Living Water and a lesson in obedience

Today was another great day!! Our first stop was En Gedi, which is a beautiful desert oasis with some pretty incredible waterfalls (best known for as the place where David fled and hid from King Solomon). As we traveled north along the Dead Sea, the stark contrast in landscape was noticeable. Quite suddenly, in the middle of the dry and dusty desert, arose lush greenery all around. It was so clear that wherever the river flowed, there was life. This is also true with Christ; in John 7:37-38, Jesus says “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” We were all challenged to think about our own lives and determine whether we were connected with the Living Water. If we are abiding in Christ, He says we will have streams of living water flowing out from us to other people. It was a physical reminder/picture to us in this desert oasis that without the living water of Christ, there is no life.

After that we drove further north along the Dead Sea to the ruins of Qumran. The Qumran community was very interesting and we have them to thank for copying and preserving much of the Hebrew Scriptures. In 1947, some Bedouin shepherds were looking for a lost sheep and upon throwing a stone into a cave, they heard a crash. They discovered some clay pots that held pieces of leather which they tried to sell for money but no one would buy it. The Lord preserved these scrolls through an incredible set of events and eventually they were protected along with many more scrolls that were found a bit later in other caves. The Qumran community strived to be obedient to God’s Word and devoted their entire lives to do just that. In a similar way, we should be striving for the same thing…to be obedient to the Word of God. Without the sure foundation of the Word of God, the living water, we will be washed away when the storms of life come…and they will come. The Qumran community is a lesson of obedience and connection to the living water. They were people of the Word; so we too must be people of the Word so that we can stand firm until the end and impact the world with Christ’s love and truth.

Finally, we went to the Jordan river at Bethany, which is thought to be the place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. In all honesty, when we first arrived, I felt a bit cynical. As I watched hordes of people in white robes getting into the river and dunking their heads over and over and doing the sign of the cross over and over, I couldn’t help but feel like this was a cheap tourist attraction or an empty ritual. To me, baptism is something that holds a lot of meaning and weight. However, when Troy and Marshall got into the river with each person and asked them if they had put their faith in Jesus and were willing to live in obedience to Him and love others, tears filled my eyes. I was struck by the fact that it doesn't matter what “everyone else was doing,” because baptism is for the individual and is an act of obedience. Each of the nine people in our group was baptized today for different reasons; some where baptized for the first time as an act of obedience and others were rededicated, also, as an act of obedience. I was filled with emotion standing on the banks of the Jordan, supporting my brothers and sisters in Christ. Their act of obedience occurred in the very same river that Jesus obeyed God and was baptized. The symbolism of baptism, which is going from death to life, somehow felt more powerful here…maybe it’s because Jesus knew what would take place in his own life only a few years later. He died and conquered death so we would not have to die and be separated from God. How humbling it was to witness such an incredible act of obedience that was first modeled by Jesus. Our hearts are full!!