Count Me In

When the woman of Samaria went to Jacob's Well on that day her life was forever changed, she went figuring only on getting some water for her household needs.  Meeting someone like Jesus was the farthest thing from her mind.  Most likely she had decided long before that day that there were no men like the One she found waiting at the well.  She was a woman who would know such things.  She had known more than her share of men who saw her as damaged goods and treated her the same way.

 

When she got to Jacob's Well she not only met a man unlike any she had ever known, but she also met Jesus.  Jesus.  Maybe she had heard about him.  Maybe not.  What mattered was the fact that she met him and because of that encounter her life was never the same.   A little more than 53 years ago I went to a church meeting because I was told I had to go.  I expected it to be like a hundred other boring church meetings I had attended.  I went because I had to go.  Someone else made the choice for me.  Like the woman at the well, I encountered Jesus that night in a way that changed the rest of my life. 

 

It has surely happened that way for more than just me and the woman of Samaria.  Many times folks start out to do something as mundane as getting household needs handled, or fulfilling a duty, only to find that Jesus shows up in a way which cannot be avoided.  Sometimes it is like turning a corner and there He stands, waiting, calling our name.  Oh, He may make Himself known in moments in which we expect Him to be present, but it is just as likely that He will show up in our lives when we are not even looking for Him.  However it happens, it is a moment with the potential for a life changing encounter.  Such is the witness of more folks than can possibly be numbered and you and I are surely in that number as well.