When I was a student in Christian Training Center we took a missions trip to the desert of Sonora, Mexico, where we participated in dedicating a church in a small impoverished village. The simple adobe church structure only had electricity to one solitary light bulb hanging from the exposed rafters (powered by a generator), but was artfully decorated with toilet paper streamers also hanging from the rafters. There was only one door and several openings for windows, but all remained wide open because of the intense heat.

We stayed at a motel a few miles away, but it was more like a 1950s motor park. The final day we were preparing to depart and knew we had an all day excursion in the desert before we would have safe drinking water available. We all went to the office to purchase water, pop or juice from the cooler. By the time I got there, the cooler only had three bottles left, all Mexican beer. I told the group leader my dilemma. He said, “You’ve got to drink something”, and walked out the door. So, I bought a bottle of Mexican beer and drank it. It lasted me all day.

When I surrendered my life to Christ two years before, I was an alcoholic and was instantly delivered from my bondage. Since the Lord set me free, I had no intention of stepping back into that lifestyle. That would be offensive to the gift of God. So, this was a struggle for me to compromise on that commitment. I was new to my faith and feared God doing some “judgment” in my life, but that never happened. I learned something about God’s grace and about how valuable pure water can be when you’re thirsty.

“Good news from far away refreshes like cold water when you are thirsty.” (Proverbs 25:25).