Thirsty

What am I thirsty for? I ask that question as I listen to the rain beat down on our house and I watch the river that flows through the park behind our house rise. I've been asking myself that question for a few weeks now ever since I watched a video called "Thirsty". The first week of June, at our Saturday night Mosaic Church, we talked about being thirsty for hope . That very week a friend of mine at work told me that his best friend's ex-girlfriend hung herself from her kid's swing set on Memorial Day. The neighbors found her dead. She had lost all hope. Since then, my friend who told me the story, who himself is a recovering alcoholic, hasn't shown up for work in three weeks. No one's heard from him lately. He's back drinking again. Is it that he's drinking to satisfy his thirst or is he drinking again because there's a thirst deep within himself that he has never been able to quench and he thinks he can quench with alcohol? Has he lost all hope of ever quenching his thirst? Does the alcohol simply numb the thirst for a while? I believe that humanity was created with a thirst...a thirst that only God Himself can quench. We see it from the very beginning with Adam and Eve's desire to walk with God in the garden. They were thirsty for a relationship with their creator. The animals, even creation itself, couldn't satisfy that thirst for relationship with God. Humanity is hopeless without the God who made us thirsty. I find myself trying to satisfy my thirst for Him with other things...so many times. Those things always leave me thirsty. In the New Testament, the prodigal son tried to satisfy his thirst with everything but his father. But, when he finally went home, he found his father running to him, ready to quench his thirst. What am I thirsty for? Ultimately, God. He's not who I always run to, but He always runs to me.
Duane