Have you ever seen grass grow on a roof? I have many times, especially back in Scotland. In the bleak countryside, you come across old derelict cottages, abandoned decades ago, which once housed a shepherd or a crofter and his family. There's usually no front door and all the glass windows are gone. Stone has fallen upon stone, and the harsh Scottish winters have weathered what was once a pretty cottage with a garden.

And then summer comes around. Wild flowers spring up all over the place - pink and white foxgloves, golden dandelions, beautiful bluebells and scarlet poppies. The place is transformed and there is even grass on the roof, edging its way around the slate tiles. The place has been abandoned by people, but the glorious Spirit of our Creator abounds. What was once forsaken, derelict, and lifeless has become an abundant theater of wildlife and beauty, diversity and color.

This happens to churches, too. A congregation can appear dead and dull, insignificant and abandoned, and then suddenly the Spirit of God touches the place, so that hearts and minds, lives and people become transformed, renewed and re-strengthened. New people enter the doors; new ministries are born; a new hope spreads through the entire congregation. Prayers are answered and lives are healed. Friends are reconnected to God, and once weary souls are refreshed and saved. All of them beautiful flowers in God's garden, which we call church.

This is what we should all pray for our churches - a creative showering of the Holy Spirit in worship and fellowship, ministry and mission, meaning and purpose.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the King of all Creation and we are blessed by Your mercy and grace. Transform our lives and renew our faith. Heal our past and strengthen our churches. Guide us and lead us on a new journey of faith that is exciting, fulfilling, and rewarding. In Your Holy Name, we expectantly pray. Amen.

Waterfall Living Water
By Dot Robinson

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
Psalm 42: 1-2a

Water is a powerful natural resource that is usually associated with sustaining and growing, life. It is a precious resource that we often take for granted. In the last days and hours of my father’s life, the only thing that he requested was water.

The Gospel of John, chapter 4 tells of an encounter that Jesus had with a woman who needed water. Jesus and his disciples had been traveling all day and stopped by a well in Samaria. A Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well, and Jesus asked her for a drink. Besides this being a very politically incorrect and socially unacceptable thing to do in that time, it was a life changing, life-giving encounter for the woman. Jews and Samaritans did not associate with one another, nor did men speak to women who had bad reputations, as this woman did. Yet, Jesus was there on a divine appointment.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me 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 asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water…Everyone who drinks of 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.”
John 4:7-10, 13-14

Water is the most basic life-giving resource. What does it take to grow a garden? Water, sun, and soil. What does it take to grow a Christian? Living Water, the Son, and a lump of clay called humanity. In our human state, we do “pant” for water to quench the thirst and nourish our bodies. Spiritually, all mankind thirsts for the Living Water, although many never realize what they desire. Sociologists and anthropologists say that all people of the earth have sought or created in their minds some form of higher power. The Romans and Greeks had pagan gods for every aspect of life. Ancient civilization ruins show altars for sacrificing and trying to please their gods. For Christians, all we have to do to find the Living Water is to simply ask for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to come into our hearts. Yes, we will still want our water to drink, but our souls will be continually refreshed.

I still wonder if subconsciously if my father was asking for the Lord to take him to the springs of living water that John later described:

Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water...
Revelation 7:16-17

Have you tasted the Living Water? Have you shared it with anyone lately?

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