Jack and I love our daily ventures to Lake Michigan. The minute we get there, he flops down on his back, legs in the air, wriggling toward the heavens in a happy dance. It’s his canine way of praising God for creating the beach.

The second thing he does is jump into the creek where he gulps a tasty drink, but he’s not the only one. Paw prints in the wet sand prove how many others love the water: deer, rabbits, raccoons, seagulls, dogs and a fox. Adidas and Nike have been there, too, and my bare feet leave additional prints.

I don’t share Jack’s love of a “Creek Cocktail” but apparently the animals prefer that over clear, clean lake water. It’s nice to know local critters have an unlimited water supply, unlike animals living in deserts and other dry areas. Not even the biggest crowd could swallow up Lake Michigan.

All of us need water. We might choose to fast from food for over a month and survive (as Jesus did), but no one can fast from water. We need it daily.

I remember the newspaper account of a man afloat in Lake Michigan on a stalled jet ski. He drifted to where he couldn’t see the shoreline and hoped he would eventually be noticed by a passing boat. Unsure whether or not the lake was safe to drink, he went dry, quickly suffering dehydration. When he eventually drifted ashore several days later, he had nearly died of thirst.

Jesus referred to himself as a source of “living water,” water so life-sustaining we’d be foolish not to drink it. In conversation with a woman who was about to fill her earthen jar from a well, he offered to give her a sample of his supernatural water. She said that no water anywhere could be as good as the well water she was about to retrieve. But Jesus said, “If you realized the significance of what I was offering you and who was offering it, you’d eagerly take  it!” (John 4:10)

Thankfully, after two additional days of conversation with Jesus, the woman and many others from her village were able to grasp the incredible value of what he was willing to give, and they drank deeply of it.

Amazingly, Jesus’ water supply is still available to us today. Its benefits are eternal, and when we drink it once, we’ll never thirst for it again. The only requirement is that we bring an empty vessel and a willingness to believe he is who he says he is. After that, he’ll fill it till it overflows.

I’ve tasted this supernatural water, and it is, indeed, life-sustaining and thirst quenching.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13)