Free Water!

The Great Depression made 1932 a difficult time to open a new business. But Ted and Dorothy Husted bought the little drug store in their town of Wall, South Dakota anyway. Grasshoppers had eaten all the crops in the region. That part of the state was a dust bowl because of a long drought and temperatures (often for ten days at a time) climbed to over 100 degrees. Their little drugstore was not making it, but the resourceful couple wasn’t ready to quit.

One hot afternoon with no customers in sight Dorothy went home to rest but she couldn’t sleep because of the constant noise of traffic going by on the highway near their house. In that moment she realized that most of these travelers were hot and tired. She went back to the store and worked out a simple marketing strategy to attract customers.

Ted went 25 miles in each direction and put up signs that read, FREE ICE WATER AT THE WALL DRUG STORE, Wall, S.D. They put up signs at 10 miles; and at 5 miles the sign read: HOLD ON! IT’S ONLY 5 MILES TO THE WALL DRUG STORE AND FREE ICE WATER.

Before he even got back to the store people were stopping for free water! Some visitors came for the water but bought ice cream and other things. The simple offer of “FREE WATER” worked and soon the Husteds struggled to keep up with the constant flow of people into their store.

Today, signs are still posted all over the country telling you just how far it is to free ice water at the Wall, S.D. drugstore. On a hot summer day thousands of people crowd the old-timey drugstore that covers most of a city block. Amazingly, Wall, SD has never had more than 800 residents! It remains the most spectacularly, successful drugstore in the entire industry.

Here’s the thing—druggists had been handing out free water for generations. But Ted and Dorothy were the first people who ever thought of advertising it.[1]

The Husteds were on to something that God patented long ago—the offer of free water to the thirsty.  

·         In Genesis 16:7, an angel of the Lord found an exhausted Hagar at a spring where he encouraged her with a promise that God would do something amazing with her broken life.

·         In Exodus 17 the thirsty Israelites complained of cottonmouth. Moses petitioned God and he was told to strike a rock with his rod—the result was a stream in the desert!

·         One of the many miracles performed by the prophet Elisha was purifying a corrupted well in the city of Jericho (2 Kings 2:19-22).

·         Remember what Jesus told the woman at the well of Samaria? “13 Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).      

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “In the wilderness, the lips become chapped; the skin is dried and burned; the tongue is like a firebrand, and the mouth is like an oven; and the weary traveler must drink or die. O for a draught of water there! A bag of diamonds could not buy a drop in that land of desolation. The whole world over, there is nothing that can save a soul apart from the grace of God. Your good works can no more save you than the salt sea can give the sailor drink. Ceremonies can no more fill your heart with peace and give it life, than the hot sand of the wilderness can quench the thirst of the sunbaked pilgrim. God must lead you to the river of eternal life flowing out of the Rock that was smitten in Jesus Christ!”[2]

FREE WATER! It sounds so simple, but to the spiritually barren it’s the difference between life and death. As the Gospel singers Fields of Grace say, “Preachers and teachers and believers, we all need a drink sometime!” Are you plodding wearily through a desert right now? Have you drank from the wells of the world, but found them to be full of brackish water? Child of God does your soul long for a refreshing draught of living water? The Good News is that God’s supply is available, abundant and alleviating for all of life’s problems. -DM  

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[1] Skip Heitzig, “I’ve Just Gotta’ Go to Church -- Psalm 84,” 21 September 1997, Calvary Chapel Albuquerque  <http://skipheitzig.com/teachings_view.asp?ServiceID=2016>

[2] Charles Spurgeon, “The Water of Life,” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 13, No. 770, <https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-water-of-life#flipbook/>

The Stephen--Paul Paradox

Recently I have been immersed in studying and preaching through the book of Acts. One story thread that kept emerging is how the lives of Stephen and Paul were intertwined.

Of course, there is the obvious connection made in Acts 7 which records Stephen’s martyrdom. We know that Saul (Paul) was present consenting to the death of Stephen, “And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul” (7:58; see also 22:20).

Steven uttered two prayers before he gave up the ghost. He prays first for himself, then for his enemies. Stephen’s prayers are attention-grabbing because they are strikingly similar to two of Jesus’ sayings from the cross (Luke 23:34, 46). It makes us wonder if Steven saw the crucifixion? Dr. Luke is skillfully showing us that Stephen lived a Christ-like life and died a Christ-like death.     

Stephen’s death was a great catalyst for turning Saul into Paul. God never wastes the blood of His saints! The church father Augustine once said, “If Stephen had not prayed, the church would not have had Paul.” Saul would never be able to get Stephen’s prayer out his mind and God would use His death as a convicting prick to stab at Saul’s heart; “Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 9:5).

But that’s only the beginning. The more I studied Acts, the more I began to see Stephen as a forerunner of Paul, and in many ways, Paul took up Stephen’s mantle. For example:

·         Stephen preached to the Jews in synagogues, reasoning with them that Jesus was the Messiah (Acts 6:9). This set the pattern for Paul's initial ministry: When Paul went into a city, he would find the Jewish synagogue and would reason with them there from the Scriptures (Acts 9:20, 13:5, 13:15, 14:1, 17:1-2).

·         Both preformed signs and wonders (Acts 6:8; 14:3).

·         Stephen was accused of false charges and brought before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem (Acts 6:11-15). Likewise, Paul was falsely accused and brought before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem (Acts 21:16—23:11).

·         Stephen’s preaching incited an angry mob (Acts 7:54-58). Paul’s preaching incited six riots in the cities he visited: Lystra (14:19), Philippi (16:22), Thessalonica (17:5), Berea (17:13), Ephesus (19:29) and Jerusalem (21:30).

·         Stephen was stoned (Acts 7:59). Paul was stoned in Lystra and left for dead (Acts 14:19).

·         Stephen caught a glimpse of Jesus (Acts 7:55-56). Jesus appeared to Paul in prison (Acts 23:11).  

Everything that happened to Stephen, happened to Paul, and then some. What Stephen started; Paul finished. As the lyrics to Gospel song say, “You can bury the workman, but the work will go on.” I have often wondered what it was like for the first time when Paul and Steven finally met in heaven. I think Steven would have wrapped his arms around Paul and said, “Welcome my brother, what you meant for evil, God meant for good (Gen. 50:20).” -DM

A Woman More Precious Than Rubies

The following are scenes from the life of my wife, mother to my three children.

Scene 1

I walk in the house just coming in from a day at work. While in the midst of cooking dinner, Caitlin has her hands greased with hamburger meat. Lydia is on the floor crying her head off, because she wants to be picked up. Meanwhile, I hear Abigail’s voice cry out from the bathroom, “Mommy, I pooped! Come help me!”

Scene 2  

I arrive home to eat lunch and am told the following story while heating up leftovers. “So this morning while I was taking a shower, Daniel decided to pour himself a cup of milk. He sat it on the end-table beside the couch. When I got out of the shower, I discovered that Daniel and Abigail had went outside to play. In the meantime, Lydia went exploring. She found Daniel’s cup of unfinished milk and tipped it over into the floor. When I came out of the shower, I found Lydia sitting in a puddle of milk happily patting her hands in it.”

Scene 3  

We are late for church. Abigail is crying because she doesn’t like the dress, Caitlin has picked out for her. She wants to wear the “Elsa dress.” They butt heads over clothing. Copious tears are shed by a three-year-old who thinks she’s sixteen. Meanwhile, Daniel is having a meltdown because we are leaving and he doesn’t have all the Lego blocks he wants to take to church. He is told by his mother, “You should have already picked those out 30-miutes ago when I first told you to get ready.” She hurriedly pours goldfish into a Ziplock bag. We finally get everyone in the van, and make a few minutes down the road when she says, “Wait! We have to go back! I forgot my music and I’m supposed to sing during service.”

Motherhood. It’s messy, chaotic, unpredictable and exhausting. I see her struggle with it daily. If there’s a harder job on earth, I surly can’t think of it. To be called “Mom” is blessed burden you might say. She will shape young lives and in the process, she will be shaped. It is God’s sanctifying agent in her life. Through it she is learning patience, sacrifice, humility, dependence and strength. She is molding young lives. Teaching them to pray and be kind and brush their teeth. She disciplines and she diapers. She worships and she washes. She is tough and tender.

The above is only the half of it. My helpmate is a busy bee. There’s daily homeschooling. There are the weekly church bulletins that she writes. The Sunday School lessons she organizes for the children’s teachers. There’s praise team practice with a baby strapped to her chest. Planning, organizing and fretting over VBS. Don’t forget late night and early morning Bible studies with other moms. She isn’t on staff at the church, but she should be. Unpaid and underappreciated as I shout from the bedroom in her direction, “Hey Mommy, I’m out of underwear.”  

Here’s what Proverbs 31 says about a godly wife, “12 She does him good and not evil all the days of her life . . . 27 She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. . . 30 A woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” That’s my Caitlin.

Men if you have a wife like this love her like Jesus. She is a precious treasure. Diamonds and rubies could never replace her. Pray for her. Only God can give her the strength to do the job she’s called to do. Help her. Don’t expect her to do everything. Do what you can to lessen her heavy load. The piles of laundry keep growing, and the dishes are always dirty. Learn from her. I have learned much about my own sinfulness by watching my wife. She is God’s mirror showing me warts and all. “God, help me to be a better man for her,” is my prayer.   

Moms you have my applause. I marvel at your God-given abilities. You are a special gift of grace. For every meal, every lesson, every bandaged knee and bedtime story we are thankful.

Thank God for moms like Samuel’s Hannah who prayed for him before he was born. Thank God for moms like Moses’ Jacobed who changed the world by raising up tomorrow’s leader. Thank God for moms like Jesus’ Mary who wept at the foot of the cross and hurt when their children are hurt. Thank God for moms like Linda and Caitlin and Trudy who look like Proverbs 31.

My Lord. All I have known my whole life is Your grace, for I have been surrounded by such beautiful, godly, faithful women. I love you all. -DM