The Source

I remember the anticipation of going to summer camp!

Hiking, swimming, and meeting new friends made summer camp a special place. During the summer of 1981, at the age of nine, I prayed to make Jesus Lord of my life at Camp Woodhaven in West Boylston, Massachusetts. That week, Ranger Rick was our speaker and he had a fun exercise to help us memorize Bible verses. Using two felt boards, he would have words scrambled for us to put back in order to the music of the Lone Ranger song.

Our Bible verse to memorize the week Ranger Rick was there was: I John 4:7-8, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” I’ll never forget putting this memory verse back in order and it was as if the same was happening inside my heart. Finding the source of God’s love for me was a spiritual work happening within me.

When I reflect on God as the source of love, I remember the story of Jesus at the well. Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but 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.” (John 4:13-14) Jesus came to do the work and will of his Father. It was not to find hope in ourselves, but to surrender and find hope in God through a personal relationship with Jesus.

I’ll never forget the day in Haiti when we drilled a well at our mission for the second time. The first attempt in 1983 failed. When the well drillers returned on March 17, 1986, God provided a miracle and they hit an artesian spring. They drilled 185 feet and bore through 15 feet of rock when they finally struck water which began to flood our mission. In one moment, we had no water and then the next, an abundance of water. The discovery was life-changing because we then drilled wells all across the coastal plain of Leogane and continued to find artesian springs...to the glory of God! This new source of water saved lives that were once sick from polluted water. This analogy is the same for our hearts and lives. We must dig deep into who God is and how He alone can fill us with His love as the source.

The well we drilled at the mission back in 1986 still runs today. I remember the first day I tasted the artesian spring water; I knew I would never thirst again. Can this be the same for us today with finding love from God as the source for our lives? Too often we hear people say, “love is a choice” or “love is a feeling” when in truth, love is a Source! If you don’t know the source you can’t make a choice to love. Our lives were not intended to be a reservoir but rather a river. When we are filled up with God’s love we can share it with others. Today, tap into God as the Source. ~Tim DeTellis