Nahal Parat Hike

Just East of Jerusalem is a nice, deep canyon that funnels all the way to Jericho near the Jordan River. This canyon, however, hasn't had water flowing in it for some time now. And some of the rock formations prove that a large, catastrophic...something had to sweep by in order to carve the rock canyon and quickly form certain rocks (two completely different types of rocks formed into one)...something catastrophic...something like...the Flood of Noah! There is, however, one spring that we hiked by that produces enough water to stream through the rugged bottom of the canyon.

We went on an awesome hike through this nahal (Hebrew for canyon). It was a wonderful experience. It brought to life the passages that speak on the righteous man, like a tree by water, and the unrighteous man, like a shrub in the wilderness. The contrast is great. If a tree is not rooted by a close water source, it will die. In the canyon, there was a small line of greenery near the water--the rest was barren. With that water, many plants could survive. But without, nothing will last for long.

Jeremiah 17:5-10 ESV
"Thus says the LORD, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and it does not fear when the heat comes for its leaves remain green, and it is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his work, according to the fruit of his deeds.'"

Psalm 1:1-3 NASB
"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away."