If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me, and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” John 7:37b-38
“There she blows.” I was raised in the far-out suburbs of Jacksonville, Florida. We were country people but somehow, we got lumped in with the city. What happened was the powers to be decided to consolidate the county and the city so when you entered Duval County you also entered Jacksonville. By the way, that made Jacksonville the largest city in the United States with 840 square miles. I’m not sure why they did it, but it either had to do with more tax dollars or the Guinness Book of World Records.
So, like I said we were country folks. That meant a lot of room to run but few utilities. We did have electricity, but we were not connected to the city water or sewage system because there wasn’t any. So, we had a septic tank (and trust me I could write some stories about that) and a well to get our water. Since we lived in Florida the water table was high. I’m guessing you only had to drill 20 or 30 feet to hit water. So, sitting right in the middle of our back yard was this well and pump. It had (and I’m guessing) a 20-gallon tank and mounted on top of the tank was the pump part. It consisted of a motor and a “housing thingy” with an impeller in it that would draw the water up.
It really worked well…unless one of two things happened…one, the power went out or two, the pump lost its prime. If the water in the housing thingy drained out, then the impeller couldn’t pull the water up. The solution was usually simple. A person would have to go out to the pump, unscrew a plug from the top of the housing thingy, and slowly pour water in. To this day I can remember taking my hand and forming a small funnel over the hole and pouring the water in. The ole pump would whine, and the impeller would swish the water around and make a kind of groaning noise. Sometimes one pitcher would do the job and sometimes it was several. Eventually, though, the sound would begin to change, and you knew something was about to happen.
Water was on the way. As the impeller created suction, it would pull the water up out of the ground and when the air lost, and the water won…Katie bar the door! Suddenly water would come spewing out of that hole like a Texas oil well. Water went everywhere. It made you want to holler, “There she blows.” If it was summertime it was refreshing. If it was winter, it was cold…North Florida cold. Then you had to fight your way to the pump, find the plug and somehow, someway, get that thing threaded back in the hole. When you did, if you did, the water would then go into the tank instead of out the hole and you were back in business.
Now, remember I mentioned that “a person” had to go out and do this. Yeah, well, that was me. I don’t remember my sisters getting tagged for this job. Somehow it never was a girl job although sometimes it was a Momma job. Of course, Mommas must do all kinds of things. That’s what makes them special. To this day I can hear my Momma hollering, “Dewayne, the pump needs priming.” Sometimes I would pretend I didn’t hear her but that was risky business because you could end up in trouble.
I can also remember the thrill of when the pump caught the prime and water shot up into the air. Somehow it made me feel just a bit like a man and more than that, a man helping take care of the family. It was a good feeling. You don’t hear too much about priming the pump and things like that now. Technology has gotten better and not as many people have above ground pumps. But do you know what? I think sometimes we lose our prime…not in our pump…but in life. We make noise, and our impeller spins around in our housing thingy (that would be our hearts) but that’s it. We just can’t do what we were designed to do when we lose our prime. And, like the pump in my backyard, the only way to get the prime back is to pour some water in.
Jesus talked a lot about being the living water, the water of life. One time He told the people that if anyone was all dried up because of the hardness of life, they could come to Him and drink. He called it “streams of living water.” He even said the kind of water He would give would spew in their lives just like that old pump in the backyard spewed water in the air. And when it did, it meant that there was water to drink, water to wash, water to water the roses and water to live.
Maybe today you feel kinda dried up inside. Maybe this whole life mess, financial mess, and a bunch of other messes just have you feeling messed up—a bit like the Sahara Desert. If so, why don’t you try some of Jesus’ living water? Don’t drink the water of religion because that’s just sand…so is just doing better…so is keeping rules and starting this and stopping that. What Jesus offers is the real deal…like a cold drink of well water on a hot day. Why not sit in the shadow of His grace and love and rest a while? After all, He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 