Come to the Well

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“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.” Revelation 22:17 NLT.

Let us just settle one thing at the very beginning: you do not have to “get good” to “get God”!

It just doesn’t work that way. And we can be so thankful that it doesn’t! We don’t have to work at our salvation. It is a free gift. We have to accept it. We have to Come…

Casting Crowns recorded a beautiful song, “The Well”, and the first verse is the story of so many:

“I have what you need, but you keep on searching

I’ve done all the work, but you keep on working.”

There we are, out there looking for the answers, doing all the work that has already been done at Calvary! He has paid the price, it is finished. Come…

Now look at the rest of that verse:

“When you’re running on empty

And you can’t find the remedy

Just come to the well.”

You’ve looked everywhere, exhausted all of your resources, but still you can’t find the remedy, the cure, the tonic, the right medicine to calm the ache inside. Come…

“Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” …The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”

“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? …Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.  But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

“Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” John 4:7-15 NLT.

The woman at the well was the same way. She was a woman with a past…five husbands and the one she was living with was not her husband.

She finds Jesus sitting at the well. At this meeting Jesus breaks three Jewish customs. First, He spoke to a woman, second, she was a Samaritan woman, and third He asks a Samaritan woman to get Him a drink. This would have made Him ceremonially unclean by using her cup or jar. She was so surprised by His request!

She met Jesus unexpectedly. She even came at the wrong time. She purposely came in the heat of the day to avoid the other women and their stares.

But He doesn’t condemn her. He offers her living water and eternal life! Come…

“And all who thirst will thirst no more
And all who search will find
What their souls long for
The world will try but it can never fill
So leave it all behind
And come to the well”

The woman who was caught in the act of adultery was brought to Jesus by a crowd who was expecting her to be tried and convicted. But Jesus surprised them all when He said first to the crowd, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Then He said to her, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.” John 8:7, 11 KJV.

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Come…

“So bring me your heart, no matter how broken
Just come as you are, when your last prayer is spoken”

The sins of the woman at the well and the woman caught in adultery were not ignored or overlooked by Jesus. They were forgiven. Forgiveness is waiting for us when we are ready to confess and forsake our old life and walk in newness of life with Christ.  We cannot clean up our lives without the help of Almighty God. We must turn from our sin but we cannot do that on our own, we need His help, we need salvation.

Do not keep saying to yourself, “Once I get everything fixed in my life I will come to the Lord.” It will never happen. That is a trick of the enemy; he loves to deceive people in that manner.

Remember, you cannot get good to get God!

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“Just rest in my arms a while
You’ll feel a change, my child
When you come to the well”

Come…

What a relief and a weight will be lifted from your shoulders! The woman at the well couldn’t wait to share the news! “The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?’ So the people came streaming from the village to see him.” John 4:28-30 NLT.

The lyrics at the end of the Casting Crowns song are so good. This list of things that you can be rid of for the rest of your life when you “Come…”

Your pursuit of perfection (leave it all behind)
Your fear of rejection (leave it all behind)
Your temporary pleasures (leave it all behind)
All your earthly treasures (leave it all behind)
Dried up empty religion (leave it all behind)
Rusty chains of addiction (leave it all behind)
All the guilt that weighs you down (leave it all behind)
Just leave it all behind and come to the well 

What are you waiting for?

15 Fun Facts for Father’s Day!

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When you’re young, you think your dad is Superman. Then you grow up and you realize he’s just a regular guy who wears a cape. ~ Dave Attell

15 Fun Facts for Father’s Day!

Father’s Day is celebrated around the world, although not always on the third Sunday in June as we do here in the USA. Enjoy some fun trivia about the day itself and Father’s in general! Happy Father’s Day to all of our Dads!

Kyle and NorahA special Happy Father’s Day to my son, Kyle, who is celebrating his very first Father’s Day because of our miracle, Norah Jayne.

  1. In the country of Thailand, National Father’s Day is also the King’s birthday. They celebrate by setting off fireworks and committing acts of charity, such as donating blood and setting free animals who were captive.
  2. Did you know that the male seahorse is the partner that carries the eggs and births the babies? Say what?!
  3. The song by Stevie Wonder, Isn’t She Lovely, is all about his newborn daughter, Aisha. If your hearing is good and you listen closely, you can even hear her crying on the recording.
  4. Things are a bit different now with cellphones but Father’s Day used to be the busiest day of the year for COLLECT phone calls.
  5. The birthplace of the official Father’s Day is Spokane, Washington. Sonora Dodd wanted to honor her father who raised her when her mother died during childbirth. June was his birth month.
  6. There are more than 70 million dads in the U.S.
  7. In 2014, consumers spent $19 billion on Mother’s Day and $12.5 billion on Father’s Day.Happy Father's Day
  8. There are more than 214,000 stay-at-home dads in the United States.
  9. Females spend 50% more on gifts for their dads and husbands than men do.
  10. Kids who lived in a home without a father make up 63% of youth suicides in the U.S
  11. The word “dad” was first recorded in 1500 but is likely much older than that. It probably comes from the first sounds that a child makes and is similar around the world. In Welsh it is tad, Irish it is daid, tata in Greek, and tete in Lithuania.
  12. The official flower for Father’s Day is a rose. You wear a red one if your father is still living and a white one if your father is deceased.
  13. Number One gift for Father’s Day is still the necktie!
  14. And finally, it is noted that one of the oldest “Father’s Day Cards” was made by a boy named Elmesu more than 4,000 years ago. A clay tablet, found by archaeologists in Babylonian ruins, had a message on it from the son telling his father he wished for him good health and a long life.

Poppy and NorahNot to leave out The Sweetheart…you knew I wouldn’t. He is celebrating his first Father’s Day as Poppy. God is good! Now, fire up the grill, dust off the lawn chair, and make sure you tell your Father how much you appreciate him!

 

Leaving the 99

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#FiveMinuteFriday! Yay for the weekend! But first, let’s look at today’s word prompt…lose. There are many others writing on this same word at Kate’s, check it out!

I’ve lost a few things in my 54, soon-to-be-55-senior-years, on this earth. My most treasured loss was my engagement ring set. I was devastated. Sure that it had dropped down into our People Lounger couch, circa 1985, The Sweetheart turned it upside down and inside out trying to recover something that wasn’t necessarily worth tons of money but meant everything to me. After he had exhausted that thought, I remembered it could have went down the bathroom drain…at the time we lived in a small ranch and that meant crawl space which also meant spiders and who knows what underneath that house. But spiders do not stop a superhero, so away he went. Again, to no avail.

Thirty years later and two replacement rings, we have never recovered the original.

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10).

In this familiar story, a woman loses money, of which she likely had little, and turns everything upside down to find it. I have read somewhere that the windows in the houses were just small slits, if there were any at all, so it would have been dimly lit, even in the middle of the day.

But she does find it and she is so overjoyed that she rushes out to tell her friends of her good fortune.

Our God told that parable so we would remember His great love for us. If there is one of us lost, one that is astray, even though His house may be full…He will leave the 99 and go after the 1 just as He did in the parable of the lost sheep. 

leaving the 99

 

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Luke 15:1-7

  • Who could we go after today?
  • Do we know someone that has suffered a loss?
  • Do we know of someone who IS lost, who doesn’t know Christ?
  • How about a friend that is discouraged or weighted down with worries?

Will we take the time to leave our 99…our comfort zone where everyone is just like us…and take a risk to reach to the downhearted or possibly the downcast?

Help us, Lord, to be aware of those around us that You have put in our path, there are no accidents, only opportunities to share Your love. In Jesus’ name prepare my heart to love those that You love, to reach for those that are unloved and to realize I was lost too and someone reached for me.

Jesus left the 99 just to retrieve 1. Will we do the same?

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