Drowned in a well: drought or flood?

For all of human history, people have desired to live closer to water for food and sustenance. Water is a necessity for life, yet so many people in the developming world struggle to access a clean source of this basic element. Every day, 4,000 children die from water-borne disease. Join us in creating sustainable sources of clean water for families who cannot survive without it. (- from Episcopal Relief & Development 2009 Lenten Meditations)

I have two observations, and the only correlation is water.

A few weeks ago, I saw a segment on the History Channel's program called "How the Earth was Made." The show for that day elaborated on the Marianna Trench in the Pacific Ocean, telling viewers about the majestic system of tectonic plates and magma currents. I found out that the trench is the deepest trench in the earth's oceans, and it is the place where "old crusts" go to die, to be swallowed up again underneath the ocean floors. As the crust is swallowed up slowly over time, the ocean will slowly "shrink" and over millions of years we will no longer have a Pacific Ocean. Water will be gone. The continents will shift, and Australia will be neighboring Seattle. California will no longer have a Pacific Coast. Our earth, as we know it, will change forever, and if we don't pay attention to change our ways, the earth will be destroyed faster than the human species can evolve and adapt.

Our church supports something called Youth and Child Visionary Ministries. YCVM is a local Christian effort to care for orphan children of Kumi in Eastern Uganda. Months ago, we found out that the project to build a well was successful, but tragedy struck soon after the project was completed. A child drowned in the well.

During Lent, as we reflect on water and the suffering of no water or too much water, I'm reminded that in the beginning of Creation, "God made the expanse and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse" (Gen 1:7). With our God given knowledge, we have pushed in the dark expanse of the universe, and we have delved deep into the ocean waters. We've peered into the nucleus of the atom and we've replicated DNA. We humans have boldly crossed boundaries and borders of different kinds; we have systematically chipped away at the good separation of earth and skies; we have failed at our duty to be good stewards of this earth and this heaven. We've crossed boundaries in exciting and dangerous ways, pushing us farther and farther away from our responsibilities, and we do so sometimes with carelessness, sometimes with respectful awe. Are we ready to face the consequences of our careless destruction of God's creations? Have we forgotten what we were entrusted with? Emboldened with the knowledge to harness the powers of the earth, the skies, the waters, we must take seriously our responsibility in using that knowledge. If we build a well, we must never forget its life-giving and life-taking powers.