Every house in our community here has its own personal well but with the current dry season we’re in we are starting to see houses going dry. Our neighbor who just moved in 2 days ago was surprised to see his well only produce about 1 bucket of water a day for his household. It is hard to believe that a place like this, which experiences torrential downpours, could ever run out of water but here we are.

Sometimes we can look at field workers and think they could never run dry in doing ministry. And yet, oftentimes, here we are. Every day we live among thousands of lost souls, every day we hear calls blaring from speakers or incense burning or chants repeated which attest to their lostness. Every day we’re needed to give time, money, resources, affection, love, consideration, or conversation to this great number of souls around us…and after a while there can be nothing left in the well.

Looking at my own past I see I’ve been prone to do ministry from a reservoir. Drawing on past experiences, or my natural inclinations or giftings to get the job done. I think there has been good which came from it, and it very well may have impressed some people, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a puddle or if it’s a lake if we do ministry from a reservoir, then in demanding times we will run out. And ministry is just such a demanding time.

If my closest days to God or most spiritually abiding days are in the past and not the present, I will run out. And whether it be a seasoned field worker or newborn believer neither are immune to this. We are called to have living water flowing freely. In this life, I am experiencing dry times because my reservoir cannot be filled with enough love to give to all these people who at seemingly every part of every day wants my attention. The only way I can consistently give moment by moment is to consistently receive moment by moment.

What I’ve seen is that the kind of ministry we do is not infertile landscapes but in blistering deserts. And the dry season is longer than we think. Let’s not send workers who work from reservoirs, let’s not be saints who work like that either. Let’s get past our natural abilities, or personalities, or past mountaintop experiences and into the humble dependency, morning + evening abiding relationship with Christ. Oh, what a simple stream, with deep earth moving currents, the abiding life of Christ in the Word and prayer is. It never runs dry.