Rolling on the River: Fun Times With Fruit (a brief lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Rolling on the River: Fun Times With Fruit
(a brief lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)
 
I was born and raised in West Kentucky in a town situated at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers, and just a mile north of where these two joined the mighty Mississippi.  Those rivers, and the lakes and streams fed by them, play a central role in all my best memories of those times.  And they were the location of so many of the fun things I did with my friends; especially my friends Paul, Mike, Bruce, and Bob.
 
There are so many stories of fun things we did together.  Some of them are simple things like double dating (and triple dating, and four-ple dating . . .  group activities were not so common in those days, not like today, but the four of us did a lot of things as a group).  Sometimes we just hung out at one or the other’s house (usually Bob’s or Bruce’s since they had rooms designed to withstand the rigors of hosting teenage boys).  None of us had any money, so we worked the concession stand to get into the football and basketball games.  We were a little nerdy, so we joined the Chess Club.  When one of us performed in a play or a choir concert, the rest of us took our dates to see the performance.  We grew to value our differences, and we had fun whatever we did together. 
 
But mostly, we did things on and around (and between) the rivers.  One spring break Bob, Bruce and I spent the week navigating a small boat up the river to the locks at the Kentucky Lake dam and camping along the shores of the Land Between the Lakes (the LBL - Google it).  One night we camped on an island in the middle of the lake, made a fire and told ghost stories . . . until we discovered the “island” had been a cemetery before the TVA flooded the area to make the lake.  No one slept THAT night ;-)
 
Paul was always the explorer in our little group; he led us on many an adventure in the LBL.  Paul is the one who talked us into crawling through mud tunnels along one side of the lake one winter, explaining later that the reason we had to do it in winter is because the tunnels only exist because the mud is frozen; that come spring they would all collapse!  Interspersed among all our adventures were lots of outings on boats, in cars, on bicycles, and on foot.  One adventure in particular stands out because it ended with us being chased by moonshiners after we accidentally discovered their still.  Fun times.
 
There are a lot of these stories, and perhaps I’ll tell some more of them in the future.  Right now, what I want to tell you is this:  When I read in Galatians 5:22-23
 
“…when we live God’s way, He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.  We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.  We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”
 
When I read that passage, I think of my four friends.  When I was a teen and going through the shaping that would produce the person I now am, it is these friends who were the “fruit of the Spirit” to me.  In them I saw all those good things, and I bent my will and energies to emulate them in every way I could.
 
Are there some folks in your life who appear like fruit in an orchard; refreshing, bursting with joy and great personal qualities?  Consider that God may have placed them in your life (and you in theirs) to be the catalyst for something good.  For the “fruit of the Spirit” is not just a list of qualities printed on a page.  It is the living of those qualities in our everyday interactions with one another.  I thank God for my friends.  Still.
 
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If you are in Waco, Texas on a Friday, join the group at 8:00 a.m. at the Olive Branch for breakfast and some excellent fellowship.  I am getting to be with them this week and I am really looking forward to it!