Kool-Aid Jammers and A Tired Jesus

Just to give an idea of how ridiculous I probably looked, sitting outside for a portion of my lunch break.  I headed outside with a coat to sit on (wet picnic table), a pink gift bag to carry my Bible and notebook and my Garfield mug with hot tea.  😎  I decided to read over the story of the Samaritan woman.  <---If you don't know what I'm talking about, read John 4:3-39 .  All of this got me to thinking. 

I have a partial box of grape Kool-Aid Jammers that sits up high where nobody can see it but me (and Josh because he put it there).  I was afraid with all of the people in and out of our house that first few days after Erin passed that someone would drink it.  I also have 2 empty kool-aid jammer bags (are they bags?) that I keep in my car that Erin and I drank on our way home from town on April 3rd, 2018.  Every once in a while, I pull the empty bags out and sniff them.  They still smell of grape.  I know one day, eventually, I will throw them away, but for now, I want them right where they are.  I think back to that night, that drive to town.  Erin was thirsty and asked me to take her to town.  She could have just drank water, but she wanted kool-aid jammers.  But part of me, over the last couple of months have questioned this.  Her opportunity to open up to me, as we talked on our way to town about things like boyfriends (the kind of boyfriend you want to have), high school, college, the future.  Was she drink thirsty or was she thirsty for someone to ask the right questions.  I will never know these answers and I have learned not to dwell on the "what-if's".  But I have also learned (actually, I have known this, I just haven't done it like I should), that if we are always working for God, if we are witnessing like we should, then perhaps people who are thirsty don't have to go out and look for the quenching.  Since Erin's passing, I have ready multiple times, over and over again on people's facebook pages "If you need help, talk to me.  If you need anything, call the suicide hotline number..."  Those people aren't capable of reaching out for help.  If they were, they'd do it, I would think.  It is our job to reach out, to provide that water, if you will.  And sometimes we are tired and don't want to do that, or perhaps we are so busy that we don't have time.  Or even, sadly enough, we are so busy in our phones that we don't see that someone needs help or that someone just needs to talk or we miss that opportunity to witness.  But Jesus also got tired.  That's right folks, Jesus was tired and he took a break.  Even Jesus took a break. Imagine that, Jesus tired.  I'd be tired too if I had to deal with people like me 😉.  I sure am thankful that He loves me.  But how busy are we that we never take a break or take that opportunity to witness.   Let that sink in a minute.  This is how my mind works... In the story that I linked above, Jesus is just walking along, minding his own business when he happens upon this well.  He sits down because he is tired.  And saw this woman.  I've pictured myself as that Woman several times. Ok, I haven't had 5 husbands and sleeping with a 6th guy who I wasn't married to, but I've done plenty of things in my life that I could easily have switched places with her. I'm not going to go through the story because I want you to read it for yourself.  You will find that out with me.  I won't tell you what the verse says, I want you to physically look it up and read it yourself.    But imagine, if the woman at the well was busy on her cell phone, taking selfies by the well and didn't hear Jesus ask her for water?  Ok, I get it, they didn't have cell phones then, but she could have been doing something else distracting.  This happens everyday.  We see it everyday.  How many people do you walk past that is looking down at their phone.  Or perhaps you are the one on your phone.  I know I do it.  Anyway, Imagine if the Samaritan woman missed that opportunity.  Or what if Jesus was snap-chatting with John about the baptisms and he totally walked past the well and didn't notice the Samaritan woman.  Yikes.  Her life could have turned out differently.    At church on Sunday, our sermon was about prayer.  About talking to God.  Our pastor said "We have facebook, snapchat, instagram, all sorts of social media, but we are some of the loneliest people to walk to the planet." It's true.  There are people out there that is hurting, they are thirsty for something.  They may not know what they are thirsty for, but as believers, we know.  And it is our job to provide that water. Even if we are tired.  Because think about Jesus walking back in the day.  It wasn't like he was walking on a paved sidewalk in Nike's, wearing a tank top and shorts, holding a yeti cup so his ice stays cold for the 8 hour walk.  He was tired, I bet his feet hurt.  He had a seat on the ground by the well, asked for a drink of water and then went to work, witnessing to a woman, who probably felt little to no worth,  who was at the well because she was thirsty.

Link:  Grace Wins Everytime