"There was no water..."

...and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron.” Numbers 20:2

Once again we found ourselves without water. The main pump was broken again that pumps the water out of the thermal hot springs, up the mountain and into everyone’s aljibe (cistern). There was no notification this time, so we used water not realizing we needed to be conserving it. We found out on a Sunday that the pump had been broken for a week already. On Tuesday morning we ran out of water, even though we had only used it for flushing toilets and washing hands.

Steve and I were standing in the kitchen, frustrated with the way things run (or don’t run) in Mexico. I said, “I feel like the Israelites, whom God had provided for all along the way and when they run out of water, they start complaining again against Moses and God.” At least our complaining wasn’t as dramatic as theirs—“If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!” (verse 3). God HAS provided for us every time when we haven’t had water, or electricity, or needed medical help, or needed someone who was bilingual to assist in communicating. So why do we, like the Israelites, complain first and pray second? Again, God is challenging us about our attitude of comfort and security being our sense of joy instead of HIM! So once again we prayed.

God answered in the form of sending Lupe, the gardener (the owners of the home pay to have a gardener, which is a good thing since we know nothing about the trimming and upkeep of tropical plants.) He normally shows up on Friday. He came on this particular Tuesday because he had a very large bucket of fresh red raspberries for us. Why? Probably because we had a long conversation with him on the previous Saturday, when he had shown up quite inebriated. We shared the gospel the best we could in Spanish. We prayed for the Holy Spirit to help our words stick in his mind and heart. Then Steve and Josh gave him a ride home to Jocotepec (about 7 miles). Anyway, he showed up at our house shortly after we had prayed about the water. Steve told him we don’t have water. He said he’ll be back later. He came later with a hose and siphoned water from our neighbor’s aljibe (they are not home—usually only staying a few days each month) into our aljibe. Once again, we thanked the Lord for providing, maybe not in the way we had thought He would provide, but He always provides what we need for that day. The main pump was fixed again within a couple of days and all the aljibes were filled with fresh, hot (thermal) water. May we encourage each other to pray first when we have problems and fears and try to skip the complaining, (or make it a distant fifth place)!