March 2018 Monthly Letter
Dear Reconciler Family,
Experience the necessity of WATER!
Upon returning home from a trip with my wife, Jannice, I got a phone call from a neighbor who asked me if I knew I had a water leak. Of course, I had not known the bad news.
Jannice and I made it to the front of our house and there it was! Water was leaking and running down the street. It ran in four different directions: north, south, east and west. We felt rather helpless and called the plumber, who came rather quickly! While he spent several hours working to repair the leak, we collected enough water in containers to get us through the ordeal.
Finally, it was over and once again we were able to cook, clean, wash and bathe. This experience reminded us about just how precious water is! It’s so easy to take water for granted because we use it all the time. Sometimes we need a jolt to remind us of some of the precious things God blesses us with day and night. Things like waking up each morning, having a meal on the table, having a spouse or children to talk to and play with, and living in a country where we can practice Christianity without persecution. I realize this is not the case in every nation. We are sometimes reminded to pray for the persecuted churches around the world because Christians who reside there have a tough time trying to live out their Christianity.
Even Jesus needed water, just like every other human being. We remember the story of the Samaritan Woman in John 4:4-13: “Now He had to go through Samaria. So, he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given his son, Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to Him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman; how can you ask me for a drink? For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.”
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asked you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” He went on to reveal to her that He was the Christ, the Messiah! He was that Living water!
Jesus told her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but 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.”
Then she went back to her town of Sycha, told many people about her encounter with Jesus, and they became believers! Her message was simple: “I met a man who told me everything I ever did.” Later, when Jesus went to her town, many more came to Christ. They believed her testimony and said to her, “We know longer believe because you said so; now we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
May we all continue to drink thoroughly of the Living Water that Jesus pours down on us day and night through His love, His Holy Spirit, His Holy Word and every of other blessing that He gives us.
Blessings to All,
