Living Water
As I sat in Bold Bean Coffee Roasters this morning I came across a meme on Facebook that really made me think and honestly broke my heart. The meme said "Black Friday: Because Only In America, People Trample Others For Sales Exactly One Day After Being Thankful For What They Already Have."…Ouch! It is easy to take for granted just how blessed we are in this country. I have been doing it my whole life. If I can just get that new car or buy that new house, my life will be complete. If I can just have that new stereo system or flat screen tv, I will be happy. If I can get that new job or get that promotion and pay raise, I will have enough money to be satisfied. If I can only date that pretty girl, I will have everything I need in life. If I can just stay high, I won't have to think about my brokenness. All of these things are the lie the enemy feeds to us to keep us from getting what we truly need. The more stuff we buy, pay raises we get, pretty girls we date, substances we consume, the more we want. We become more dehydrated the more "water" we consume, when the only thing that could ever truly quench our thirst is the "living water" that Jesus offers.
I realize that I had this revelation while sipping gourmet organic coffee and surfing social media on my iPad. Trust me, I see the irony in this. I have a whole storage unit filled top to bottom, front to back with stuff that I haven't even touched in four years. Not to mention, I have let my dad pay $180 a month for the last four years for said storage unit. The world is dying out there and I have a giant overpriced closet, in a building miles from my house, filled with stuff I don't use. That is crazy. That is selfish. Frankly, that is wrong. The idea of having a garage sale to raise support for my World Race trip has come up. This revelation has convicted me to have this garage sale. It is time to get rid of all of this stuff and put the money toward something that actually matters.
I have spent the last few months spending my Saturday mornings feeding the poor and praying for the broken here in Jacksonville. I love this ministry. I am literally given an opportunity to help people in a neighborhood I used to exploit to get what I wanted in life. Finding a church that offers this sort of ministry has been a blessing. One thing I have noticed while working with this ministry, though, is just how much the poor and homeless in America have compared to those suffering in the rest of the world. After we have handed out the food on Saturday morning, you can walk down nearby streets and see discarded bread and sweets that were handed out a few minutes before. Even the less fortunate in this country are comfortable enough to have the freedom to be picky. This fact doesn't make me want to love and help these people any less, but it does make me sad that there are people all over the world that have to drink out of puddles and sometimes go days without eating at all.
I did not write this blog to make anyone feel guilty. I don't feel guilty. We are a product of the broken world we live in. I wrote it to hopefully open peoples eyes to want vs. need. There are plenty of things that we are going to want in this world. I think that it is good to work for things we want. I just think a lot of times we put too much value on these luxuries. When we use these things to try to quench the unquenchable thirst inside of us instead of just opening up and taking a big sip of Jesus' "living water", they become false gods or idols to us. So, I'm excited about this opportunity God has given me to go around the world with nothing but a backpack and serve some of the least of these whose biggest dreams are to live as luxurious of a life as the homeless people live in our part of the world. As always, thanks for taking the time to read my blog. If you would like to maybe sacrifice a luxury or two in your life and help me on my mission to show The well of "living water" to the least of these, there is a support me tab on the side of this page. I pray that all of you have made or will make the decision to accept the cup that Jesus is freely offering you. It costs nothing and gives you everything. Love Y'all!!!
