Tuesday, July 3, 2018

WELL

I have been in Tanzania, Africa for the past eight days as part of a WorldServe team visiting Dolfi & Gilagwenda Maunda, missionaries to the Datooga bush tribe.

Gilagwenda is himself a Datooga.  Dolfi is from Journey Church and they married in the bush more than ten years ago.

We have said at Journey that the Church We Imagine is one that is willing to pour the Living Water out of vessels we've never drank from, realizing that the Gospel takes many shapes, not just the ones we're comfortable with.

I've always known water was important; you probably have too.  You can't live without it for long.

But imagine not having any.  You just go to your tap every day and turn it to 'hot' without thinking about it.  You lean into your shower every morning and turn the lever 'up and to the left.'  And voila!  Water comes out.  You hit a button and water pours in to your washing machine to clean the dirty laundry.

But imagine walking for miles in one direction to find a well - perhaps half-a-day in order to fill up one solitary bucket.  You aren't bringing it back just for you, but for many in your village.  It isn't for bathing - it isn't for doing laundry - it isn't for cooking even - it's just for drinking.  There isn't enough water to do all those other tasks.  And tomorrow, you're going go repeat that whole process because your village doesn't have access to potable water.  And every day.  Forever.

This is the work WorldServe is doing in some of the hardest to reach places on the continent of Africa.  The place we visited this week - Gasala in Tanzania - took us four hours one way to reach from the small town we were based in.  After the first 10 minutes, there were no roads any more.  Just ruts.  You can't even reach the village without a helicopter six months of the year because heavy rains wash out the roads, making them impassible for weeks and weeks.  It's the dry season right now, so we were able to navigate there.  This well with the young girl washing her hands was on the way - hours away by walking.

The landscape is desert bush land.  Inhospitable.  Hot.  Forsaken.  Dusty.  Dirt gets in your ears, your eyes, your clothes, your phone, your underwear, your toes.  Everywhere.  Nothing is unstained.

But this water-in-the-desert is the pathway to Jesus for these folks, most of whom have never heard the name of Jesus before.  Water opens their hearts to the eternal Gospel of the Living Water.  Water makes their lives a hundred times easier and a thousand times better.

In these parts of the globe, water is the carrier of Christ.  Water is.  They don't want to talk to you until you can help them get water.

There was a woman at a well in the Bible who had the same issue.  Ultimately Jesus told her He had water that would make
her never thirst again.  But there has to be a well for them to come to in order to tell them about the Living Water.

It's all about the well.  It's all about the water.

Let's dig some wells.

And be blessed.