From My Perspective - - -

The sermon at church this week had a fascinating title: “Puddles, Springs and Rivers.” In this day of pollution and contamination, it reminds one of the old saying: “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.” This quote from the Ancient Mariner by the English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the early 1800’s exemplifies the concern that water can be abundant but unusable. Both Discovery Education and National Geographic have developed a series of Lesson Plans to demonstrate that “as the world’s population grows, access to fresh water declines. This relationship is evident in both industrialized and developing countries and in both arid and wet climates…Most Americans take an endless supply of drinkable water for granted…The goal of this lesson is to familiarize students with the realities about water supply in other nations, as well as in the United States, and what the future holds…”

The Bulletin Insert was titled: “Drink Plenty of Water.” It is about a basic instruction if one is engaged in running a race, presumably a Marathon or some other distance venture. It is written by an Unknown Source but it offers good advice when it states to one running a race:”…Drink plenty of water. All along the race courses are water stations, and most runners slow down to drink a cup of cool water. Keeping ones water level up is critical when running. If you get slightly dehydrated, you will not run well. If you get moderately dehydrated, you will become disoriented. If you get seriously dehydrated, you can die. It’s serious business…” The author of this piece writes about himself and says: “The first year I ran, I was inexperienced…I passed water stop after water stop, occasionally drinking a swallow or two. I felt good, and I wasn’t going to waste precious seconds drinking water, even though it was a hot and humid day. Big mistake! As I neared the final mile, ‘I hit the wall.’ My energy level dropped to zero, I began having to walk some, and I realized I would have to work hard just to finish. I did make it across the line, but only with a tremendous headache and hardly enough energy to walk…I learned an important lesson that year – Stopping for water doesn’t actually slow you down. In fact, you will run a better race if you pause to drink water…your body is not designed to function without water…I saw a man become dehydrated just a mile from the finish. Strangely, he didn’t seem to recognize that anything was wrong. He was swaying from side to side as he walked, mumbling over and over ‘I’m fine, I’m fine’ – He was so disoriented that he failed to recognize his true condition…”

In John 4:10-14, Jesus is near a well when a Samaritan woman comes to that well. A dialogue begins with the woman regarding physical water that can and will quench one’s thirst for a while. Then Jesus moves the thought to spiritual water and references it in terms of the eternal benefit that comes if one drinks of it. Note the words of Jesus: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water…Everyone who drinks of this (well) water will be thirsty again,but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." While the choice seems obvious, there are many who ignore the water stations and pass them by as the hurry and scurry about their life’s goals and ambitions. The very thing they need to sustain them, they ignore and refuse. Are they making a wise choice when they do so? No! Will there be a price to pay later because of what is being refused now? Yes!

Jesus would go on to say in John 6:35, as the hungry multitudes followed Him, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” In Isaiah 55:1 (NLT) is the offer: “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink -- even if you have no money!” These words are echoed in Revelation 22:17 (NLT), “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. Let each one who hears them say, Come. Let the thirsty ones come -- anyone who wants to. Let them come and drink the water of life without charge.” Have you come to that spiritual water station to have your thirst quenched or have you thoughtlessly rushed by it – just passed it by? Stop and Drink freely! Consider these things with me!