The Woman at the Well In Madison

A year ago this time, I came back from a week in Madison brimming with excitement. I had participated with fifteen other IV staff in a week of thinking and dreaming and praying about building healthy, growing chapters.

My enthusiasm carried me into the fall...where it was met with a harsh reality that didn't turn out anything like I thought it would. It wasn't all bad. The hardest part of it was what it revealed about my own soul.

So it was with a humble and cautious heart that I returned to Madison last week. I was set to participate in a situation much the same as last year--thinking about healthy growth. I wanted the results to be different. But I wasn't sure what that looked like.

The Scripture that came to mind was John 4, the woman at the well.

In that passage Jesus meets a woman in the heat of the day coming to draw water. In the course of the conversation we get a picture of this woman's checkered past--several husbands, living with someone who's not her husband.

This explains why she's drawing water when all the other women would generally draw water in the cool of the morning or evening. She's avoiding the town social and gossip scene.

So the well is her place of shame. It's her daily reminder that she's made mistakes and is now an outcast as a result. And it's significant that it's here, at this well of her shame, that Jesus meets her.

The well of shame is now the place where she has met "Messiah." Jesus makes one of his most direct and powerful self-identifying statements in all of Scripture that conversation.

And so I prayed that returning to Madison last week, this place that reminded me of my mistakes from the year before, might be a redemptive experience. That the Lord might meet me there.

And he did. I was disciplined in Scripture and prayer going into the week. I was disciplined in Scripture and prayer during the time there.

But most importantly, the Lord was good to meet me, to give perspective. I came back encouraged but not intoxicated, expectant but still recognizing the limits of my own plans.

Several weeks ago I argued that second chances weren't the same thing as true redemption. I still think that's true. But man, it feels good to have them.