“In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Niagara Falls gets all the limelight. Of course the site is spectacular, the falls are accessible, they are a natural phenomenon of epic proportions and they are possibly the most photographed cataract in the world. It’s no surprise that more people will view my photographs of the American and Canadian falls than check out this post about the rapids…

However… if you have not taken the opportunity to ride the elevator twenty-three stories down the side of the gorge to the boardwalk, then explore what happens to over six thousand tons of water per second as it makes its way downstream, then you have missed something amazing.

Here; check out this short video:

Indescribable power

So last week, just as soon as we finished our “get soaked under the Horseshoe Falls” ride with the children we made our way a couple of miles downstream to the class six rapids phenomenon known as “The Whirlpool Rapids.”

Here is a description: “The depth of the Whirlpool Rapids is 35 feet and the speed of the water is 30-35 mph. The speed is the result of the narrow width of the gorge, the rapid descent of the river and the volume of water (100,000 cubic feet per second).”

Now those are some impressive numbers. All that water cascading over the American, the Bridal and the Horseshoe falls coming together through the narrow gorge and producing rapids that are essentially unnavigable.

It is always fun to take the ever skeptical preteen grandchildren somewhere – anywhere – where they think they know what the experience is going to be like but then reality (the glory of creation) simply blows them away. It is, as we said for the boat ride under Niagara Falls, “Exactly how we like it!”

I think that the Apostle Paul was correct when he pointed out that “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

There is so much of glory and of power and of invention in this natural world that it would be – should be – impossible not to credit Creator God with the imagination and the design and the purpose of it all.

So here it is, friends, the rapids below Niagara Falls. Watch, marvel, and give thanks.

On to the next adventure – DEREK