Our family is on the downhill stretch of preparing for my daughter Ruth’s wedding. There are still last minute tasks, but we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Ruth’s had several nice showers, and we’re grateful for the generosity and kindness of so many people. Recently, my two older daughters, Rebecca and Rachel, were home to co-host a shower on the north side of Atlanta.
On Sunday morning, we took Rachel back to the airport in plenty of time to find her way and allow for delays. She checked in online and printed her boarding pass, and I even called the toll-free line to confirm her information.
Her flight was on time, and her gate was B-1. She made it through security fine, made her way to B terminal and walked all the way to the end to gate 1, and no one was there. Completely empty.
So Rachel found someone to ask, and this agent said, “It’s T-1.” Rachel took the moving sidewalk, jogging along, carry-on bag in tow, while she backtracked to T-terminal.
By now, time is getting tight. She hurried all the way to the end of T-terminal, found gate 1, and it was completely empty. This was now beginning to look not so good.
Rachel found another agent, who again checked the data, and said, “It’s T-7.” So she ran to T-7, and her flight was boarding. By now, she was sweating, winded, stressed, and especially thirsty. She decided she had time to walk over to the shop across the way and buy a soda. Rachel didn’t realize that the soda was frozen, and when she opened it, it spewed all over her.
She took a couple of gulps, threw it away and boarded her flight. They got airborne, and the flight attendants started cabin service. Rachel was parched and couldn’t wait for the cart to get to her. She had to have some water.
The flight attendants made it through three rows when the captain came on, announced turbulence ahead, and told the flight attendants to take their seats. That was that. She was finally able, over an hour later, to satisfy her thirst when they got on the ground.
How are you attempting to satisfy your thirst? God created within us a thirst, or desire, or void. Some folks attempt to quench this thirst with a career, a person, a sport, a hobby, a bank account or something temporal to fill this void. But they can’t find that sense of satisfaction.
In John 4 is recorded a famous conversation that Jesus had with the woman at Jacob’s well. Jesus journeyed through Samaria and arrived at the well in the heat of the day. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus engaged her in a conversation.
He said, “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 4:13b-14).
In contrast to the water in Jacob’s well that temporarily quenches our physical thirst, Jesus gives water that once and for all will quench our spiritual thirst. The source of this water is Jesus Himself, a constantly flowing fountain of spiritual nourishment.
So the ultimate answer to, “What satisfies our thirst?” is a relationship with Jesus Himself, who said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10b).
Is living water what you’re thirsty for?
Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church. The church family invites you to join them this Sunday for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m. Their annual Spring Fling is Saturday, April 17, 2-4 p.m.
