I Was Thirsty — The Water Beneath Our Feet
Baldwin County, Alabama
Matthew 25:35 — “I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink.”
Current-Event Connection
Here at home, Baldwin County is still investing in infrastructure intended to make communities more resilient after Hurricanes Sally and Zeta. Current recovery projects include approximately $1.235 million for a water-line extension and replacement project through East Central Baldwin Water Authority, including aging and storm-damaged water mains, and $2 million for Fairhope's Fish River water expansion project.
Most of us turn on a faucet without thinking about what had to happen before that water reached our glass. Someone drilled the well, maintained the pump, repaired the pipe, tested the water, paid the bill, planned for growth and rebuilt infrastructure after storms.
Scripture Focus
Jesus used something extraordinarily ordinary—water—to describe obedience.
He did not say we had to solve every problem in the world. He said that when someone is thirsty, give them something to drink.
Reflection
Sometimes neighbor-love happens through ministries and churches.
Sometimes it happens through engineers, utility workers, public servants, emergency crews and taxpayers quietly maintaining systems that thousands of neighbors depend upon.
Christian service should teach us to notice what we normally take for granted.
Clean water is one of those things. A broken pipe may be an inconvenience to us. For an elderly person, a medically fragile neighbor, a family without transportation or someone with very little money, it can become a crisis.
Ask yourself: Do I notice the needs around me before they become emergencies? When a neighbor loses water, electricity or another necessity, do I simply thank God that my house is unaffected—or do I ask who needs help?
Jesus may someday ask us what we did with the blessings flowing from our own faucets.
WWJS — What Will Jesus Say?
Neighbor-Love Action
Learn how your community communicates boil-water notices and emergency water outages. Identify one elderly, disabled or isolated neighbor whom you could check on if water service is interrupted. And the next time you fill a glass with clean water, stop for a moment and thank God.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You for blessings so common that I sometimes fail to see them. Open my eyes to neighbors who do not have what I take for granted. When someone is thirsty, make me willing to give. Amen.
Comments