What's Your Foundation?

"Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

God proclaims that through Him there is eternal life. However if we go after and pursue things of this world we will continue to feel a sense of emptiness, a sense that feels unsatisfactory to our everyday lives. As Christians don't we have tendencies to feel like we can run the world and take advantage of the grace card that God has set forth for us. The worst part is as humans we tend to believe that we know what is best for our lives, when truthfully speaking Christ is the one true and only person who can put a firm foundation for us to build upon. 

I can remember being on the beach as a child and trying to build a sand castle. I noticed though after the waves kept knocking it over, that what I needed was a firm foundation to build upon. A foundation that could withstand the test of any wave that came along. 

This concept is true with with our own faith walk. If we put materialistic things in a place of importance over our Savior, then already we are starting off with a poor foundation. In order to start out with a firm foundation in our faith, we must first be able to put aside things of this world, and instead go ahead and put what the word of God has put forth for us. 

As Christians we shouldn't be so careless to not allow God to take us out of our comfort zones, but instead go out into the world like it says in Matthew, making disciples of all nations. 

With the area of building wells in Africa, it is by no means an act that is full of self gratification, but an area in which others can be put ahead of yourself, allowing you to make a huge difference in another person's life. 

In my own life, coming to college and ever since about eighth grade I thought I wanted to go into full time ministry where I would then work with middle and high school students, hopefully leading them to know their Heavenly Father. The more college has progressed and the more I have experienced when it just simply comes to life, the more I am realizing now that God is pressing on my heart that I am not called to ministry in a church, but called to ministry by serving others. Now, I don't feel like God is telling me to become a missionary, but I genuinely believe that God is placing a calling on my life to work with a nonprofit (preferably something pertaining to the building of clean water sources) making videos that bring light to the present day circumstances.

From here I would have the opportunity and capabilities to then go to these places where many of these people may not even know Christ. Just by going into a needy village I would be able to show the love of Christ like Christ loved the church. 

Getting back to John 4, when it says towards the end of verse 14 about a spring of water welling up to eternal life, I imagine a group of people going into a place in need of fresh water and finishing the job. With the well coming to a completion stage, in the end I picture people from the village laying aside the metaphorical chains that may be holding them back and in turn accepting God into their lives. 

Like a well, building a foundation and faith in Christ takes some time. I love what C.S. Lewis says, "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

Wow! The idea that the person who created us as human beings wants to take our wretched hearts and in response turn them into his home. This is fantastic!

Don't be afraid to let God take the lead in your life, be a light for the world. All it takes is starting a foundation in His name. Maybe one day you will wind up building a well in Africa and having a life changing impact on a person in need. 

If that doesn't give you goosebumps, I don't know what will. If I can impact people for the rest of my life, not receiving any personal glory, but instead giving all the glory to Christ, then quite frankly no amount of money, no materialistic thing of this world will matter. 

Charity Water

In the last post there was an embedded video that explained the concept of walking distances to retrieve water. This video was related to an organization called Charity Water. Charity Water is a nonprofit organization located in New York. Their main concern is to bring clean water to places that do not have it. There are over 800 million people that go without clean drinking water on a daily basis. This is outrageous to think about when you consider how easy it is for us as Americans to literally walk to a faucet and have water dispensed at our disposal. To continue, Charity Water is not just building the wells, but they also like to make sure that people are actually well educated on the issue of clean water sources as well as the importance of water in a person's life. Charity Water's most attractive thing is the fact that they have promised the world that whatever money is donated to the charity will go directly towards funding in the field projects. This is great because many people when donating to a nonprofit organization do not truly know just how much of their money is actually going towards the cause at hand. In order for this goal of giving all the money towards the cause, Charity Water must rely on business people and philanthropists alike in order to make sure that their organization stays afloat. You might be wondering just who is the mastermind behind such a great organization. His name is Scott Harrison. Charity Water is currently hiring as well as looking for interns.