Hand-Dug Well

Growing up, we had a hand-dug well.  It was four feet in diameter and twenty-five feet deep.  My dad dug it with the help of his two brothers.  Dad dug down about ten feet and installed three concrete well-rings to keep surface water from seeping into the well. Then he narrowed the hole a bit and continued digging down.  He made a windless to bring up the loosened dirt and rock in a bucket on the end of a cable.  About fifteen feet down, they encountered a rock shelf.  My dad went to West Virginia where he could get dynamite and brought back several sticks.  Having worked in the coal mines, he knew how to set the charges.  He drilled a hole in the rock, set the charge, and Uncle Gray quickly cranked him up in the bucket.  I remember the feeling of the ground shaking when the stick of dynamite went off.  After the smoke and debris cleared, dad scooped out the loosened rock and continued down another ten feet.  At twenty-five feet, dad struck an underground stream sufficient to fill the well with several feet of clean cool water.  Hey, Jesus used water to describe Himself in John 4.  Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in John 4:13&14, “… Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”  Just as we need physical water to live, we need spiritual water - Jesus Christ in our lives.  Hey, we don’t just add church into our schedule on Sunday because it’s a nice thing to do; we NEED Jesus in our lives.  Jesus is as necessary to us as cool water is on a hot day.  He is our spiritual life!  Hey, is Jesus important to you?  I hope so.  Actually, He is important to you whether you realize it or not.