This month my team and I are living on the 3rd floor of our host’s home. From our back porch you can see a busy street, construction, tall apartment complexes, and planes coming in for landing. You can also see a small jungle growing in the lot to the right of us. In our own backyard there are mango trees, banana trees, beautiful flowers, and leafy plants we could put in our tea if we ever got up the courage. I’m sitting on the steps of our back porch right now watching a storm move into Phnom Penh.
Growing up rainy days were my favorite. Mom would pop popcorn and we would sit by the window and watch it rain. If it happened to be a good thunderstorm and my friend Melanie was over we would run from room to room jumping on furniture every time we heard a clap of thunder. I always thought Texas thunderstorms were the biggest and baddest, but they have nothing on a Cambodian monsoon rain. First you feel the strong winds blow in and you can hear the faint sound of thunder. When the rain comes you better be prepared, it is like the clouds open up and do not hold anything back. If the windows are left open it could mean a flooded room in minutes or the winds could cause everything to be blown over. This past Friday night I was home by myself when the storm hit. It was actually the biggest storm I have experienced since leaving the States (the biggest being a hail storm that scared my 4th grade self half to death… sorry Dad). I stood on the porch as the storm rolled in Friday night. I felt the cool wind break the heat of the day as the moisture filled the air. I stood there until the rain became to heavy. After I got back inside of our house, I started to think about all of the worship songs we sing that involve the imagery of water. Have you ever thought about how often we use water to describe God? His greatness? His love for us?
Lines like “If his grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking”, “You are an endless ocean, A bottomless sea”, and from Deuteronomy 32:2 “My teaching will drop like the rain, my sayings will drip like the dew, as rain drops upon the grass, and showers upon new growth.”
According to http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html water makes up 71% of the Earth. Water is a key element in our daily lives. We need water to allow our bodies to function properly. We need water to grow the crops and feed the livestock we eat. We use it clean our hands, hair, dishes, and clothes. Water allows us to clean up gross, sticky messes. When we run out of water we notice. When we have to restrict our water usage (like 7 women only being allowed to flush a toilet 2 times a day) we notice. When fresh drinking water isn’t available we notice. Water shortages do not go unnoticed. Long periods of drought receive media coverage. When I was in elementary school there was a significant amount of time that our tiny town did not have running water. There was an issue with our water tower and the pipes that brought the water into town. Immediately my parents found ways to bring water into our house. Mom bought drinking water at the store and my dad brought home a 100 gallon tank of water for our horses and dogs. My parents didn’t waste time in taking action. Why don’t we view our spiritual life this way? Why is it that days that we are not actively seeking God can go unnoticed? We need God and his abundant love for us everyday. We need his grace and his mercy because we are imperfect people. One of my favorite songs to sing in church is As the Deer which comes from Psalms 42:1. The song goes:
“As the deer pants for the water
So my soul longs after you
You alone are my hearts desire
And I long to worship you”
Our souls are longing for a life source that only God can provide. Are we feeding ourselves properly? Are we making sure our friends are being properly fed? Let us be a people who actively seek out and desire a solution to the spiritual water shortage going on in our world. I pray that everyday we build up new water towers and pipe systems that will feed our brothers and sisters as well as ourselves.
John 4:13, 14 Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
