What's the Water Doing in Your Life?

It was while I was attending The Ohio State University working on my doctorate that I first became aware of the nickname of the University of Tennessee football team – The Vols. But up where I was, the term was pronounced (perhaps derisively) as the “Voles”, which would refer to several species of short-tailed meadow mice, as any biologist worth their salt would recognize. I couldn’t figure out why anyone would choose such a nickname. Where do nicknames come from, anyway?

The State of Washington is referred to as the Evergreen State. There are probably several sources for such a moniker. First of all, the great forests of that region are made up almost entirely of cone-bearing evergreens – firs, hemlocks, cedars, pines, spruces, Douglas fir. So the Evergreen State makes sense. At the same time, the moist air blowing in off the Pacific Ocean delivers a significant amount of precipitation, producing a lush green hue to the area. It isn’t uncommon to find even roofs covered with moss in some areas. So, again, the Evergreen State it is.
However, I wonder if those who chose the nickname ever got far beyond the crest of the Cascade Mountains, which separate western Washington from eastern Washington. You see, the 6,000 to 10,000 foot peaks of the Cascade Range wring almost all the moisture out of the eastward flowing air masses, so that eastern Washington is a veritable desert. When the settlers came, it definitely was brown and black, due to the large outcroppings of volcanic basalt rock. The Columbia River bisects most of Washington on a north-south line at the edge of the eastern foothills of the Cascades, effectively serving as a major demarcation line between
forest and desert.

During the last ice-age, a tongue of ice came down from Canada into western Montana, blocking water flow into the Columbia basin from Missoula northward and eastward. Eventually, the ice dam gave way and a tremendous torrent of water flowed over the basalt plateau of eastern Washington, gouging and eroding in such a way that, today, the area is referred to as the scablands (Some geologists suggest up to a hundred such floods may have occurred). In any case, the area was left dry, devoid of much soil, hot in summer and cold in winter. Not much use as the settlers found it.

Because the land is mostly flat, with few trees, the wind blows almost continuously. As a result, what soil was left by the floods in the center of the state has been blown into great deposits of silt in the more eastern portions of the state and on into west-central Idaho. (The picture below shows a gulley carved by an irrigation ditch that broke its banks west of Walla Walla, Washington. There are over 37 different layers of beautiful, rock-free dirt visible). The soil was rich, but dry. Covered with sage brush, some clump-grass and prickly pear cactus. A few settlers were successful with dry-land farming of wheat, but not much else could be done, except maybe run a few cattle per acre.

Then in the late 1930’s a great reclamation effort was put forth by the Federal Government. Large dams were built on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, developing long, deep lakes in the gouged terrain. The dams produced electricity and waterways for transportation so that, today, barge traffic can reach all the way to Lewiston, Idaho. But what was there to transport?

The lakes have been tapped for irrigation purposes. When the water became available, the Methow River valley and the valleys around Yakima and Wenatchee began to produce the apples, peaches and cherries for which Washington is known. To the east, where the wind-deposited loess lies, there sprang up wheat, potatoes, peas, lentils, alfalfa, and, more recently, numerous grape arbors. All that was needed was the water.

The scriptures describe the human heart much as a scabland, calling it deceitfully wicked, unable to produce anything good. Nothing of value can grow out of it. But the Lord has promised to change and water our hearts with the Living Water. In Galatians 5:22 we find the fruit listed that the well-watered heart, not can, but will produce. What a bounty!

The Lord told the children of Israel that He was taking them to a land of milk and honey, where bountiful crops were theirs for the taking. May we serve as a bountiful land to the children of God, whom the Lord is surely bringing to us daily. All it takes is the Water.

Now, go play in the garden!

Dr. G