Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” – John 4:13–14 NKJV
We have had a very warm August in East Tennessee. Today I stepped outside and felt the intensity of the sun burning down on my T-shirt-clad shoulders. The only sounds were a few cicadas with enough energy left to call for a mate and one lone caw from a passing crow.
For a minute, I envisioned one of those scenes from an old Western movie. You know, the ones where a cowboy, out of water and staggering from the heat, sees a mirage in the distance.
It’s unbearably hot, and I can say that as someone who hails from Southwest Florida. My gigantic cup beckons me to have another drink. As I take a swig of water, I’m mentally calculating how much more I should drink. Day after day, I drink and count, count and drink. It never ends.
My imagination then carries me to the well in Sychar, where Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman who had come to draw water. She would drink that water and eventually need more, just as I do. She would return to the well again and again because physical thirst is never satisfied for long.
But Jesus offered her something different—water that would satisfy forever.
As I take another drink from my cup, I smile at the contrast. Tomorrow I’ll fill it again. And probably again after that. As long as I live in this body, there will always be another thirst to quench.
But the deepest thirst of my soul has already been satisfied.
Jesus offers living water, a spring within me that will never run dry. I don’t have to ration it, measure it, or wonder if I’ve had enough.
My body may keep saying, “More water, please.”
But my soul has found the Well.
Long walks and dark chocolate 