The First Few Drops

Matthew's post is part of our Lenten Water Project. Throughout this Lenten season our writers will be focusing on the subject of water and what that means to them. Please donate to our well-building efforts, and if you have something YOU would like to say about water, let us know and we'll post it here!

The steady hum and rattle of the diesel engine powering the drill echoed throughout the property, as the cold water from the rain collection tower poured over my head, washing the soap down to the drain. It struck me for the first time in that moment, showering in the middle of the plantain field under the water tower, what a huge moment had taken place the day before as the drilling truck pulled onto the property. Hope had come on the back of the truck, the opportunity for clean drinking water for those in Quimistan, Honduras, who had previously filled their buckets in nearby rivers and streams, or had to buy clean and safe bottled water. With this well came the promise of clean water, that didn’t cost hard earned wages. With this well came the promise of piping water into the medical clinic and Church community kitchen, to better serve those in the community. Yes, with the arrival of the drilling truck, this community had just been transformed in many ways.

I was involved in their first water project with the church in Quimistan, Hondruas, and it wasn’t entirely on purpose. You need to know that I do not have a scientific or engineering background, but rather had a small request to help get the final piece of the water project together. The final meeting with the drilling company and subsequent arrival of the drilling truck was the result of years of meetings between Church and community leaders with the drilling company. I was merely one of the last people, in the long line of those before me who helped get the drilling truck to the property that day. So as the drill hit water after hours of drilling that first day, I felt like my work was insignificant compared to those who had worked years on making this day happen. Though, that did not keep me from celebrating with the people gathered waiting for those first drops to hit the ground.

As the water began to pour from the ground and flood the property the community celebrated! It was an exciting moment, and a moment that I will never forget. I hope that through the water campaign we have embarked on, we can join those communities around the world, as they stand in anticipation waiting for water to flood from the earth. I pray for those who live amid the drought and scarcity of this world, and I pray that in the midst of my flooded life that I will seek ways to be a better brother in Christ to all. Even when we feel that our work is insignificant, let us press on, following into all the places and times that God is leading us. Often times we are just one person in the long line of many who have gone before us and will come after us, but what legacy will we leave? In a world in which "first" are few and far between, it is amazing to think that some communities around the world are yet to receive their first well, and first drops of clean water. What is our responsibility to those communities and to those people?

In this season of lent, as we reflect, pray, and discern, let us be ever present to what God is doing among us. Let us recognize that it's not the first time God has called or will call. Let us be a people who respond.

Today's article is based on my time reflecting this past week, on my trip to Quimistan, Honduras in 2006.