A New Thing

Isaiah 43:19

Spring! I love spring, and I bet you do, too. And never have I loved spring as much as this particular spring in the year 2021. Signs of hope abound, awash in “spring green”, cool nights, moderate sunny days and splashes of color from oh so many flowers.

Imagine with me that you walk out your front door into the world, and suddenly realize that something is … different. Some of those spring sights you are used to are “off”. What happened? Why are those redbuds no longer red? Dogwoods no longer white? The world is still beautiful, but the familiar has shifted, morphed into a different thing – a new thing. And it leaves us wondering … is it okay to be unsettled and excited at the same time?

This is where we find ourselves at Living Waters for the World in the spring of 2021. COVID-19 has changed the world, and we have had to adapt. We all have. Take a moment to think of how you do life today, versus two years ago. “Adaptive change” is no longer just jargon, but a constant companion.

Living Waters for the World is built on relationships. They serve as the foundation upon which our ministry stands and thrives, with over 1,000 water partnerships throughout the world. Heretofore, those relationships have been built and nurtured in-person. The challenge before us is how to build relationships in other ways – in new ways – that serve to fulfill God’s call for clean, sustainable water in the world. Who knew Clean Water U could be conducted online – twice now? Who knew that a water team and their international partner could work together virtually to install a water system and lead health education? And, who knew that by doing these strange and different things, the Living Waters for the World family table could grow larger, welcoming new folks who might otherwise not have been able to serve or be served? Who knew?

God knew. God has always known:

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. -- Isaiah 43:19

Lest I give the impression that this has been or will be easy, it hasn’t nor will it be. In a world like ours, there is no easy button, and many have been the days we wished there were! But there is a joy button – a button that our dedicated volunteers and staff choose to press every day as they work tirelessly to see clean water flow, building relationships in new ways, joining God in a new thing.

Peace to you this day, and every day.

Steve Young is the Executive Director for Living Waters for the World. He and is family are members of Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tennessee.