Letters From Grandpa #41
- LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
- 41
Dearest Grandchild,
Today’s letter will deal with “water”. That’s right, just “water”. Something we deal with and depend upon every day, but seldom stop to think about.
Let us begin with a couple of Scriptures. Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well about water. There are obviously some spiritual lessons we can learn from physical things. Jesus told her: "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." (John 4:13-14)
Later Jesus gave a similar message at the Feast of Tabernacles. He said: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39)
Here are a few things to think about regarding physical water.
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It is the only natural substance found in all three physical states at the temperatures that naturally occur on Earth. You have all seen water as a liquid like a river, a gas like steam, and a solid like ice.
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Water is H20. It is formed from hydrogen and oxygen, both of which are flammable, yet water can be used to put out fires.
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The amount of water that God created has never changed. Though it has been recycled many times, the amount remains constant. Thus, when you drink a glass of water, you could be drinking some of the same molecules that passed through the lips of Jesus.
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About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water. About 96.5 % of earth’s water is in the oceans, but it also exists in the air, rivers, lakes, and icecaps.
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About 60 % of your body is water.
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Water has the amazing characteristic of expanding when it freezes. When swimming in a lake you will note that the coldest water is the deepest. Yet, when water freezes it expands and rises to the surface. That’s why ice forms on top of the lake. If it were not so, rivers and lakes would freeze solid and fish and other creatures that live in water could not survive. The force of water freezing and expanding, as you know, is so powerful that it can bust an engine block in your car or water pipes in your house.
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Water has been called the universal solvent. It can dissolve chemical substances, salts, alcohol and organic acids. When oil bubbles into the oceans from fissures in the earth, as it does all the time, the ocean can dissolve it without any intervention by man.
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In a previous letter we pointed out that when Mt. St. Helens erupted, water carved out huge
canyons in only a few hours. The power of water to cut through rocks is now used by industry. As unbelievable as it sounds, high pressure water can cut through marble, granite, plastic, wood, and even stainless steel.
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Water also has the amazing ability to defy gravity through capillary action. This is what enables water to be sucked up by a paper towel. It also helps to explain how a redwood tree that is 300 feet tall can have water in it’s highest leaf.
While this list can easily be expanded, let us try and make some practical application of these amazing facts to the “spiritual water” about which Jesus spoke. A human can survive for several weeks without food, but not nearly so long without water. Because water is essential to our survival, God created the sensation of thirst to help us stay healthy. When you loose body fluids, you get “thirsty”. The average person on a normal day needs to drink 8 glasses with 8 ounces of water. This is known as the 8 x 8 rule and is easily remembered. While doing heavy work on a hot day, however, you will need more.
Jesus observed that when we drink physical water we will “thirst again”. The water Jesus gives, however, is different. Instead of diminishing, it increases. It is like a “spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14). The same imagery is found in Jn. 7:37 - 39. In this passage Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would like “streams of living water” flowing from within.
Not far from here in southwestern Missouri is the Roaring River State Park. The park gets its name from a river that roars right out of a limestone cliff. It’s average daily flow is an impressive 26 million gallons If you want to visit this river you do not have to call ahead to make sure it will be flowing. This river does not need to be encouraged or paid to perform. If you wanted to stop it, I don’t know how you would do it. How beautifully this describes people with the Holy Spirit.
The following tribute to the people of God is taken from the song, “The Church Triumphant” by Bill and Gloria Gaither:
“God has always had a people! Many a foolish conqueror has made the mistake fo thinking thadt because he had forced the church of Jesus Christ out of sight that he had stilled its voice and snuffed out its light, but God has always had a people.
The powerful current of a rushing river is not diminished because it is forced to flow underground. The purest water is the stream that bursts crystal clear into the sunlight after it has forced its way through solid rock.
There have been charlatans, who like Simon the Magician, sought to barter on the open market that power which cannot be bought or sold. God has always had a people! Men who could not be bought, and women who were beyond purchase. Yet, God has always had a people.
There have been times of affluence and prosperity when the church’s message has been nearly diluted into oblivion by those who sought to make it socially attractive, neatly organized, and financially profitable. It has been gold plated, draped in purple, and encrusted with jewels. It has been misrepresented, ridiculed, lauded and scorned. The followers of Jesus Christ ahave been, according to the whim of the times elevated as sacred leaders and martyred as heretics. Yet,
through it all there marches on that powerful army of the meek, God’s chosen people, who cannot be bought, flattered, murdered, or stilled. On through the ages they marches, the church, God’s church triumphant, alive and well!”
The Bible word for “power” is “dunamis” from which we get our English word “dynamo”. Just as man found new power by harnessing animals he also found greater power by harnessing the power of water. The world's first hydroelectric power plant began operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin on September 30, 1882. It was later named the Appleton Edison Light Company in honor of Thomas Edison’s great contributions made by electricity. Coal and diesel dynamos are in constant need of more fuel, but a river provides a never ending source of power.
Please consider Paul’s prayer: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Eph 3:16-21)
I too join with Paul in praying for the power of God to be manifest in your lives.
I love you,
Grandpa Boyce