Drinking At The Spring Of Living Water

For the next few days in our area the highs will be around 100 degrees F.

That's no joke, folks.

Two people have already died from the excessive heat, and before it's all over there may be more. The not-for-profit agency for which I work is getting calls out the wazoo for fans, air conditioners, help with utility bills, and just plain HELP during this very tiny taste of hell on earth.

Since I work in a midtown area, many of the people who live close to our building are poor. Most live in high-rise apartments, many without air conditioning. Crime and drug use are both well-known in this part of town... almost as much as the poverty.

During the day, even though we run a benevolent organization, we keep the doors locked. Employees enter with electronic passes and take care to keep outsiders outside until we can ascertain their safety to the general population. Even at that, we've had to install a panic button at the receptionist's desk. People have been known to get loud and threaten violence, even though no one has been harmed as of yet.

Because of the great heat tempers tend to flare easily. Groups of men who congregate on the corner to converse will, at times, end up fighting. Worst case scenario, someone ends up dead. Drive-by shootings are a daily occurrence in this neighborhood. The temperature escalates everything, making it all worse.

This kind of heat is not our friend.

Today we decided to do something about it.

We put a tank outside the front door on the sidewalk. We filled the tank with ice and liter-sized bottles of water, then put up signs.

FREE WATER

BEAT THE HEAT WITH A FREE BOTTLE OF WATER!

HELP YOURSELF!

It was amazing.

Hot, sweaty people who walked by stopped and did a double take. They'd look around to see if anyone was watching, then they'd take a bottle, waiting to see if anyone was going to call them down for it. When nothing happened, a big smile came over their faces as they walked off.

Several people came by multiple times. Some people took five or six bottles of water each. Some of the kids on the corner used it to have a water fight and cool off. A metro bus stopped not once, but TWICE, outside our door to let people off to get a bottle and get back on. I later found that poor people sometimes ride the busses in hot weather just to stay cool. Kids on bikes came by. Workmen came by. Young people and elderly alike were able to quench their thirst. Delivery people cooled off with a cold drink.

Yes, there were those that took advantage. There always are. But that didn't dampen the joy we felt at being able to offer a little bit of relief to someone who needed it. In the end, we were able to help others...to show God's love. And that's all that matters.

So tomorrow, and as long as the heat remains in the triple digits, we plan to do the same thing. Because who knows? Some day they may thirst for more than the water in a bottle.

But this could be a start.

John 4:13-15
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks 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." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."