Today we began with devotions from Psalm 46: 4-5 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day. Pastor John talked about how God created rivers to provide us with water (we drink the Passaic River, water for the earth, transportation and in Paterson the river provided the energy to power the factories. Paterson is where it is because of the Great Falls. The Passaic River brought joy and work to the city of Paterson. Today it can still bring beauty and re-creation. After devotions we visited DeJong Iron Works to meet the Mr. Jerry DeJong and their crew who custom built our kayak trailer for us. We thanked them again for a great trailer that can carry at least 11 kayaks.
We arrived at the Passaic River launch it Hawthorne. Thanks to Mr. Tom Henion who dropped his car and rode with us to return the Van to the Elmwood Park launch. We practiced forward and reverse strokes and noticed how the current was moving in the river. This would be different than a lake because it would help move us downstream. Pastor John quizzed us with a few math problems. If the current is flowing 1 mph and your paddling 2 mph how fast will you go. Actually once we got going we averaged abou 4 mph. Our plan was to paddle/float from Hawthorne to Elmwood Park. The current helped alot
Here we are approaching the Fair Lawn Ave. Bridge. We had just passed over the Passaic River Fish Wier that was constructed out of rocks by the Indians about 200 years ago. When the water was low the fish would get stuck there and they would spear them. Passaic is actually an Indian name. See if you can find out what it means.
While we paddle we notice trash and bottles in the river and picked up what we could.
Here we are approcahing the Broadway/ Rt. 4 Bridge.
Pastor Paul spoke to us lunchtime about caring for God's creation and especially for plants and soil. He read from Gen. 1:26 “over all the earth...” and Gen. 1:29 and Lev. 25:1-7. He taught us the the ground gives us plants and trees that give us food to eat and oxygen to breath. After we got back we went to chean out some of the storm drains on 11th & 10th Ave. The trash and bottles that go in the stormdrains in our neighborhood end up floating down the Passaic River. God wants us to take care of his world. A reminder to all to set up your recycling corner at home for paper and cans/glass/plastic. We ended the day with ice cream sunays at McDonalds.
Here are a few short videos to see us in acion.
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