We recently needed to make a pretty long drive hauling cattle. We had cattle headed to the North Dakota/Canada border and cattle headed back to MS from Canada, North Dakota and Arkansas! It was a long drive to make in under 72 hours!
We tried to be prepared. We had a water tank in the trailer, and after a certain number of hours, we gave all of us a break from driving! We stopped and gave the animals food and water and we had dinner as well. We had hay bags tied in the trailer for road snacking but feed and water had to wait for a lengthier stop. Husband filled buckets with water and allowed the cattle to drink what they wanted before we headed back out on the road.
When we got to our destination, and even when we returned home, the cattle looked great and were no worse for wear, even after the many, many hours on the road. We didn’t have to try and find water or chance that a water source was poor quality. We carried fresh feed, hay and water with us for the journey. As husband was filling buckets the first evening, and I was patiently waiting to eat dinner, God spoke. Are you carrying water? Do you have a supply for others or just enough for yourself?
Wow. What questions! Are you carrying water?
We had one animal on the trailer on the way up and 6 on the way home. We had enough water for all of them. We didn’t bring just enough, we had more than enough for the cattle.
In John 4, when Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman, she couldn’t understand how Jesus could give her water when he had no vessel to draw water from the well. But Jesus introduced her to the WATER SOURCE, the Living Water! Once she realized who He was, she ran off to share that water and give water to everyone she came in contact with! “Come and see a man!” she said. Jesus had, and is, the endless supply of water and He gave that to the Samaritan woman. She did what we should do, she went around splashing water on everyone she met!
Another instance comes to mind. In Luke 22:10, it refers to a man carring a pitcher of water. What an example of a disciple! Carrying water was considered the woman’s job, but this man, with readiness and OBEDIENCE, was carrying the water and when Peter and John followed Jesus’s instructions, they found the man in the road with the water, just as Jesus said. The man led them to a place of rest and refreshment because of his readiness and obedience. He was carrying the water!
Are you thirsty today? FIND HIM. He is the water source. He has a water tank that is big enough to meet the need. It will never run dry! Drink from Him. Fill your dry, thirsty soul from Him, not social media and sources that will run out.
But most importantly, are you carrying water?
Everywhere you go? Are you tapped into the source? See, our water tank on the trailer has a spigot. But we didn’t fill the buckets from that. There was short water hose that allowed us to fill the buckets easily and move the water to where it was needed. If your branch is attached to the vine, the source, then you and I simply become the water hose that can give the water to everyone and anyone! Anywhere! We are simply the vessel, the conduit!
May we all know the SOURCE, but may we all be the man carrying the water that a stranger, neighbor, friend, or family member meets in the street and has their need met! They receive the LIVING WATER, because we are CARRYING WATER!
