FINDING BILL

TODAYS SCRIPTURE: JOHN 4:10

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

FINDING BILL

The phone rang just as I was getting ready to leave. "What are you doing?" Bill asked. When I told him I was going to get my hair cut, he said, "Could you bring me some water. Mine got knocked over." Considering he is doing fieldwork, I told him sure. "I am working on 500 E, just past 500 N." he said, as he hung up.

Instead of taking a couple bottles of water, I added water to a bag of ice and left the house. I figured he could just fill the water jug he had with him. By the time I drove to the beauty shop, I discovered the bag had a hole in it and the floor of my car was getting very wet.

While getting my hair cut, Bill called and said, "By the time you get here, I might be on 400 N."

Instead of a quick drive, I now had to go to buy water. That done, I left to find Bill.

I tried 400 N and sure enough there was the big Cat tractor. The tractor stopped, but Bill did not get out. "Bill is working over by that house."

That house looked like it was one mile over, so I drove one mile north, one mile east and did not see Bill. Bless cell phones. Hearing what corner I was at, Bill said, "Turn right."

Bill said turn right, but I turned the other right. Still on the phone, I hear Bill say, "Gee I should see you by now. Are you going south?"

Oops. Turn around. That would make another half mile back to the corner and straight ahead. Another half mile and I saw Bill. But I had to drive to the corner and turn right. Finally, I found Bill. I found Bill, on 400 N, about a quarter mile east of where I had stopped at the first time. I drove around the mile square for nothing.

I gave Bill the water and left for home. Bill called when I was about a mile down the road. He just wanted me to know, "The water bottles are too big to fit in my little cooler."

A Samaritan woman went to the well to get water. Something she did every day. A very normal activity. A normal activity until she met a stranger. A Jew who asked a Samaritan for a drink. A Jew who asked a Samaritan for a drink but offered water that would give eternal life.

With a few wrong turns, I found Bill. With a few wrong turns, a Samaritan woman found eternal life.

Do you know where to find Jesus and the living water he offers?

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Are you thirsty?

PRAYER

This week say your own prayer. Thank Jesus for finding you and giving you eternal life. Or, if you have not done so, ask Jesus into your life and ask Him for the living water.

NEEDED -- WATER

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: John 4:7, 10, 13-14 (Please look up the missing verses)

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
13-14 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

NEEDED -- WATER

As I sat waiting for our grandson to wake up, I had a talk with God. I pointed out that the yard was getting very dry. That the leaves on the trees were beginning to droop. That the corn and beans, in the fields, were showing signs of drought. I explained all of this. Of course, God loves our conversations. He was probably laughing as he replied, "And you think I don't know this?"

I would hate to be God. This person wants rain. That person is planning a picnic and does not. This person loves the sounds of birds and that person just wishes they would chirp somewhere other than outside their bedroom window. One person wants it to be 90 degrees in the shade and others are saying, "Can you cool it off down here?"

God looks down and sees the person that always has a complaint. Of course, to balance that person out, there is the one who is always cheerful and sees the glass as, not half full, but all the way full. I'm not sure which God finds more annoying. Again, I would not want to be God. I don't like to be around people who always complain, but there are times I want to poke a hole in the bottom of that glass of the eternal optimistic.

Let's get back to the rain. It finally did rain, but a week later. The rain came with the wind and the lightning. Like all rain, it fell when it fell. I could not control the rain.

One kind of water we do not have to wait on. One kind of water is always available. Living Water. It is there. Just waiting for us.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Are you ready to drink of the Living Water?

Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.

LET US PRAY

Dear Giver of Living Water, Thank you for water. Water that falls on this earth and gives it a drink. Water that quenches my earthly thirst. But, oh, how I thirst for a drink of the water you offer. Just as you told the Samaritan woman, "you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." My Dear Jesus, I do know who you are and I do ask for a drink of your water. …… Amen