God, Wells, and the Spiritual Life
Analogy of "Hydrofracturing"

     Dr. T. Phillip Bell, the May speaker at Zion Lutheran Church's "Men's 710" breakfast fellowship, addressed the issues of pressure in life. Using the analogy of "fracking," he laid out a strategy for managing life's stresses. "Hydrofracturing" is an applied geological principle used to generate better flow from a water seam deep in the earth. By applying pressure into a seam of water from the surface of a well, the seam is fractured, allowing more water to flow into the well, to be tapped by those who draw on its resources. It is a Biblical principle that pressures in life open up the spiritual resources for all of us. Pressures in life open up access to God's grace, but the waters of life may be "lost" through quarreling, strife, and other distractions. Such turmoil and stress are the direct result of not relying on God's Word.

     Robertsdale's Dr. Phil Bell discussed management of stress at Zion Lutheran Church's "Men's 710" breakfast and speaker fellowship for May.

     Wells access water resources by digging down to the water vein. What is at first a trickle becomes a quality flow when that fracturing pressure is applied. But once the water is flowing, the focus must change to protecting the well, i.e., watching what you have next to your well, so that the well does not get tainted. The Bible through its historical snapshots of people being stressed and yet receiving God's spiritual resources, provides insight into good spiritual well maintenance.

     In terms of parables, for example, the prodigal son and his brother both had well problems, the first a dry well and the second a full well tainted by jealousy. Families often have well and resource problems. Issues related to marriage (John 9:10), loneliness (Genesis 2:18), self-worth (Genesis 29:32), self-sufficiency (1 Kings 17), and a variety of other stress points in life, each relate to dealing with the development of spiritual resources, the fracking and ultimate drawing on that "spiritual well." The Christian life is complicated by stress since the thirst for answers to stress open each of us up to temptation in a way that compromises our access to God and His well in our lives. Yet, our Heavenly Father continues to enable each of us to draw on His resources as we access His Word, a good reason for a daily devotional life and reading the Bible.