{"id":4040,"date":"2012-06-15T07:00:28","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/?p=4040"},"modified":"2012-06-14T20:10:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-15T01:10:00","slug":"beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Cross – A River of Life!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This week’s been an out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire experience. Once Hiram was home, on his feet, and fairly independent, I hit the road for the Cedar Falls Christian Writers’ Conference. I arrived one day late, but in time to teach three workshops, reconnect with old friends, and make new ones.<\/p>\n

But the frying pan\/fire scenario doesn’t leave much time for new blog posts, so today’s is a recycled one written the first year I went to the conference, which is held at the same church camp I attended as a child. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018He who believes in Me\u2019, as the Scripture said, <\/em>
\n\u2018From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.\u2019\u201d<\/em>
\nJohn 7: 38<\/em><\/p>\n

I squirmed like a ten-year-old as I drove under the sign, \u201cRiverview Bible Conference Center.\u201d The name was different, but I felt at home in the place I hadn\u2019t seen in 35 years \u2013 my childhood church camp.<\/p>\n

I arrived the night before my writers\u2019 conference, so as soon as my bags were stowed, I walked the grounds. I located the tabernacle, a barn of a place where an old maid chapel director taught 200 wriggling kids every verse of How Great Thou Art<\/em>. Every day, when she freed us from our prison of song, we ran to the pool where we recited the day\u2019s new verse as the price of our admission.<\/p>\n

The pool was as I remembered it, and I remembered how up-town that cement pool seemed in the 1960s. Moving on, I found the cabins I\u2019d stayed in different years. I recognized the old craft center, Missionary Hall, which would serve as our conference headquarters tomorrow. My biggest disappointment was not locating the campfire pit and the cross that stood by it.<\/p>\n

One thing puzzled me as I tramped around. Why had the camp been named Riverview? In all my church camp years, I\u2019d never seen a river and couldn\u2019t find one now. Darkness fell and the bugs had sucked me dry, so I went back to my cabin still wondering.<\/p>\n

The next morning, I searched for the campfire before the conference began. A road I\u2019d missed the night before dead ended in a grassy bank, but I climbed up a few steps. There it was \u2013 the campfire, hemmed by benches on three sides and the cross on the fourth. Once, a minister explained the greatness of God\u2019s love to us as we sat on those benches. \u201cHe loved you so much He died for you,\u201d the pastor said, pointing to the cross. \u201cHe died so you might live.\u201d Sitting there I had accepted Christ, blinded by His love, unable to imagine life beyond what He\u2019d already given.<\/p>\n

Now I approached that cross, neon pink in the rising sun. Light peeked between tree trunks and through a chain-link fence that ran along a little ridge a few yards behind it. Curious, I walked beyond the cross, looked over the fence, and gasped. A river flowed far below me, surrounded by trees and cabins, docks and boats, teeming with life.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve grown up, Jolene.\u201d A still, small voice whispered in my heart. \u201cYou\u2019ve matured enough to see what was always there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirty years ago, I was too young to comprehend God\u2019s simple truth. But this day I know His promise is true because I have experienced it for three decades: that beyond the cross flows a river of life!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week’s been an out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire experience. Once Hiram was home, on his feet, and fairly independent, I hit the road for the Cedar Falls Christian Writers’ Conference. I arrived one day late, but in time to teach three workshops, reconnect with old friends, and make new ones. But the frying pan\/fire scenario doesn’t leave much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[218,245,1671,1673,1672],"class_list":["post-4040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-out-and-about","tag-cedar-river","tag-church-camp","tag-church-column","tag-cross","tag-riverside-bible-camp"],"yoast_head":"\nBeyond the Cross - A River of Life! - Jolene Philo Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beyond the Cross - A River of Life! - Jolene Philo Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week’s been an out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire experience. Once Hiram was home, on his feet, and fairly independent, I hit the road for the Cedar Falls Christian Writers’ Conference. I arrived one day late, but in time to teach three workshops, reconnect with old friends, and make new ones. But the frying pan\/fire scenario doesn’t leave much […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jolene Philo Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-15T12:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491-300x171.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jphilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@homeagainpodcst\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@homeagainpodcst\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jphilo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jphilo\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91\"},\"headline\":\"Beyond the Cross – A River of Life!\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-15T12:00:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/\"},\"wordCount\":580,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491-300x171.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Cedar River\",\"church camp\",\"church column\",\"cross\",\"Riverside Bible Camp\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Out and About\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/\",\"name\":\"Beyond the Cross - A River of Life! - Jolene Philo Staging\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491-300x171.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-15T12:00:28+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491.png\",\"width\":\"700\",\"height\":\"400\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Beyond the Cross – A River of Life!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/\",\"name\":\"Jolene Philo Staging\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91\",\"name\":\"jphilo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jolene-About-Headshot.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jolene-About-Headshot.jpg\",\"width\":515,\"height\":685,\"caption\":\"jphilo\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/author\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Beyond the Cross - A River of Life! - Jolene Philo Staging","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Beyond the Cross - A River of Life! - Jolene Philo Staging","og_description":"This week’s been an out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire experience. Once Hiram was home, on his feet, and fairly independent, I hit the road for the Cedar Falls Christian Writers’ Conference. I arrived one day late, but in time to teach three workshops, reconnect with old friends, and make new ones. But the frying pan\/fire scenario doesn’t leave much […]","og_url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/","og_site_name":"Jolene Philo Staging","article_published_time":"2012-06-15T12:00:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491-300x171.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"jphilo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@homeagainpodcst","twitter_site":"@homeagainpodcst","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jphilo","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/"},"author":{"name":"jphilo","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91"},"headline":"Beyond the Cross – A River of Life!","datePublished":"2012-06-15T12:00:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/"},"wordCount":580,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491-300x171.png","keywords":["Cedar River","church camp","church column","cross","Riverside Bible Camp"],"articleSection":["Out and About"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/","url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/","name":"Beyond the Cross - A River of Life! - Jolene Philo Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491-300x171.png","datePublished":"2012-06-15T12:00:28+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-2491.png","width":"700","height":"400"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/beyond-the-cross-a-river-of-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Beyond the Cross – A River of Life!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#website","url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/","name":"Jolene Philo Staging","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91","name":"jphilo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jolene-About-Headshot.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jolene-About-Headshot.jpg","width":515,"height":685,"caption":"jphilo"},"logo":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/"],"url":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/author\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4042,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4040\/revisions\/4042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}