A Global Advent: 25 Stories of God With Us Around the WorldSýnishorn

How early do you wake up in the morning and what’s the first thing you do?

Tea, coffee, breakfast, Bible App. Do you scroll social media in the early hours?

For 13-year-old Patrick, every day started with a 5:30 a.m. wake up. He’d grab the empty 20 litre jerry can and start his long walk to the well.

Photo Caption: Patrick on his daily trek to get water, 2 kilometres from his house.

After filling the jug, he’d haul that full can of water, the family’s supply for the morning, back to his home in the early morning hours just in time to leave for school at 7:30 a.m.

Two kilometres there, two kilometres back. Every morning.

After school, he’d repeat the trek. Four more kilometres! His daily chore an act of service to ensure his grandmother had the water the small household needed for drinking, cooking food and bathing.

Like many other Rwandans, Patrick’s family didn’t have access to safe drinking water. The water source near their home carried diseases like dysentery and typhoid, so the daily trek to a well was the most certain way to keep his grandma healthy.

Children throughout the community had to make this daily journey for water. Day after day. Until, that is, the local Compassion centre installed water tanks and a system of pipes to deliver water straight to the community. Now, Patrick and more than 2,000 people in his community enjoy safe water.

It’s incredible how access to clean water, something so many of us take for granted, can dramatically change the quality of life in a community!

Today, the plastic water tanks help to harvest rainwater that can be used during the dry season when water levels tend to drop. And children like Patrick arrive at school refreshed and ready to learn, rather than tired and sore after hauling water in the early morning hours.

Photo Caption: Patrick enjoying safe, clean water in his own community

This beautiful story of being the hands and feet of Jesus to provide practical needs also points to a spiritual picture: the transformational nature of the living water Christ provides.

Enjoy the miracle of Jesus’ living water in your life today. He came as the Living Water to transform our lives and our communities. Who in your life can you direct this life-giving blessing to today?