Tuesday, April 30, 2013

They drank up all my water!




I had just finished a time consuming job of weed- whacking when looking up and to my surprise, visitors were coming to see me! It was June, a new friend whom I had met a few months before and her brother, Gus. How delightful! 

I called to my sister to come and greet them. We visited with them for a few minutes and expected them soon to leave, being that they came at a later hour in the evening. June is not normally prone to long visits, but, strangely, today they were in no mood for leaving- or hint taking either.

After some time, my sister went inside and I was left to entertain them. Southern hospitality dictated that I could never be a rude hostess and make them leave, so we continued in one another's company. Eventually, they seemed to stop paying much attention to what I was saying. They became distracted and probing with their expressions as if looking for something... I quickly realized what it was. Dear, dear I had been a rude hostess and not offered them water! Seeing that, they decided to take matters into their own -eh ehm "hands". Catching a glimpse of a nearby container with water in it, they simultaneously darted to it, and very discourteously drank it all up! 

Realizing  their desperate need of water , I quickly ran to the hose and turned it on so they could drink freely  Gus drank, and drank, and drank. He was so absorbed in drinking that he bit me and the end of the hose!
I am sure you have never experienced any of these type guests, or at least I hope not! 

While writing about this, I remembered that on a previous visit from June, she received water. She must have gone home and told her brother about the free water source she had here. Maybe this was reason she brought her brother . She wanted him to come so he too could satisfy his parched snout on their regular explorations (you can probably guess what type of visitors I had).  

This experience reminds me a lot of a story about Jesus and a woman at a well in her town in Samaria. Jesus realized that she was very thirsty too. Not thirsty for water that she could find at the town well, but a type water that satisfies thirst for life. What is this type of water? Jesus says that He is that water. He is the only one that can satisfy the drought and emptiness of our lives that we try to fill with stuff that seems to make us happy but in the end we still feel thirsty.  He will give us all the water that we need. How do we drink this water? Once again, we must spend time with Jesus. When talking to Jesus, reading about Him and asking Him to be in our hearts, He fills us with His wonderful water- water that never runs outs!

That woman did the same thing as June. Once she found out where to get this wonderful water, she ran home and told her friends and family about it!

Let's be like June and share Jesus, the true source of water.

~Joi







Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Press Forward and Look Up!

It was an exciting time in my neighborhood. At the tiny regional airport, not more than seven minutes from my house, our town welcomed many G5s and other size jets.  Not many planes come and go from this airport. If there are any, they are normally small training planes. So this was a rare occurrence.
Last week, in a larger city near my home, there was an event that brought many of these jets to our small airport.

 I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I absolutely LOVE flying and would like to be a pilot. With jets landing and taking off so close, I was ecstatic! The sound of them flying low over the house is quite thrilling. The excitement, surprisingly, even made someone (like my mom), who hates flying want to get in a jet and fly (that's an achievement)!

Last week, my eyes were constantly in the air scanning for the next jet overhead. I was continually running outdoors to see the next jet. I went to the airport many times to watch the jets land, get fueled and take off again. I was determined to see as many as I could. It was a spine-tingling, eye- popping, and literally an ear -popping experience.

 I was up-close and personal.

While keeping my eye on the sky, I knew there are things I must to do here on the ground before I can fly with a license. It is important to know the basics of flying. Without these basics, there would be a huge problem! I am currently taking online ground school flight lessons. The process is a bit tiresome and sometimes hard to understand. I just want to get in the air!

After a week-long of seeing many jets I realized that if I ever want to fly, I have to really buckle down, and get to work. All the watching encourages me, but I need to complete the training or else...
So I keep pressing forward with my studies so I can be up there too. The end goal is not that far off.

I am reminded that I am looking to the sky for something else- something a gazillion times as exciting...  I am looking forward to Jesus' coming and am expecting Him to come very soon. God has given us our ground school training book, the Bible, so that we can be ready to fly when He comes. If I don't study His book I can't still expect to fly with Him to His home in Heaven! I must daily study and learn what is in His book so that I can fly.  He said that His book tells us who He is.  Not only must I study His book but I must have interaction with the trainer.  More on that when I'm airborne.:)

Let's  press forward with our ground school training and keep looking to the sky!

~Joi


Watching the jets at the regional airport

Photo Courtesy of Jade 




Photo Courtesy of Sarah A.