Where Hubby and I live everyone in our neighborhood is on a shared community well. A small local water company manages the well and all the systems involved in our neighborhood water supply.
When we first moved into our home in the forest, hubby and I were curious where the water tank associated with the well was located … so we set out to explore and find our community water tank.
Voila! Now doesn’t that make you feel warm and fuzzy about the water you are drinking. Ha!
The water tank is located in a far back corner of the neighborhood, tucked off a seldom used gravel road.
The last few years our community well has been failing the routine water testing … particularly in regards to coliform being found in the water.
So … something has to be done.
Just last week hubby and I received an email from the small local water company which manages our water system. It stated:
“Due to several unsatisfactory coliform test results over the past few years, the Department of Health has required the installation of a disinfection treatment system. This system will go online tomorrow.”
(Now doesn’t that make you feel all warm and fuzzy about the water you’ve been drinking. Ha!)
The email continued …
“What the water consumers should expect during this time:
** Noticeable Chlorine Taste and Odor
– What to expect: A mild “swimming-pool” taste or smell.
– Why it happens: Chlorine is added to neutralize bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens.
– Is it safe? Yes. Levels used in drinking water are well below health limits.
– How long it lasts: Often strongest during the first days to weeks after startup, then becomes less noticeable as the system stabilizes.”
They weren’t joking!
Now, whenever we take a shower, it smells overpoweringly like swimming pool chlorine! When I turn on the faucet to rinse out the hummingbird feeder … it smells like swimming pool chlorine!
The email continued …
“What the water consumers should expect during this time:
** Improved Microbial Safety
– Primary benefit: Chlorination significantly reduces the risk of waterborne illnesses (such as E. coli, Giardia, and viruses).
– Residual protection: Chlorine remains in the water as it travels through pipes, protecting it from contamination until it reaches your tap.”
All of this got me thinking about how Jesus said that he was Living Water.
“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.” – John 7:37-39
In speaking to the Samaritan woman at a well, Jesus said: “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.” – John 4:14
This conversation occurred at a well. Makes me wonder if there was coliform in this well where Jesus sat and chatted with the Samaritan woman.
In both verses, Jesus is making a bold statement about Living Water flowing out of people.
The email notice from our small local water company, concerning our community well, stated: “Primary benefit: Chlorination significantly reduces the risk of waterborne illnesses (such as E. coli, Giardia, and viruses).”
E. coli is a living organism. According to Google, E. coli is a bacterium capable of growth, reproduction, metabolism, and responding to its environment.
Just because E. coli is a living organism in the water … this does not mean the water is Living Water. On the contrary, E. coli in the water would mean there is “death” in the water. The water does not give life and flourishing, but rather the water (with living organisms in it) causes disease and possible death.
Is Giardia a living organism? No. According to Google, Giardia is a microscopic, flagellated protozoan parasite. Giardia in the water does not give life and flourishing, but rather disease and possible death.
Are viruses living organisms? According to Google, viruses are not living organisms because they cannot produce their own energy or reproduce independently; they rely entirely on a host cell for these functions.
Both viruses and Giardia rely on a host to do their destructive work to the host. They use something that is living and destroy the life in it.
It brings to my mind Jeremiah 2:13 where God says: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
God himself is Living Water.
Jesus Christ is Living Water.
The Holy Spirit is Living Water.
Living water which will bring life and flourishing to our soul. Living water which will bring life and flourishing to our emotions, our thoughts, our mental processes, our spirit within us.
Living water which has no contaminates in it at all. Living water which has no harmful living organisms, no parasites, no viruses in it at all.
Clean, fresh, pure living water.
Our soul was created by God to need “water.” There is a lot of “water” out there in our world which is not healthy “water.” Our social media newsfeeds pour out “water” which is not healthy. Current events and headlines pour “water” over our soul which is not healthy.
Loud voices and influencers pour out “water” for our soul which is not healthy. “Water” which is full of “parasites” (so to speak). “Water” full of “viruses” needing a host to feed off of.
If we “drink” in this “water” … we will not be emotionally healthy. We will become very sick mentally.
“Those who turn away from you God will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.” – Jeremiah 17:13
Our soul was created by God to need “water.” Our soul needs God – the Living Water.
God says: “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit [the Living Water] on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” – Isaiah 44:3
In the end, when time ceases and everything as we know it comes to its final conclusion, God will forever eradicate all “water” which is destructive. All unhealthy “water” which is now being poured out over our souls will forever be done away with!
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
“And I head a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
“’He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” – Revelation 21:1-4
“He [Jesus Christ] said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To whoever is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.’” – Revelation 21:6
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb [Jesus Christ] down the middle of the great street of the city.” – Revelation 22:1-2
It behooves each of us to examine the “well” of our own soul. We must each perform a “water” test on our own soul. What kind of “water” is in the “well” of our soul? What kind of “water” is coming out of our life?
Is kindness pouring from our life?
Is joy pouring from our life?
Is love pouring from our life?
Is compassion pouring from our life?
Is forgiveness pouring from our life?
Or is there evidence of “parasites” and “viruses” in the “water” which is pouring out of our life? Are the words that we speak (pouring “water” over others) full of soul “E. coli”? Are our words pouring out harm and destruction?
Is there contamination in the “well”?
