Sometimes we forget what a blessing it is to be able to open a tap and have fresh, clean, cool water gush out. Many are not as fortunate.
I am often reminded of this on my trips into the more rural areas of Southern Africa. A 25 litre container and a several kilometre walk to the nearest muddy stream provide enough water to keep a household alive for another day.
This thought inspired our recent trip into Zambesi, one of the Northern provinces in Mozambique, on a well digging project. Grace Communion International has about 80 congregations in Mozambique, all rural, and none of the villages where the churches are situated have easy access to fresh water. Some of our congregations in Canada had very generously offered to finance this initiative in the hope of bettering the quality of life of our brothers and sisters in Mozambique.
Accompanied by two friends and trailers loaded with concrete pipes, we headed for Morrumbala, a small village north of the mighty Zambezi River where GCI Mozambique is establishing its headquarters.
Although we travelled for four days, slept alongside the road or in the front seat of the vans parked behind some remote service station, the incredible welcome we received when we finally arrived, accompanied by much singing and dancing in true African style, made the long trip all worthwhile. We collapsed exhausted into our tents!
Early the next morning, we three intrepid first-time well diggers arose, hoping beyond hope that we would be successful and be able to assist the village by providing them with easily accessible fresh water for the first time in their lives. Two sites were chosen, one directly in the village where Pastor Mariano Binzi (GCI National leader) lives, and the other on the GCI church property, which is on a crossroads and would provide many more locals with water.
Teams of diggers were assembled, the pipes unloaded, and digging commenced, with the local chief removing the first spade-full of earth.
Fortunately the ground was soft and sandy and the progress at first was rapid, with the diggers driven by the excitement of the project. As we progressed deeper, buckets were used to haul up the soil being removed, and further rings were positioned to protect the workers and the well from cave-in.
The diggers worked all through the day and well into the night, always hopeful and on the lookout for the first signs of water. Early the following day a cheer arose as the first well hit water. A few hours later we were doubly rewarded with water in the second well back in the village, just about 5m below the surface.
We departed three days after arriving, with one well completed and the second just requiring another half metre of deepening to increase the water supply. I knew that from then on, life in the village would never be the same again.
I couldnt help but think of the analogy that Christ used, of him being the source of living waters, and that those who thirst should come and drink of his eternal waters, and never thirst again.
The Holy Spirit, or gift that Christ offered to the Samaritan woman at Jacobs well is compared to a fountain of water (John 4:10).He imparts growth and gives life. Without a relationship with God, which is made possible through Christs sacrifice and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we remain spiritually dead and lifeless, living in much the same state as so many in Mozambique do. They survived from day to day, unaware that the amazing gift of water that was right there with them, but they just did not see it.
Next time you open your tap, give a thought to those who are less fortunate than you, and who dont enjoy free access to such an endless stream of living water! You will probably never have the chance to dig a well for somebody who needs life giving water, but there are many who thirst spiritually, and dont realise that Christ is at hand and they never need thirst again. Why dont you offer to show them the well of life, where they can drink and never thirst again?