Thirsty???

Cave Spring is a quaint little town in north GA located about 10 minutes from Rome. With all its charming little businesses, it should be pictured on the front cover of a Southern Living Magazine or at least featured in an upcoming Georgia Public Television episode.

The city was actually named for - you guessed it - a natural spring bubbling out of a mountain cave located in the middle of town. People come from miles and miles around, (no kidding) just to fill up bottles, milk jugs, and any other container you could think of, with this amazingly clear, great-tasting water. On any given day, you can drive into the park and join the line of people already there, filling up their containers. Some are pulling wagons, while others are simply bringing a couple of jugs at a time to the water's edge. Let me warn you, though. If you ever decide you want to visit and collect some water of your own, don't think you'll find a spigot or a hose. The water flows directly out from the mountain, and in order to collect it, you have to bend down and over the water...sort of like Augustus Gloop when he was drinking from the chocolate river in the Wonka Factory. Collecting water from the spring is not a dignified experience, so it would be best to leave your heels and your dress clothes at home.

The water tastes better than any of the bottled stuff you'll ever buy and is as clear and cold as a mountain stream. Best of all, it's free. I think that's the draw for people. It would be for me, if I lived any closer.

Yet, there is another Water, clearer and better than even the Cave Spring water. Jesus Christ, Himself, is that Water...the Water of Life...and like the water in Cave Spring, when people taste It, nothing will ever satisfy quite like It again. Once your taste buds develop an appetite for the Living Water, that long trek in your home from the bed to the "quiet time chair" will seem like just a hop, skip, and jump. Church will no longer seem like a place just to go on Sundays, but instead, you'll drive long distances and not complain about the preacher going over into the lunch hour. You'll find yourself wanting to be with Jesus, over and over again. Life will taste sweeter...because it will be.

Just like the Cave Spring water, receiving the Living Water costs you nothing, except maybe a little dignity. You can't get it from a tap. You can't stand up and expect the Water to jump into your heart. You have to humble yourself and bend your knees to be filled.

Let me encourage you, drink freely. Open your Bible and wait. Sit and listen for Jesus to speak...and then be filled.

Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:13-14).