A Walk to the River

When I was a little boy, my best friend was my Grandpa Clyde.  Sometimes we would walk down to the shores of the Great Miami River, which was less than a 5 minute walk from his home.  Once at the river Grandpa would find an old can that the river had washed ashore, cast it upstream (Don't judge us; this was before we were as environmentally sensitive as we are now :-) and then the two of us would pick up stones and try to hit the can as it floated away.  Grandpa could hit the can three times before I even found a rock and made my throw.  I don't think I ever hit the can.  It always seemed like the river swept it away too quickly for my ability.  But I sure did love casting cans and rocks with my Grandpa.

Can I let you in on something?  God the Father, wants you to love casting things much bigger than cans and rocks.  And he does not want you to cast with him, but to cast ON him.  1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

Can't you just see Jesus taking your little hand and walking with you down to the Great Miami of life.  He says, "Go ahead, pick up a can of your best anxiety.  What keeps you up at night?  What breaks your heart?  What makes you want to scream?  What do you have no power to change, but you are desperate to see changed?  What do you worry about?  What scares you?  Yes, that can of anxiety. Pick it up.  OK, now cast it.  With all of your strength, cast it as far as you can."  So, you muster up as much strength as possible and you cast that can into the river of His Spirit.  You pick up some rocks to throw at your can of anxiety, but before long it is gone.  At first it is too far away to hit with a rock and before long it is too far away to even see. 

That is what Jesus invites you to do with all of our cares and anxieties.  Why do we hold onto what he invites us to let go of?  Why do we try to control what we can't?  Why do we dig our heels in when he has made us to run free?  Why do we take on the weight of the world, when he has already died for the world?  Why don't we just pick up the can of anxiety and cast it on him.  If we will do that, then he will carry it away like a can in the Great Miami River.

Doesn't that sound good?  It does to me.  But, then there is a part of me that thinks, but this is my anxiety, why should I bother him with it?  He answers those kind of questions at the end of 1 Peter 5:7, "Because he cares for you."  He wants you to cast your cares on him because he wants you to experience the truth that he carees for you.

OK...ready?  Jesus is here.  He wants to take a walk down to the river with you.  I don't know about you, but I have a can of anxiety I can't wait to cast.