Water at 903 Feet!

Yes, they had to drill that deep for water--

and at least we hope there is water.

The well drillers told us that they like to have at least 80 feet of sand before they know they have a good enough well.

And so they had to go 903 feet.

Here the backhoe is removing the sludge brought up by the drill machine to dump in a big pile elsewhere in our pasture.

Of course, the children had a good time watching all the proceedings, 

and learning a lot of new things.

Here is the drill set up.

You can see the round cylinder that the drill system goes through down deep into the earth.

A friend figured that they had to drill about as deep underground

as the Royal Gorge is deep!

They said about 400 gallons of water a minute is pumped through the system to keep the drill lubricated.

At one point, the drillers were afraid that the drill had gotten clogged, and that they would have to pull up 600 feet of pipe and start over,

but finally it was determined that just one jet of the drill had been clogged, 

and they kept drilling.

Big prayer of thankfulness and relief!
What a mess this process is making!

And this isn't the end of it before we get water.

I think of the verse in Isaiah 12:3,

"Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation."
To get to the water, you have to dig a well and get rid of a lot of dirt.

And to get to the joy, you have to get rid of a lot of shame, guilt, and baggage.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus, "for the joy set before Him,

endured the cross, despising the shame..."

We have a goal of having a well that produces plenty of water,

so we put up with the holes dug in our pasture for the sludge, 

and the huge piles of yucky clay and mud and sand (and even a little coal!)

and the rivers of concrete mess--

all for the goal of water.

 Water is the earthly goal.

Joy in the presence of Christ is the heavenly goal.

So we, like Jesus, will endure the cross.

We will put up with the dirt, and the work and the self-denial,

put up with the pain and the shame and the humiliation and the grief and the loneliness,
the scorn and the mockery,

sometimes putting up with being treated, as Paul said, "like the scum of the earth,"

because we seek something on the Other Side.

Something far more glorious than a well of abundant water!