Don’t really know what I’m doing today. I wish there was an easy way to get where I want to be other than patiently taking the time to get there.
I know I need the experiences and failures that are ahead to sharpen me and build me into something that will survive the test. With no test there is only soft mush. If you don’t bake the pie the crust will never become golden. If you don’t fire the pot the glaze will never shine. If you don’t cook the roast it will always just be a bloody mess.
I want to start working on my devotional book again, and I feel like I’m on the right track. The communion message Scott gave at church last Sunday was beautiful, and unexpectedly intense for me. He started with the simple statement, “God loves you.” and I took it. I took it personally. I believed it, at face value. I believed it like I did when I first got saved. Ironically the devotional book I’m working on is an effort to get a sharp focus on God’s love for us.
For some reason we get saved and we are so grateful we start doing all kinds of stuff for the Lord. Then we feel like if we fail at doing the stuff or go into gross sin we fail to keep His love. We think God loves us because he’s obligated himself to, not just because he loves us. We think that once we are saved he has some “expectation”, but the only thing Jesus tells us to “do” is believe and “abide”.
When Phil (Bill Murray) finally broke free from his groundhog day loop he wakes up with Rita (Andy MacDowell) and says to her, “Why are you still here?” and she answers back, “You said stay, so I stayed.” It was at the point she knew his love was real and not fake that she stayed. The curse was broken.
God’s love isn’t fake. It’s not manufactured by religion to get you to abide by certain moral standards or give money. God’s love for you is the real deal. We throw around the word unconditional with no real understanding of what it means because for us everything is conditional.
A quick search for the word “unconditional” nets a few great phrases that dial it in.
God’s love for you is complete and absolute, not limited in any way.
God loves you without any special exceptions.
God’s love for you is all-out and all-in!
Wear it with joy, like a crown, as the child of the King!
I love a good story, and this is a great story about my friend Robert who helped dig a well in Kenya, Africa. We’ve had an email correspondence interview and that is what I’m sharing here as a follow up to the 5 Part series through John 4 where we studied the account of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well.
Clean water is essential to life. There are many great ministries doing work like this around the world and I link to a couple at the end of this interview, but Rob was in Kenya with a Navy Construction Battalion, also known as SeaBees.
The first part of the interview covers the practical side of his experience in Kenya and in the last part he was so generous to share his testimony and how his faith impacted his experience in Kenya and his military service. Let’s jump right in.
Me: When and where did your well digging experience take place? Rob: It was in 2007. We set up a tent camp in a tiny Kenyan desert town called Shant Abaq. It was about an hours drive through the brush from a larger city called Garissa. We were very close to the Somalia border. We also had a Kenyan Army security team.
Me: Who were you working with? Rob: There was a team of 14 of us. It was when I was Active Duty as a Navy Seabee. It was mostly comprised of EOs, equipment operators, and CMs, construction mechanics. I was the only SW, steelworker. We also had a Kenyan Army team that was set up a mile away. Although they never put steel in the ground. They were just hanging out because we were so close to Somalia and were located on a popular drug running route.
Helping our Army security cut firewoodThis one is when I made Petty Officer 2nd class
Me: Who were you digging the well for and why? Rob: The small town was a watering hole for nomadic herders of cows, goats, and sheep. They only had 1 well for water they shared for everything. And the herds would contaminate the well water with feces. So we drilled a well outside of the village by about an 1/8 mile.
Me: How did you guys know where to dig? How did you find the water? Rob: They look at a satellite image of the area, and use known geological data to best guess where an aquifer might be. They gave us a GPS location… And with a little skill, and a lot of luck, we found water.
Here I am welding the steel casing and screens
Rob: I welded for 27 hours straight. Once you start, you can’t stop. And I was the only welder… The screens are steel pipe with small slits in them. They’re placed at the depths where water is found to allow it to seep into the casing. Our well was about 800′ deep and we had about 90′ worth of screens. Once all the casing is lowered in, an electric water pump is lowered about 30′ off the bottom. This is to keep from getting dirt pushed up with the water. The pump just forces the water up the casing.
Our well produced 8 gallons a minute for 10 min. Then it had to recharge, or let water seep in to refill it full, for 3 min. The water would fill on its own to about 16′ from the top of the well, and the water table was 240′ down. So that was a good aquifer we hit.
Putting the casing in
On our way out of Africa, we stopped in Djibouti. The well team all went snorkeling in the Red Sea with whale sharks. This is me!
Me: How long have you been in the Navy and what is your current rank and assignment? Rob: 10 years active, 3 years reserve. I am a E6 now. Petty Officer First Class. Currently I am an instructor at Naval Construction Group 1. I primarily teach Basic Combat Skills, and am a range coach. BCS is just like it sounds. It covers a lot of basic tactical maneuvers like setting up a convoy, how to conduct a patrol, land navigation… And as a range coach I get to do one of my favorite things; teach others how to shoot. I get to instruct handgun, rifle, and shotgun.
Me: How long have you been a Christian? Rob: I have been a Christian my entire life. A better question is ‘how have I been as a Christian?’ I grew up in a Christian Reformed church. It was traditional in service, praise, and dress. They started becoming more modern in the sense they got a band… We went every Sunday until I was 9. My parents divorced when I was 5, and we moved when I was 9. We never found another church with my Mom. My Dad left the church after the divorce. They treated him very poorly and he found them hypocritical. He is a religious man to this day, but doesn’t attend church. So that was my early childhood experience. When I got into middle school and lived with my Dad I became friends with the family across the street. They attended a Non-Denominational church. I fell in love with it. The music was alive. The people were in love with God. And everyone was so welcoming and loving. For the rest of high school I went to that church every Sunday, and got involved in youth ministry on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. When I got to boot camp I attended church every Sunday. It was an hour a week where I got to be myself. Worshiping kept me sane. After boot camp I went to a 2 month school to learn my job as a welder. It was here where I started to fall away from God. I didn’t find a church there, and I didn’t find one when I got to California. God is a funny thing in the military I’ve come to find out. There are a very small few who openly talk about their faith. And a slightly larger number who attend services regularly. I think about 3/4 would say they’re Christian, but that’s as far as their religion goes. But as whole, the military supports believing in God very heavily. Personally, I fell into the category of the members who had Christian placed on my dog tags, so should I die, they would follow traditional customs for a Christian burial. So, as all good, cold feet Christians, I found God again during my deployment to Iraq. To spare you the details, it was a very stressful environment. I remembered how great it was in boot camp to go to service. But I didn’t have that this time. So I relied on praying. A lot. I wouldn’t say I was praying without faith, but I was being a Christian of convenience. I called to God when I needed him. But once I returned and he had got me through what I had asked for, I forgot about him. I didn’t thank him. That lasted another year until I met Ashley, my now wife. She was religious. And part of my way of becoming more attractive to her was to attend services with her. It felt good to get back to going. But she was a Lutheran, and it bored me to tears. Finally I convinced her to go to a Non-Denominational church with me. She fell in love with it, as did I again. Since then, our family attends regularly. We brought prayer back into our daily lives as a family before meals and bed. So there is the long answer to a short question. I am not a perfect Christian to this day, as much as I try. Cursing is one thing I have a hard time breaking…. Military and police life make that difficult.
Me: How does your faith impact you in your military service? Rob: Once I found my faith again with Ashley in 2006, it has been a large part in my life. The hard part is reconciling some things that happened in Iraq. But I didn’t deploy with the intent to harm anyone. I wanted to help my fellow Christians have the freedom to praise and worship without fear of their entire families being killed. It is something I continue to struggle with, and others I know as well.
Me: Did your faith help you in your well-digging experience? Rob: I loved getting the chance to talk to the local village about their experiences with Christ. It was a Christian village we drilled in. For a people with so little in the way of material things, struggling to get food and clean water, they were so in love with God. It was amazing to see how God worked in their lives. You get there and think how miserable it would be to live in a mud hut. No running water. No electricity. Scarce clean water. Inconsistent food sources. Yet, they were happy…
Me: Were any of the other’s on your team also believers? If so, did that have any impact on the team? Rob: I was the only one who read the bible and prayed. There were others who had a background in Christian churches, and everyone was a Christian. I put together a Christmas service. And to my surprise, everyone attended. We took communion with my pastor over a satellite phone… It was a great experience.
Me: How were you able to sustain welding for 27 hours? Rob: By the end of it… a lot of cursing lol. But seriously, it is just my personality. I get my mind set on something, and I am a freight train. I am very driven to accomplish what I set my goals to be. I hate failure. And my job as a welder was to make this happen. Not only did my team depend on me to finish this, but so did an entire village of 70 some people. From tiny babies, to the frailest of the elderly. For some of them, their lives depended on clean water. It was a huge burden lifted for all of them. So I placed a lot of pressure on myself to succeed.
Me: Other than the welding marathon what was the biggest challenge in your experience? Rob: Time away from my family members. I have missed so much. Things you can’t ever make up. Births of my nieces and nephews, weddings of brothers and sister. Seeing a loved one in their final days. And missing a funeral once. You miss the milestones of your kids. First words. First steps. So much others take for granted, I have missed.
Me: Is well-digging a pretty common military project? I guess what I’m getting at here is that a lot of mainstream media talks about the awful stuff that happens but we don’t see hardly any stories like yours about the folks who get sent out to be a practical help in other parts of the world. Rob: SeaBees secondary mission behind supporting war efforts is humanitarian. At anytime, SeaBees are helping others. You name a natural disaster, and we’re there to help. We build schools. We build hospitals. We build housing. We build orphanages. We drill wells. We clear debris. We do it all. And we do it with little fan fare. We are a humble group. But if you do some google searches on SeaBees and humanitarian work, you should find examples abound.
Wow Rob! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience and your heart with us. Thank you for your service and sacrifices for your country. I pray God continues to bless you and your family.
Resources: More information about the Navy SeaBees and Christian Ministries that dig wells
We are nearing the end of our trip to Samaria with Jesus. He’s just had a very intense conversation with a Samaritan woman who has suddenly come to faith in him as her Messiah. Right after Jesus reveals this to her the disciples come strolling back from town where they bought food. An article on the Near East Tourism Agency’s website says that the town was about 1 kilometer or just over half of a mile from the well. How long does it take to walk that? 12 or maybe 15 minutes or so. Not all that long…
This got me wondering… did they cross paths? Did the disciples ignore the woman on their way to town as she was on her way to the well to draw water? I think it’s entirely possible.
The conversation between Jesus and the woman lasted maybe 45 minutes while the disciples were gone buying food. John 4:27 says, “Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” When they returned she left her jar and took off running.
So while the Samaritan woman ran back to town, witnessed her testimony to a bunch of people, then brought them all back out of the town to meet Jesus, he has a different conversation with his disciples. With how close the town was this wouldn’t have taken very long, maybe an hour or so.
The Work of God = Spiritual Food
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” John 4:31-33
Jesus has this mini leadership conference with his disciples. They are just as confused as the woman was between the spiritual and the physical. They are insisting Jesus eat physical food to nourish his physical body, but he tells them he doesn’t need it. His food, nourishment, and satisfaction came from constantly operating in God’s will and ultimately finishing his work on the cross.
Imagine the scene as Jesus speaks these next words to his disciples. He tells them to open their eyes and look… Many commentators believe he may have been pointing to a nearby field of wheat. Based on the timing we looked at earlier I believe it’s possible they would have seen the crowd of people coming back from town with the woman to meet Jesus.
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” John 4:35-38
When the disciples went to town to buy food for their hungry tummies they had every opportunity to tell the people the Messiah was in their midst, but they didn’t. Then Jesus shows them how hungry the world is for him. The woman he met ran and brought back a crowd with hearts ripe to be harvested into the kingdom. He’s telling the disciples they will reap what the woman has sown as they enter into her labor (witnessing her testimony) among the people.
This was a foreshadowing of what will also continue into their ministries after Jesus ascends. It is instruction to us as well. Some sow and some reap but we all work together in the harvest. It is satisfying to our souls to do the work of God. It is emptiness to our souls to focus on ourselves.
Psalm 63:5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. (NLT)
The Glorious Result = the Harvest
Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” John 4:39-42
I love how Jesus speaks to us. When we are in sin, when we are being selfish, when he wants to teach us about the kingdom of God, he is perfectly patient with all of us. At certain times in my life I have related to each of the folks in this account, the hurting woman, the confused disciple, the seeking townspeople. Here he spends two days with these seekers. It doesn’t even say he did miracles but that they believed because of his word.
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” John 5:39-40
His word doesn’t just give us a basis for morality, but it is the very thing that shows us who he is, his love for us, and leads us to believe in him for eternal life.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip to Samaria with me. Jesus invites us today to participate in the harvest, casting seed and watering and even reaping when we see spiritually dead rise to new life in Christ. Be encouraged to share your testimony and help your family and friends become part of the harvest for eternal life. There’s nothing else like it.
Next Time
A Modern day well dig – My friend Rob shares his amazing experience of digging a well for a small village near Somalia and how his faith has impacted his life and military service. You won’t want to miss it!
Do you like to worship? I love it. I love singing to the Lord at the top of my lungs. I make a joyful noise! I love corporate worship at church, worshiping around the house while doing dishes and laundry, while I’m driving in my car, women’s bible study worship… I love contemporary songs like “Oceans” and “How Great is our God” and old hymns like “Be Thou My Vision” and “Rock of Ages.” Sometimes the song is slow and contemplative, sometimes rocking and emotional. And sometimes the same song I’ve sung a million times all of a sudden wrecks me in the best way.
Worship isn’t just in the songs we sing, it’s our whole lifestyle. It’s what makes us different than the animals. We are always worshiping… the real question is what are we worshiping? What are we giving ourselves to? What are we looking to for meaning and value in our lives? Do we worship the one true and living God or something else?
“Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:21
I don’t think Jesus said these things to confuse our Samaritan friend, but rather to remove her cultural and tradition biases. Up until this point God was primarily worshiped at the Temple in Jerusalem and in local Synagogues. Here Jesus shows up speaking very intimately about worship and telling her that the Father is seeking true worshipers. He tells her it’s not about the place, but the position of our hearts and minds.
What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? How do we do that?
I had the pleasure of chatting with an awesome couple from our Church’s worship team, Matt and Alison Piro, about what it means to them to worship in spirit and in truth. Matt: “There is a distinction and both of these things are said for a reason. What we see, the truth, and what we don’t see, the spirit. We have to worship in understanding of the full weight of what God has given to us, the promise of the Spirit that dwells in us. We worship a God that has given us His Spirit. The truth of God’s word must be the foundation of our worship. So many worship songs these days are people and feeling focused, not biblical or God centered. Our worship has to be based on the knowledge that our works don’t save us, but only the blood of Jesus.” Alison: “It is the Spirit that enables us to worship. Our worship should also be authentic, truthful to ourselves, not just an outward show, but true from the heart.” Matt expressed that acceptable worship also includes gratefulness, reverence and awe, as he shared this scripture with me.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Heb 12:28-29
Matt: “Know what you’re singing, and if you don’t feel like you’re there yet, make the words a prayer. Understand the gravity of what we sing, we don’t just sing along. We should be more cautious with the words we sing because we are actually singing to God.”
Another scripture Matt shares often during worship is Jeremiah 17:7-8
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Thanks Matt and Allison! Some great things to think about and pray about! In fact let’s pray right now! God you are so awesome! Thank you for our churches and worship leaders and for the hearts and gifts you’ve blessed them with. Help us to be true worshipers and put our trust in you so we can survive the dry times while still bearing good fruit. Keep us humble in our hearts and teach us every day to live a lifestyle of worshiping you in spirit and truth. We worship you because you are worthy of our reverence and worship. We give you all the glory. Amen
Next Time
Jesus’ mini pastor’s conference with the Disciples when they return from Sychar with food.
