the big gulp...

{day 2: devotion}

i'll never forget that day.  as long as i live. 

it was a sticky, hot, miserably humid july afternoon. 

i bounded out of the house in an emotional mess.  i headed straight for the rail trail.  i needed some space.  some hot asphalt under my feet to clear my head and make sense of my heart. 

i'd had a disagreement with a loved one.  the kind that leaves you spinning and searching and grasping for something to steady you. 

four miles later, upon my return to the car, i noticed the dad and his kids.  they were pulling a cooler.  laughing, chatting.  carefree.  i thirsted for that.

oh, how parched i was for that.

as our paths crossed, the dad asked a simple question.

'would you like a cold drink of water?'

it seemed a loaded question.  i pondered what kind of strings were attached.  his little girl opened the cooler and offered me an icy, cold bottle of water.

and just like that, they were gone.  bounding down the rail trail.  no doubt to spread the joy that oozed out of them.

everyday people try to hand you something to quench your thirst.  like a mirage in the desert, we drink the sand.  and continue searching for something to satisfy the dry, barren space in our soul.

these people promise total bliss if we just score the goal, bring home the win, buy the stuff, join the crowd, grab the guy or gal, journey down the wide road paved straight to destruction. 

empty promises, they offer. 

but God promises so much more.

for I will pour water on the thirsty land,
    and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
    and my blessing on your descendants.
they shall spring up among the grass
    like willows by flowing streams. 

Isaiah 44:3-4

i could hardly wait to get to my car and guzzle the cold water.  it wasn't until i was safe in my car that i saw the string attached.  i cried all the way home.  for i was no longer thirsty.  the bottle still sits on a shelf in my bathroom.  where it serves as a reminder each day to quench my thirst on the One who promises me a fountain of everlasting life. 

everyone who thirsts, come to the water

Isaiah 55:1

we are invited to satisfy our unquenchable thirst at the fountain of grace. 

jesus offered the same to the samaritan woman at the well.  she was an outcast.  a woman with many men.  rejected and hated.  yet, parched.  like us, she was seeking something to flood the desert of her soul.

instead, she found someOne. 

which well do you most often find yourself filling your bucket from? 

how might you begin to quench your thirst on the One who offers living water?

as the new school year looms on the horizon, how might you flood the dry land with His blessings?

may you plunge your cup deep into the well of living water.  may His truth quench the insatiable thirst of your soul.  may your soul drink only from the everlasting fountain of the One who poured out His cup for us.  may the fountain of living water bubble over from your heart, flooding the ground in which you journey.  and may all those you encounter long to drink the same.  amen.