Is Your Hose Kinked?

Rick, my good friend, is a master plumber. He is visiting our JOurneY family for a few months enjoying a reprieve from the Michigan winter. I was telling him how bad the water pressure in my house had been for a long time. He graciously volunteered to check our well and tank for us. 

Yesterday after we ate breakfast at the Waffle House with some of the JOurneY Men, we crawled under the house to check things out. The gauge was bad. The switch was bad. The tank was bad. It was not good news. So, we headed out to Lowe’s to pick up parts. What I thought was going to be a thirty-minute job, turned into an all-day affair. 

When we got everything installed, we checked the flow with a garden hose. I bought Wanda one of those shrinking hoses that extended when the water flowed and shriveled up when the flow stopped. Rick hooked it up to the tank, and I pointed it out across the yard. The pressure was wonderful. The water shot clear across the yard. WOW! THANK YOU, LORD!

When Rick turned the water off, the stream became a dribble, and the hose became limp in my hands. I began to think… what is the purpose of a hose? To bring water to a place of use and need. The hose exists to carry water. If water is not flowing through it, it is just a hollow, useless tube of rubber, metal, or plastic. Water is the reason it all exists and was created to begin with.

Jesus said that if He was our life… if He lived IN us, THROUGH us, FOR us, and AS us, then out of our inner being would flow rivers of Living Water. He is Living Water. He is Life. Without Him, there is no life. How long can we survive without water? A few days max? We curl up and die without water. Physically die. Without the Living Water, we die spiritually and eternally. 

In a sense, we are like the hose. We live and exist to bring Jesus, Living Water, to our little corner of the world. Some of us are pipes which bring water into homes for drinking, washing, cooking, etc. Some of us are garden hoses that refresh to plants and trees that beautify our land and bring life-giving oxygen to us all. Some of us are big fire hoses helping to put out fires which destroy homes, forests, etc. Some are huge metal pipes bringing water from far off places to communities which branch out and serve the needs of towns and cities. All are created differently, but all have a common purpose… to bring water to people and things that need it. Does everyone need water? Well, duh! Does everyone need Living Water, Jesus? Well, double duh!

God created us to be His Temple… His vessel… His vehicle. He has honored us so much by making you and me His home. He also meant for us to receive great joy and blessing whenever we function in the manner in which He created us. I could imagine how proud and fulfilled my flexible hose felt when the water was gushing though it unhindered by kinks and weak water pressure. That’s one thing we don’t have to worry about with our Living Water. Jesus’ life gushes from within us with a never-ending supply of joy, peace, love, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. 

We will never have to worry about our Water supply. However, we do need to be wary of kinks in our hose. Sometimes selfishness will turn our will away from the flow of Living Water. When that happens, He becomes a trickle through us instead of a torrent of grace. It happens because we forget that without Him, we are just a few pounds of chemicals, just like a hose with no water.

It’s not my job to produce the Water. My job is to remain pliable and submitted to the Living Water so that He can flow freely. When I relax, He flows. When I try to help the Water flow, I get “kinky.”

You think about that…

Blessings,

Kenny