Word Count: 496

Meeting God at Your Well

A life-long, precious friend recently had a special experience involving her newly purchased cell phone. As is typically done at the point of sale, some data—such as text messages, contacts, and numbers—from her previous, old phone was transferred to the new one. By the time she drove upstate to attend a family function weeks later, her accumulated texts numbered 143. The trip afforded ample time for recollection of family memories, but especially poignant memories of the fall season. As she arrived at the destination—and, consequently, in a different area of cell coverage—her phone alerted her to a single text from her oldest son. It said:

“I just wanted to see how u are doing today. I am on my break and tried to call but your phone was busy. Love you Mama!”

She immediately recognized the text as a message from the past which had been uploaded to her new cell but, curiously enough, this message was the only one of the 143 which alerted—as if it was a new, incoming text. Why was this event extraordinary? It is noteworthy because her son, a husband and father of two young children, had been tragically killed in a car accident two years prior, about this time of year.

Did this special encounter have a “natural” explanation? Possibly—maybe even probably—but that is exactly the point. Only the Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent God can “Feel” and truly “Know” the depths of such maternal sorrow as my friend has experienced. He is so “touched with the feeling of our infirmity” that He is compelled to manifest Himself to us. As humans, we face the problem of recognizing Him for, oftentimes, He comes clothed in the ordinary—even in an ordinary text message.

There is Biblical precedence for such a statement. In the Book of John, Jesus is sitting at a well. The “commonness” of the moment and the surroundings belie the eternal and grander purpose of His visit. Little did the Samaritan woman know that in her day-to-day drudgery of drawing water—in a very “ordinary,” mundane situation—she would encounter the Creator of the water. For her and her entire town it was the quintessential and transformational moment of a lifetime. Since it was a public well, I can’t help but wonder how many others drew water that day and failed to recognize Him sitting there, simply because He was “clothed in the ordinary.”

As my friend’s experience so beautifully illustrates, may we be confident that He is Jehovah Shammah—“The Lord is Here”—at our “wells” and in our “ordinary.” And, equally important, may He graciously impart to us the capacity to recognize Him as He turns an ordinary day into the Extraordinary with a message of Eternal Life. While the circumstances of our “meeting at the well” moment will probably be different from my friend’s, nonetheless, it will come when we need it the most. Until then, may He find us…vigilant.

Joanne Carraway is a community columnist and resides in Oak Grove.