Water-Nothing On Earth Can Live Without It! … Good morning weekend readers. If you are like many in our country, these past few days (and weeks) have been a test of water! From downpours to hail, snow, sleet—water is dropping and feeding a dry land; and also creating floods and other havoc as well. As I am writing this devotion, we just had 20 minutes of a downpour, sunshine, then 10 minutes of hail, sloppy snow and now sunshine-oi vey!

Let’s take a spiritual dive into water (OK, if you must go ahead and jump in your pool or the lake) because water is something all of creation needs to sustain life. Sadly we take water for granted, we waste it in so many ways until it’s not there, then we’re in trouble. In the Biblical text, water is mentioned a total of 722 times—more often than faith, hope, prayer, and worship! It doesn’t take long for water to be mentioned in Scripture. We read in Genesis 1:2 that “the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” In other words, water is such an essential component of life, it was created on the very first day!

Al and I and Moose—our LabraDane, went on an excursion this Tuesday—the only day predicted to have good weather up here in northern New Mexico. And gorgeous it was! Sunshine, interesting clouds, cerulean skies and a day of joy in God’s creation. We headed down to the Rio Grande River and then back UP to Forest Road 76 which takes us into the Carson National Forest UP to 11,947ft Cerro Vista Mountain in the famed Sangre de Cristo range which is one of the longest ranges on Earth. It stretches from Poncha Pass in Central Colorado to Glorieta Pass southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Sangres consist of ten 14,000-ft peaks and more than two dozen 13,000ft+ peaks.

The peaks were amazing but what captured our senses was the creeks and rivers. They were not just flowing—they were booming down the vertical slopes making sounds I never knew water could make! The froth of the water as it ping-ponged from trees to boulders was like a ballet dancer. I was thankful that I added extra batteries for my big-boy Sony camera because I was going to need it. As we kept going UP we saw more and more snow on the slopes and even some ice ledges on the Rito la Presa Creek that comes down from Cerro Vista mountain. Every turn was another “ah-ha” along the creek, with verdant green colors from trees to the grasses—nature was so happy with the gift of moisture.

I don’t remember how many pictures I took (a lot), so I turned the pics into a video with a background of musical rushing water! I want to remember this time where God heard our prayers and watered our dry and thirsty land. I put the video up on my website if you want to watch it: ontheroadchaplain.com.

Getting back to the spiritual part of water, here is a great quote from St. John of Damascus (c-676-7580): “Water, then, is the most beautiful element and rich in usefulness, and purifies from all filth, and not only from the filth of the body but from that of the soul, if it should have received the grace of the Spirit”.

I could feel that cleansing as I walked the sides of the roaring creek. Not only was there a power in the flow but also a power that sensed through me and touched my body, soul and mind. Then my thoughts wandered to the woman at the well when Jesus told her “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” [John 4:13 NLT]

This Scripture reminded me that Al, Moose and I spent a day with the living water of Jesus! How awesome and so much fun! What a gift we had right out in God’s incredible creation. And that is why I wanted to share this devotion because it reminds us of the life-sustaining gift of water. Nothing in all creation can live without it, and nothing in all creation can live without Jesus, either. If you are in a dry spell right now, take a moment to sit quietly and talk to Jesus; here you will find the refreshing water of life that only he can give you. He never holds back and his water never runs dry! AMEN.