Cabin Chronicles
Somewhere, up in the mountains is a place we call, “The Cabin.” Which is a funny name for a building that USED to be a Church! And while I’ve been going up to those mountains all of my life, I only acquired this slice of Heaven back in 1974. My grandfather had a cabin north of us where I learned to walk and where I spent a great part of my childhood summers. Since God blessed us with our own, we have the joy of going to ‘The Cabin’ every summer to get away, rejuvenate and relax. It is the PERFECT place to spend time with Jesus. The following are just some of the blessings.
Mountain Spring
“Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus John 4:14
People look at me funny when I tell them we don’t have running water up there! It’s like they can’t figure how someone could even LIVE without it! But we manage just fine. There’s a creek below in the valley for baths and, yes…it gets COLD! But we have a saying at the cabin, “It feels good once you get in!” Like with much of life…AND with a life of following, Jesus, it’s the initial ‘getting IN’ that’s the only problem!
Since we don’t have running water, we don’t have a bathroom toilet either! For that, we have our very own ‘Outhouse!’ And a fine one it is! When it comes to drinking and cooking water, we have what many of the small town folk still rely on, by choice! Simply called, ‘The Spring,’ it is a pipe that was stuck in the mountainside, and from which flows what WE think is the cleanest, coldest water in the world. Other than the pipe, it isn’t much different than the method folks used to get water back in Jesus day!
When we need water, we gather up our old milk jugs we have used in previous years, thread a rope through about 20 of them, and head to the spring. Like most things, there is a method to ‘getting water’. After removing the cap, we rinse out the jug, then blow HARD into it to make sure there’s no leak. We then rinse it out, fill and cap it, and take it back to the Cabin, where we let it set until the temperature drops and the condensation disappears off the jug. We have a special shelf inside to store them when they are dry. These last few years, as our family has grown, my daughter Cori added 5 gallon water jugs AND a battery operated dispenser! I guess we’re modernizing… but SLOWLY and in Cabin style!!
Back in Jesus day, it was the woman’s job to fetch water from the town well. There was no real STANDARD size for how big their water pots were. But at 8 pounds per gallon, plus the weight of the clay jar, it COULDN’T have been more than 1 or 2 gallons. I can’t imagine trying to fill up a 25 to 30 gallon water crock inside the house! That would be a LOT of walking and carrying! And SOOOO many little trips would need to be made to keep a family supplied. With CONSERVATION ALWAYS on the mind!
EVERYONE likes to ‘go get water’ when we first get to the cabin. The kids like it the best! But after a while, getting water becomes more like WORK than an adventure. Necessity becomes the motivation, and to the responsible family member with love at the center of every action, it really isn’t WORK as much as it is SERVICE! Which is why Jesus talked about and used water for MANY illustrations.
By the time I manage to GET to the cabin in the summer, I am PARCHED! Thirsty to get away, have a break and get renewed. But even though we have the ‘BEST’ water in the world up there, it isn’t water that I crave. It is HIM! I make a living at making Jesus available to others. But I STILL need to drink from His well myself. As I sat there this year, I was struck by the awesomeness of my life with Jesus Christ for well over 50 years. After ‘drinking a living’ from ‘His well supplied’ life, I can honestly say that He has NEVER lied to me. His Life is STILL the ONLY REAL thirst quencher for my soul. The ONLY thing that satisfies me.
What about YOU? What truly satisfies YOUR thirsty soul?
