The Mawakasunga family has just sat down at the supper table.  All three of them bow their heads to pray the blessing: 

BLESS OH LORD, THESE THY GIFTS, TO OUR USE, AND US TO THY SERVICE.  HELP US TO BE EVER MINDFUL OF THE NEEDS OF OTHERS,  FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, AMEN.

“Well, it looks like my next trip over is shaping up for April.” said Mr. Mawakasunga as he scooped up some salad.  “The village to the east of where we were last year is ready to start.”

“Would you please pass the potatoes dear.” said Elizabeth’s mommy.  “And YOU need to take some salad.” she added to her daughter.

“There are over 1000 people in this village.’ he continued.  “My brother has met with them and some of the equipment has already been ordered.  My company will have it shipped over next week.”

“Is this the village where Naomi’s family used to visit?” she asked. 

“Yeah.” he answered as he took some mashed potatoes.

Elizabeth is used to hearing her father talk about water projects in Tanzania in Africa.  You may also have heard about these kinds of water projects in Sunday School, when you collect money for wells there!

In the Bible lesson this morning there is a story about a woman who walks to a well everyday to get her daily jug of water.  Back in those days, 2000 years ago, there were no sinks or indoor toilets or bathtubs or dish washers or garden hoses. People needed to dig very deep wells and they lowered a bucket down into the well for water.  Then they pulled the bucket up to the surface and carried it all the way home, often for long distances.  It was usually the job of the women and girls to carry the water.  This was way back in Bible times.

And yet, here in 2008, there are still many, many, many places where women and children still need to carry water every day.  That is the case in Tanzania, in Africa, where Elizabeth’s cousin Martin lives.  Elizabeth’s father is a water engineer and every year he donates his time to build  a well for one more village to have a water system that brings clean and safe water much closer to home.  No running water in sinks and toilets and bathtubs and such, but the public water spigots throughout the streets of the village are a wonderful improvement. 

In this way, Mr. Mawakasunga and his brother are ‘ever mindful of the needs of others’, remember the blessing before supper?  HELP US TO BE EVER MINDFUL OF THE NEEDS OF OTHERS.

“Do you think I can go with you this year?” asked Elizabeth.  She only went to Martin’s village one time and it was so beautiful and fun.  “I really, really want to go see Martin again!”

“We’ll see.  It is a lot of school to miss.” her mother told her.

We must have water to live.  But because it is so easy for us to get water, we forget how important it is.  Water is important to the people in the villages across the world where women and girls still carry it every day. 

And water was important to the woman at the well in the Bible story.  When Jesus told her that He could give her LIVING WATER maybe she thought it would be like running water in her house so she could have a bathtub and a kitchen sink. 

However, the LIVING WATER that Jesus talks about is a different water.  It is a water that that we can not see but it satisfies our thirst for God.  There is no water project in the world that can dig a well and find LIVING WATER. 

I think what Jesus was telling that woman at the well so long ago is that, of course you need water for every day, but you also need God every day.

When we get thirsty, we can get a drink of regular water.  When we are thirsty for God, he sends Jesus to bring us LIVING WATER to satisfy the thirst of our Spirit.

THE END

Printer friendly copy of this story