There is a place that I have often longed to visit. This place is of simple appearance and provides low expectations. This place is one of very little desire for many that I know. This place is none other than a well. In a world of technology, "forward" thinking, and noise, this well seemingly has no relevance to us. Why would anyone want to go there? Maybe the well serves as a monument of things of old, or maybe it's a clue of things to come. If the latter is true, it offers the element of mystery. The well then becomes a marker of the land of the unknown. The unknown is scary. Unknowns are dangerous. Risky. Some unknowns have even been known to change people into overzealous crusaders, who forcibly march their way and force their opinions from mountaintop to valley floor.
I've lived in the crowd of the suspicious too long. I've heard all of the reasons not to visit the well. I've read about all of the cases where the unknown brought an unseen new dimension to peoples' lives. "There's nothing good about that well." "It will just bring you trouble."
One night, I venture away from the others in my camp to get a better look at the well. You see, my camp doesn't want to be seen near the well. You know, the same well that prostitutes go to during the heat of the day and that crippled men lounge near, actually believing that the waters of the well bring healing. I walk away from my camp and draw closer, closer, closer still. Then I hear it. At first I think I am just imagining the noise. Maybe I just want to hear it so badly, that the noise is just a figment of my imagination. Then I hear it again. "Hello?" I say to the well. I know it's foolishness for someone to talk to a well, but I feel strongly within me that the well is offering something to me. An offering as simple as one word that could change my life, heal my woulds, pierce my soul. So I say to the well, "What do you offer?" "What is your name?" Once again, I know it's odd talking to a well. Especially strange to ask the well two questions in a row, without allowing it time to answer the first one." "Maybe," a still voice inside my heart said. "The answer to both questions are one in the same."
My mind is quickly torn from the presence of the well, due to my recognizing familiar noises, voices and grumblings regarding the well, coming from my camp behind me. "This is silly." "What am I doing?" At this moment of doubt mixed with fear, I surprisingly feel a strong invitation to cast all cares aside and walk right to the well, even close enough to feel with my hands the crumbling, ancient stones from which it is fashioned! My feet start walking forward almost even without permission from my mind. Yet, they do have permission. It has been granted by my heart. My heart says that the host of the invitation, though mysterious, will not leave me crushed. Yet the host will be my rebuilder, restorer and the lifter of my head!
Once again, I offer myself verbally to the well, simply whispering, "Who are you?" I hear the answer. The one word answer that changed my life and continues to renew me day by day. It is the answer that when found, releases fear, pain, resentment, doubt, rejection, and all other arrows whose painful wounds still reside in my flesh. "Freedom," the well speaks as clearly as a single bird's song on a clear, calm night. "Freedom."
For many days and nights, I remain at the well, daring even to begin drinking from its cool, deep, fresh, and ever-living waters. Oh, what matchless peace! Oh, what tremendous joy! For the first time, I feel like I even know what my purpose in life is: To simply bring others to the well! "Is it this easy?" I find that it is. You see, when you have been to the well, partaken of the cool and sweet communion it offers, you are a living invitation. One that calls people to the well from near and far. Many people begin to ask me if I can take them to the well! Some of them, I haven't even talked to about the well! They just knew. They tell me that I've changed. That I'm drinking a new wine. That my source of nourishment is now what they seek.
Have you been to the well? Has your thirst been quenched by the truth of the cool waters? Have you also heard and received the song of freedom and felt the weight of your burdens fall to the ground? Come with me.
What of those back at "the camp?" Some of those have come with me! They have heard "freedom" and have responded to the invitation to drink from the well. Others have not come, and may not ever. But do you know what the great news is? The well is ever present. Ever inviting. Ever offering.
As I begin this blog, I am a man desperately seeking to drink more and more of this living water. I also desire to bring everyone along with me. Let's embrace the mystery. Let us walk into the unknown. Let us understand that our Master Creator built the well as an ancient landmark of a God who always was. As we draw the pail of water to our lips to drink, let us feel the son of God, our Savior, becoming the vessel from which we can drink. As the cool waters pour through our lips, refreshing and empowering us, let us embrace all the mystery that the Holy Spirit wants to fill us with. Let us dare to drink from the well.
