J-2: The eternal thirst quencher

Throughout history there has been many famous war ships.  There is the USS Missouri where Japan surrendered to end World War II. There is the USS North Carolina, famous within its own state. Then there are some that are famous for their size, such as the USS Nimitz. There is one ship that may be more infamous than famous, the USS Indianapolis. The USS Indianapolis departed San Francisco carrying the first atomic bomb. They arrived at their destination with few problems. After the package was dropped off they were instructed to meet up with a fleet of ships to prepare for an invasion of Japan...but they never arrived. July 30, 1945 they were torpedoed by a Japanese sub. The damage was so bad the ship went down in 12 minutes with 300 men and leaving over 900 in the water with nothing more than a life vest and a few rafts.

For 5 days these men drifted in shark infested water as they awaited a rescue.  During that 5 days the numbers dwindled quickly. While sharks got many of them, others simply died from dehydration. Here they were surrounded by water and couldn't drink it because the salt water would do more harm than good.

Last night I was reading through John and came across the story of the women at the well. At this well Jesus broke down social barriers by asking this women for a drink. It was there Jesus turned the need from physical to spiritual. While we don't know a lot about her background we do know she had been involved in many relationships and was in one at the moment. From one standpoint this woman was thirsting for something but constantly kept drinking 'salt water.' What she thought would satisfy a need just created more of a need and she kept returning to the same place over and over.

In this passage Jesus offered her 'living water.' Verse 4:13-14: 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. What makes it living, it is constantly being replenished.

How many of us are drinking 'salt water' instead of 'living water?' It may be constantly finding ourselves in bad relatioships...it may be constantly making destructive decisions...the fact of the matter is there is a thirst we are trying to satisfy. There is nothing on this earth that will satisfy...the only solution is what Jesus offers. It changed the life of an ostrized woman and it is still changing lives today.

For those have discovered the living water, I believe an awakening is taking place...there are many who spent their 20's and 30's doing what they've wanted and now they suddenly realize how thirsty they have become...these people are starting to return to the well...are we going to offer them 'living water' or are we going to send them away because they don't meet our 'social standards thus sending them back out into a world full of salt water.