“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” John 7:37-39
Have you ever been really thirsty? You may be living in a place that is experiencing severe drought conditions and your crops and gardens may be really thirsty. I’m just wondering if you have ever been really thirsty, physically or spiritually; have you ever experienced cotton mouth? When your body gets so dehydrated the inside of your mouth feels like cotton, there is no moisture lingering on the inside of your mouth or on your lips. The topic of being thirsty caused me to think about my life in North America and also consider the time that I had lived in Haiti.
Back in the day, while working on a survey crew in the Sandhills of Nebraska our task was to put in a centerline along Hwy. 2 between Bingham and Ashby in Grant County. On one particularly hot day my duty was to place the range pole in the center of the road, get correct directions from the man with the transit, pull a metal chain tight to measure 100.00 feet and then drive in a nail into the pavement with a hatchet to mark the correct alignment; the center of the highway. We preformed this task every 100 feet for mile upon mile in the heat of summer.
If you have ever had cotton mouth, you never forget that feeling; you are thirsty. We carried small water jugs and mine happened to be empty one afternoon. Our survey crew had come to a stopping point and I noticed a windmill spinning and pumping water into a stock tank not too far from the road. I jumped over the fence and walked to the tank with my jug and too my surprise the few steers that were there drinking did not spook when I approached. I knelt down and put my head into the metal tank that was filled with cool, clear, clean water that had been pumped out of the Ogallala aquifer and my face was immersed into that living water that quenched my thirst and healed my cotton mouth.
When I moved to Haiti in the spring of 2001 it became immediately apparent that I would be drinking water from a filtered plastic bottle as long as I was there and it would not be the cool or cold water of North America; it would be warm water. When I got thirsty there was no stock tank along the road where the cure from cotton mouth could be found. When visits were made to the rural areas there was typically no water available and I would fill my bottle from a puddle in a ditch or a muddy canal. Families drank small amounts of fruit juice and water from the closest stream but for the most part they were conditioned to not drink much of anything.
The individuals lacked water, and the majority of the country of Haiti still lacks the living water that is found only in Jesus Christ. Satan has spread cotton mouth throughout the country through the local vodou priest and has told the lie over and over that Jesus died on the tree and was buried and is no more. The attached photo is of a well at the Lutheran school at Duclos. Here the students receive living water, physically and spiritually. Thank you for inviting the Holy Spirit into your life and supporting the work of Holy Spirit in their lives. The song ‘Holy Spirit, light divine’ was sung on the Lutheran Hour recently and is one of my favorites. It was written by Orlando Gibbons and first published in 1817.
“Holy Spirit, light divine, dawn upon this soul of mine; let your word dispel the night, wake my spirit, clear my sight. Holy Spirit, grace divine, cleanse this sinful heart of mine; in your mercy look on me, from sin’s bondage set me free. Holy Spirit, truth divine, shine upon these eyes of mine; send your radiance from above, let me know my Savior’s love. Holy Spirit, power divine, fortify this will of mine; bend it to your own pure will, all my life with graces fill. Holy Spirit, peace divine, still this restless heart of mine; speak to calm the tossing sea, stayed in your tranquility. Holy Spirit, all divine, dwell within this self of mine; I your temple pure would be now and for eternity.”
Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay