Living Water

Did I ever tell you about our youth and family missions trip that took place the first weekend in December? It was an amazing weekend - despite the weather that caused our group of four to leave at three in the morning and the collapse of the Metrodome.

Our weekend in Minneapolis consisted of a variety of activities: helping with the For Him ministry outreach to kids in the Projects, a night of ministry with a church in Frogtown, packing Manna Packs for Feed My Starving Children, and working at the Operation Christmas Child Warehouse. The weekend was extremely impacting for me, especially some of the things we were told about children in developing countries, such as Uganda and Haiti, while serving at Feed My Starving Children. Things like:

• Children who eat rocks at night in order to trick their bellies into thinking they are full.
• A little girl who had surgery on her stomach; only to find that there were eight pounds of stones in her stomach.
• Mother who buy Dirt Biscuits in the marketplace - a mixture of mud, water, salt and shortening. Another method to trick their children's stomachs into thinking they are full.

It's shocking and sobering, isn't it? Not to mention the hurt in our country, in our own cities - places that we tend to avoid, calling them "sketchy". While working with the For Him ministry leaders, they informed us that many of these children have parents who drink all day, collect their welfare checks, and continue to drink. These kids know no love, let alone the love of Jesus Christ.

The other day, I read this verse from the book of Isaiah. As I read it, I couldn't help but think about those who are hurting right here in Beulah, in Minneapolis, in Haiti, in Uganda.

"The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none,

and their tongue is parched with thirst." (Isaiah 41:17a)

We are surrounded by starving and thirsty people - but their hunger and thirst runs deeper than the physical realm. That verse in Isaiah continues on, where the Lord proclaims that "'I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, as the God of Israel I will not forsake them.'" (Isaiah 41:17b) Praise the LORD! Where we can only temporarily help to satisfy the physical need, Jesus has come to give the ultimate, the purest, the realest, water man shall ever need - "'Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.'" (John 4:14)

Though it is the LORD who provides that living water, we must be willing to share the joyous news the the afflicted and needy around us. Are you willing? Are you serving? May the Lord find us all to be His faithful servants.