The farm that I grew up on had a creek running through it. I remember times that it would rain for an extended period and the creek would run full.

If we had what we called a real “gulley washer” it would get out of its banks. When that happened the water could cause problems.

I know we have all seen the devastating results of a flood. Roads can be washed away and houses destroyed as the water rises out of the banks of the waterways that contain it. Where there are no banks to channel the water, a swamp exists. Banks are the difference between a river that can be useful and a swamp that can be a problem.

Banks restrain the water from taking over everything around it. Those banks give direction to the flow of the water and without them the water is unrestrained to settle where it may. In our life there are guidelines that restrain us. We have all experienced what seemed like a flood of problems at one time or the other but those times pass as the storm ends.

Without guidelines that restrain us we are like a river without banks that will become a permanent swamp. It is very difficult if not impossible to build in a swamp.

Why is it that we ignore the guidelines that will keep us flowing in the right direction? How can we think that anything goes and expect our life not to turn into a swamp? If we are in the middle of a storm, do we shore up our banks or just stand by and watch as they collapse?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets at 240 Courthouse Parkway in Washington C.H. for Life Groups at 9:30 and in the lobby at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry.