 What is a sprinkle of drops to the the weary wanderer? DANGER ‘Don’t go too close to that well,’ my mother yelled, as I ran up to my father leaning over to catch a bucketful of water he had just wound up from the depths of the well. He was bucketing water into a trough for our thirsty cattle. We were in a drought and water was scarce. I peered over the edge of the rickety boards around the lip of the well into the dark depths. ’Get back out of it,’ my father growled. I obeyed. My father continued to lift water by bucket, regardless of the danger of falling in and drowning himself. He had grown careless with continued use of winding the windlass up with a bucket full of water and letting the bucket free fall to the water. Watering the cattle took hours after a hard day’s work. When my father had finished watering the animals the well would be empty. It would take all night for the water to seep back in again and reach the water table, ready for the next day’s watering.  Thes fountain has nothing to offer but beauty. EMPTY WELL At the beginning of summer, the well had been brimming full and there was no indication that it was 60 feet deep. By mid-summer, the water level had dropped and my father was looking skyward, wondering when it was going to rain. It was always a struggle to get water. We never seemed to have enough of it. Every winter we had too much and every summer not enough. Water had to be carted from a bore several miles away in a tank for washing and drinking. Our cattle had to be driven to the bore over the miles maybe once a day if they were lucky. Water is the staff of life even as bread is. Are we aware of how little water is available in Australia? We are so careless of it in the cities. It is our right to have as much water as we want and even waste. How many people can we support in Australia on the amount of water that we have? So much of our nation is waterless, rendering the land un-useable. To enter the outback is to travel hundreds of miles without finding a drop of water.  The Pied Piper can only offer a shallow fountain. SAFEGUARDS Today when I think of that well I shudder with the horror of its danger, its seeming harmlessness and how easy it would be for me as a child to mistake its safety and drown. My parents were right to warn me but there were no safeguards around the well then as there is today with childproof fences around swimming pools and every dangerous piece of water.  The lake is deeper, it offers more to the thirsty traveler HAVE A DRINK
Jesus was hot and tired as he sat on the stone wall around the well and waited, the woman approached, hesitantly, ‘Do you want a drink?’ ‘Yes,’ Jesus replied, ‘do you want a drink?’ ‘No, I have just drank.’ ‘You will need a drink again when you get home,’ Jesus looked at the woman searchingly. ‘Follow me and I will give you water that satisfies inwardly. You won’t need to search for the water that I give, anymore.’ UNSATISFIED Ben & Sadie injected, they waited, the euphoria came and they gave themselves over to the drug. They drank deep of the experience. When they awoke they were in their squat, needing another fix to continue life in the euphoria. Ken drank in the sight of his dream car standing in the car yard. He yearned to experience of its powerful performance, to go places in it. He was never satisfied. He felt, if only –he could have that car he would be satisfied. Jason struck it rich – a gambling jackpot – but he wanted more, he was still wanted more money, power, satisfaction. He gambled his fortune way as his search for that satisfaction. He never experienced that contentment, that feeling of having arrived. What well are you sitting beside waiting to drink from and having drunk you want more and more? Is there a satisfaction to be found? Yes THE SEARCH IS OVER Why not sit beside the well of life offered by Jesus – don’t wait – don’t fear a drowning – just drink deep of the relationship offered by Jesus. ‘I am the Bread of Life. No one coming to me will ever be hungry again. Those believing in me will never thirst,’ he invited. Forever sitting beside your wells in the hope of having your dreams come true will never happen. Sit with Jesus, walk with him, and drink the same water as he does. Be satisfied.
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