The Devotional - A Look at the Book #798

by Jesse Abel

A Word from Papa “J”

 

There once was a lady from St. Helen who was a noted felon. Her speech was mostly cursing and she needed no rehearsing. Her life path ended. The evidence her tombstone! Her epitaph, the evidence of wrath. Proverbs 10:25

 

Good Morning

 

My early days in the Navy was on surface ships and one of the destroyers I was on spent a few weeks in Naples, Italy. Since we were going to be there for a longer than normal period of time our captain volunteered the crew to renovate a bombed out orphanage. Most of the building was in good shape but there was one section that was off limits to the children and this is where we worked.

 

During World War Two the Germans used the building as a military headquarters and sleeping quarters for some of their high ranking officers. One section of this area was bombed out with partial walls and gaping holes. Other areas were filled with bullet holes and some of the rooms had clothing lockers still filled with German uniforms. The lockers were riddled with bullet holes and the clothing too.

 

I remember that there were many children in this place, they were dirty, skinny and lonely looking. Today, they would be in their late fifties or early sixties. Many of the sailors, who came with me, came for one reason. The promise of free vino (wine), all the wine you could drink while mending the bullet holes, patching cracks in the walls and fixing the roof.

 

When we saw the children our purpose changed, the men in our group seemed to wake up to the reality they were facing. The water that these children were drinking was vino too, because the water the orphanage did receive was used only to wash clothes and then to bathe. It was not potable (drinkable).

 

Water came once a day by a truck; if one of the children tried to drink this water they would be scolded. There were bottles of wine everywhere and most of us sailors feared drinking the wine since there was stuff floating in the bottles and the cap on the top was wadded up newspaper. Yet and without compunction the children drank from these bottles with ease.

 

My thoughts of this event in life are many, for example the fallen dynasty of the Roman Empire, the destruction of Israel in AD 70 and even the woman at the well in John 4:1-26. Water plays a life giving role in our everyday life, without water we physically die and without the Spiritual water that Jesus offers, we spiritually die. Jesus satisfies our need for God by satisfying the thirsty soul who worships Him in Spirit and in Truth.