “Who hears the rippling of rivers will not utterly despair of anything.” Naturalist John Muir, instrumental in the establishment of our national park system, echoed Thoreau: “The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us.”

Robert Redford directed a film version of author Norman Maclean’s 1976 semi-autographical book A River Runs Through It. The book was considered for a Pulitzer Prize, and the movie was nominated for three Academy Awards. The film, according to one source, “fueled a rise in the popularity...