On Water

Flushing the toilet- 1 bucket

Washing the dishes- 3 pitchers

1 load of laundry- 8 buckets

My entire outlook on water has changed significantly since living without pipes and faucets.  To be conscious of the fact that every drop I use I (or Brittany) have pumped and carried to our barrel makes me a much more conservative consumer.

 In short, water is on my mind a lot more these days. Especially today; as we are in dry season there have been days where the sky is gray and the clouds look heavy with water that never falls. The wind blows, it thunders, but no water comes.  The farmers continue to haul water from the nearest source to their fields by hand or wheel barrel, the dust continues to blow in the wind.

But yesterday, God gave us a gift; a beautiful rain. It has continued today. I put on my hoodie this morning! The wind howls, the rain pours, and it is magnificent.

I just started “Tempted and Tried” by Russell D. Moore and he is talking about Jesus’ temptation and the desert, he says

 The kingdom of God that the ancient prophesies announced is the opposite of a desert; it is like ‘streams of water in a dry place (Isa 32.2)……When the Spirit is poured out, the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest because justice will dwell in the wilderness (Isa 32:15)

It is my prayer that God’s Spirit would pour out here among this people as well; that they may drink freely from the River of Life and never again be thirsty. I pray that today’s surprise rain was just a faint shadow of the showers to come in this place.