You Never Miss the Water...

…Until Nothing Comes Out of the Faucet!

Mother’s Day seemed to call for a tribute to my 94-year-old mother. Yet she has decried too much written about her in my blog postings. She was bailed out by WATER woes this year.

                Mother and I were reminded of the absolute need of water this week. Almost four inches of rain fell within an 8-day period.
                In the middle of the week, I arrived at the house with the announcement of a new baby calf. Before I could get my news out, Mother lamented, “I hate to burst your bubble, but we have no water.”

                That unsettling news set me on the course of tracking the problem and seeking a solution. Mother suggested I call Jim Binkley, the water well expert in the Bend. Then I lugged the old sump pump down to the water well location. I dared not drive the pickup to the well for fear of getting stuck in the mud. Soon I had the sump pump extracting water out of the below-ground well house. 

Jim Binkley - His wife, Sharon, even
fixed lunch for Steven, Cade and Tim!

                Leaving it to pump, I walked into the house ready to apprise Mother of the situation. The phone rang and Jim’s wife, Sharon, said he was on the way over.

Rick and Cailea 

                Jim brought his friend and neighbor, Bill Bledsoe. Rick Rice and his granddaughter, Cailea stopped, too. The three men, with over 150 years of collective experience in their fields of expertise, drew the conclusion that the water well pump needed to be turned off, but the sump pump needed to be running. An upgrade needed to be engineered before any further progress could be made.

Bill Bledsoe - from the digital photo collection of
Delores Ratliff Bledsoe

                I lamented not making it to Kids Club at the church that evening but the team I work with each week was so compassionate and understanding. Mother had managed the previous few hours without water – even doing dishes. So I zipped to Vonda and Greg Goad’s home to load up jugs and old ice cream containers with water. Mother’s saved. recycled containers came in handy – finally.

                Jim called to say we’d get the parts and “get online” tomorrow. Mother and I thanked the Lord for people – people who cared, shared, and were willing to help. We expressed thanks that the temperature was moderate so we were not trying to water cattle at the livestock tank. We thanked Him that good was going to come from the water well problems.

               Jim arrived early the next morning with some new concerns and ideas. Ingeniously, Jim used his 12-volt sump pump to get some of the water out and called Steven Kizziar, owner of Roper Company (left top). Within the hour, Steven arrived with Cade Cox (left bottom) and Tim Roberts (left middle). Soon Jim’s 12-volt had pumped down the flooded well enclosure so Steven could diagnose the need for a pressure switch and a few other minor repairs. To Mother’s delight, her water pump did not have to be replaced. Angie and I were pleased for the new electrical receptacle mounted outside on the pole, guaranteeing much easier and safer access.

           Once again, Mother was reminded of why she chooses to live in the Bend. Many people helped us with our water woes. The Bible extols the benefit of neighbors who eagerly help.  The verse in Proverbs 27:10 illustrates this:

Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

                As so often in our lives, God desires to reveal even more of Himself each day in our everyday happenings. I thought back to a woman considered an outcast based on her background, her life choices and her own self-deception, but she encountered Jesus at a water well. His interest in her surprised the woman. Just as Mother and I were reminded this week, the woman knew the value of water. Then we read in John 4:14 –

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. For my gift will become a spring in the man himself, welling up into eternal life.”

                 We are reminded, just as the woman at the well, our spirits need the water of life spoken of by Jesus even more than our bodies must have the hydration of water, . The gift of Jesus flows within His followers hydrating our souls. How wonderful to have water running from our faucets! Yet what thankfulness we have for the thirst-quenching water of life that Jesus brings into days when life's events leaves us parched, drought-stricken. May we share the "living water" each day just as Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

Lord, may we allow Your living water that you have given us to flow readily into the lives of those we love. Let those we meet casually throughout our day receive the refreshment of Your living water from encountering us. Most of all, may our love for You flow back to You, encased in obedience prompted by our grateful hearts.