Around 4:00 am this morning I woke up and found myself very thirsty. But my bed felt so good and the room temperature was near perfect so I stayed put. A few minutes later my husband crawled out of bed and headed to the kitchen. I listened as he opened the refrigerator door and no doubt take a swig from the opened Powerade bottle. Then he returned to bed and quickly fell back to sleep. I on the other hand could not go back to sleep. I really, really wanted a drink! And not just anything, I wanted Coca-Cola.

The next hour was not completely wasted as I used this time to pray for everyone and everything that came to my mind. I even asked God to be with others who were struggling with the last few hours of darkness.Finally, I gave up and made my way to the kitchen.

As I walked toward the kitchen I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to disturb my husband so I went to the hall bathroom. There I found a stopped-up, smelly toilet in need of a good cleaning. Apparently the kids didn’t think I needed to know about this during the day! So, I un-stopped the toilet in between moments of dry heaves and then got the comet out and cleaned the nasty thing. After I finished, I did my “business” and proceeded back to my quest for Coca-Cola.

Upon entering the kitchen I noticed lots of sticky spots on the floor so I turned on the light to find what had to be the worst attempt at cleaning up cherry Kool-Aid ever. I grabbed the cleaner and mop, filled up the sink with water, and mopped the entire floor. I then noticed the gummy red stains on the counter tops so I cleaned them as well. Just when I was satisfied with my efforts, I noticed the front of the cabinets, dishwasher, and oven were covered with red spatters. “What in the world goes on after I go to bed?” I wondered amusingly.

Once I finished cleaning the spatters I went to the laundry room to put away my rag and noticed I had enough dark clothes in the basket to run a load of laundry. So, I did. Then I headed back to my room, got in to bed, and went to sle….wait…I didn’t get my Coca-Cola!

I turned to my water bottle which had been there all along and I took a drink. It did not please my palate but it did quench my thirst.

Had I just drank the water in the first place I would have gone back to sleep sooner in peace. I would not have known about the toilet until I took one of my random visits down the hall. I would have discovered the sticky floor later in the morning when the kids were running around and in “firing range” and I would have had the laundry to catch up on. Those things would have still needed addressing either way.

Life is a lot like my early morning. We have goals that we set out to obtain and sometimes there are many obstacles in the way. Sometimes those obstacles get us completely off track and we miss our target and sometimes we never really needed to obtain the goal at all. Sometimes the obstacles lead us to better things.
We just needed to overcome the obstacles in the way to realize we had what we needed all along.

Our Christian walk is much the same. Our goal is heaven. Our obstacles are temptation, sin, health, wealth, greed, painful relationships, loss of loved ones and the list goes on. But, thankfully, our Prize is eternal life with Jesus and he has been here with us all along the journey cheering us on and waiting patiently for us to notice him and let him be the one to quench our thirst.

It’s 9:00 am on a beautiful Saturday morning in hot Louisiana. I’m sitting on the back porch recounting the events of my early morning quest for Coca-Cola. I am so thankful for this time I have. I could be cleaning up messes, but instead, I’m writing a message!

To God be the Glory – He alone satisfies my thirst!
Matthew 5, John 4, John 7, 1 Corinthians 9, Hebrews 12