splish… splash.

H20.

water.

น้ำ

agua.

…many names. same meaning: it brings LIFE.

for
the past 3 days us girls got to go into the main part of Chiang Mai for
the Songkran Festival. It is the Thai New Years and basically they
celebrate it with a HUGE city-wide water fight!!!! instead of watching a
ball drop and wearing silly party hats- everyone and I mean literally
everyone- of all ages are geared up with super soakers, buckets of ice
cold water, buckets of yucky warm moat water and even water hoses.
people ride around in the back of trucks and on mopeds soaking wet and
soaking up the sun. people stand on the street outside their jobs and houses ready to launch water at their next victim, people will even chase you down the street! theres lots of concerts, water fights and guess
whose most targeted? foreigners.

So the first day there Tara
and I decide to walk to the mall. well the only way to the mall we knew
of was directly though the middle of the city, right smack dab through the center of the water fight. we were excited. this wasn’t going to be a problem,
we wanted to experience the festival for all it is worth. except that…
this day happened to be the only day so far where the sun decided to
hide. it wasn’t cold outside, BUT when you have had continual iccce cold
water thrown on you for over an hour and you realize your lips are now
blue you begin to get a little cranky. I began to realize how many
people were taking the festival too far, getting wasted while driving
and ya know st. patties day in America basically… it began to be more
frustrating and chaotic than fun. the party was over for me.

you
see since the majority of Thailand grows up Buddhist, the Songkran
Festival is celebrating Budda. people are constantly going up to the
idols and praying and pouring water on Budda. This morning I began to
read Isaiah. I got to chapter 4. it had a completely new meaning to me.
Isaiah talks about 1. the problem: people not knowing their true God.
meaningless offerings, incense… false idols. both literally (like in
Thailand) and metaphorically (like in America). and 2. the solution:
being willing and obedient, walking in the ways the Lord teaches us,
walking in the light of the Lord, not trusting in man.

but one verse stuck out to me. 1:28 & 31- “…and those who forsake the Lord will perish… both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire.”

you
see just like the festival began to get out of control… life without
God becomes chaotic. we try to control our future and take on our own
burdens. but those are burdens God never intended for us to carry. That
is why He sent His one and only Son to die for us. to carry our burdens.
literally. if we continue to try and live life without God we will get
no where. we WILL perish He says. Only God can put out the fire of pain
and sin and greed and so forth… why? because HE is the living water we
need to kill the fire (or i.e. sin) that has spread into our lives.

humans cannot exist without water.
animals cannot. plants cannot.
the world would be nothing without water.
it would be the end.

God
wants HIS living water to flow from us. He wants us to be vessels for
Him… for His glory. He made us to bring His living water to
those around us. to help Him refresh their lives. The longer Tara and I
walked through the moat, lost, not knowing where we were, the wetter we
got and the colder we got and the more frustrated I became. when warm
water was thrown on me I was happy, when cold, I was angry. but neither
seemed to satisfy me. I just wanted to get to our final destination…
home.

God is calling you home, to His arms. He is calling all
His children home. stop trying to live life on your own without water
because you can’t. nothing else will satisfy you. it’s impossible. without water the only solution is
death. literally. with sin comes death and with God comes life. its that simple. With God there is always a second chance too and thankfully
the second day of Songkran I was able to go back out. this time to pray
for the people of Thailand and plus the sun was shinning! God totally
redeemed the festival that day for me and it was a blast!!!