Thirsty?

Woah, its nearly a month since I wrote anything on here...is that good or bad?! I've been stupidly busy, thats my excuse.

Just had a really good weekend. I was preaching at church yesterday, that was fun. Also last week I went with some mates from church (everyone who's anyone basically) to see Tom Wright (Bishop of Durham) speak about social justice. He was speaking about the need to implement the kingdom as Jesus did. He mentioned the prophecy in Ezekiel 47 of the river that flows from the temple; how as it flows down into the valley it gets deeper and wider and brings life wherever it goes. Eventually it flows right down into the Arabah, down to the Dead Sea where there is absolutely no life, and makes it fresh and swarming with life.

"When it empties into the [Dead] Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live." (Ezekiel 47:8b-9)

He went on to say that Jesus implemented/embodied that in John 7 when he said "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him" (Jn7:37-38)

When I have read that passage in the past, I read this..."whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow within him". Which is true, don't get me wrong. But, as "the bish" pointed out, the key word in that passage that everybody misses is "from". Lets look back at the original prophecy in Ezekiel...

"Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing." (Ezekiel 47:12). Where does that sustaining, healing water flow from to bring life in the driest, deadest places? God...via us.

That aside, I feel there is something I need to rant about...the tube. What is the point of that stupid announcement you always hear..."there is a good service operating on all London Underground lines except those with planned engineering works"...in other words, there is a good service operating on all lines except those that don't have a good service operating. Do they ever tell you which lines have "planned engineering works"? Of course not!