Hello everyone, its Aunt Frenita
The title of today's story is 'Living Water?'
The memory verse is from John 4:14
It says, "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst'"
The message is 'Jesus is everyone's friend'
One morning, Maria had a surprise in school
A new girl was sitting in the desk right next to hers
Maria's teacher introduced the girls
"Maria, this is Pei Ling. She and her parents come from China."
"Nice to meet you, welcome to our class." said Maria
"Nice to meet you," Pei Ling answered with a strong accent
That night, Maria asked Jesus to help her to be Pei Ling's friend
It was good that Maria went to Jesus for help
Jesus knows how to be friends with everyone
One day, Jesus and his disciples were walking through Samaria
on their way to Galilee
The Jews and the Samaritans didn't like each other
They never even spoke to one another
The Samaritans were different
They had a different religion
so neither Jews nor Samaritans felt a need to be friends with each other
Outside the town of Sychar, Jesus sat down beside a well
He was tired, hungry and very thirsty
and he was alone
His disciples had gone to town to buy some food
Usually, this well called Jacob's well, was very busy
But as Jesus sat there, only one woman came to draw water
In the heat of the day, most Samaritans stayed inside
"May I have a drink?" Jesus asked
The woman looked around
'Was this Jew really speaking to her?' she thought
Why would a Jew speak to a Samaritan?
They never spoke to each other
"Why do you, a Jew, as me for a drink?" She replied
"If you asked me for water," Jesus answered
"I wouldn't refuse you.
I would give you living water
and you would never be thirsty again."
The woman listened
Never be thirsty again?
She forgot that she was not supposed to talk to a Jew
All she could think of
Was this water Jesus spoke about
She wanted this special water so she would never be thirsty again
Then, Jesus explained
The living water he spoke of was really eternal life
Which we receive when we believe in Jesus and choose to follow him
The woman believed
She wanted others to believe too
So they could receive the living water Jesus promised
Quickly, she ran into the town
"Come!" She invited others
"Hear a man who had a wonderful message!"
Jesus stayed in Sychar for two days
Pouring the water of life for all the people there
It did not matter to Jesus that the people were different from Him
It did not matter that they were a different religion
It didn't matter that they were hated by the Jews
Jesus loves all the people in our world
Everyone is Jesus' friend
No matter where they live or what they look like
He wants us to make new friends for Him
No matter how different they are from us