Refreshes the Soul
Have you ever participated in a mission’s trip? Often mission trips are conducted during summer months in locations that are extremely hot. Frequently these trips involve a lot of manual labor, to include digging ditches and constructing churches, clinics or schools. The heat is intense as you work long hours and the thought crosses your mind, “I sure hope they don’t run out of water.”
As you take your last sip of water from your water bottle you locate a tree, some much needed shade and you think about how thirsty you are. As you’re cooling off, you begin to see in the distance a pickup truck headed your way. It parks near you and you can plainly see on the back of the truck there are coolers filled with refreshing, cold water.
If you can imagine how wonderful that water would taste after a long day working under the summer sun, then you can imagine just how wonderful it will be when Rivers of the World (ROW) installs a well at the orphanage in Kinshasa in the Congo. Thirty-two orphans and 230 children at the school will finally have safe drinking water.
As wonderful as it will be to meet this physical need of water for these children, let me tell you about water that refreshes the soul instead of the body. We read in John 4:13-14 part of the conversation Jesus had with the woman at the well:
“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.’”
Just as our physical bodies need food and water daily for nourishment, so do our spiritual bodies. We must feed upon God’s word and drink in the presence of Jesus daily to keep the life-giving water of the Spirit flowing freely.
