Contamination Of A Nation

Contamination of a Nation

“Salt Water Intrusion”

Scripture Reference: James 3:10-12 (KJV)

James 3:10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. 11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? 12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about something that should be very near and dear to all of our hearts

WATER

I don’t just want to talk about water but I want to talk about the source in which we get our water and how detrimental it could be if that source were to become contaminated

For today I would like everyone to consider the source in which they draw water from as a fountain

When I say fountain I am not talking about the faucet at your home

No because that would be a personal problem and easy to fix but I am talking about a natural fountain that the whole community depends on for fresh drinking water.

I also want to take a second and take away the luxury of bottled water too

This way the only water that you have is from the community fountain so your life basically depends on this fountain

The next thing that I want to do is change your thought pattern concerning the word mouth

When I say mouth I am not talking about the part attached to your face because that too could be personal and you could easily win the fight to keep your big mouth shut.

I am talking about the mouth where a small stream contributes to a big body of water. In this case not only your community is in danger but there is a threat for a national disaster.

Since we are talking about water and the importance of it I would like to share a story with you.

While in Iraq we drank gallons upon gallons of bottled water, then one day I asked one of the cooks where does the water that they use in the Dining Facility (Chow Hall) come from. He explained that it came from the river down the road. I am sure that if some of the soldiers realized that we were drinking “creek water” they would probably change their diets to exclude anything that used this water in the chow hall. The truth is however that the water was delicious. It never made anyone sick that I know of and it was lightly filtered before we used it.

Also I noticed cows and every other thing using the same river that we drew water from. Anyone who has ever been in a desert climate and around animals at the same time should know how much they love to play and just hang out in the cool water. Even if you have never been to the desert and around animals at the same time you could probably imagine the enjoyment that the animals feel when they can escape the hundred and twenty degree heat.

It was truly an adventurous experience to find out where that water was coming from and to see it in it’s natural form before they pumped it. We also used this water to shower, shave, wash clothes, etc. It is amazing thinking about the sanitation standard that we had and we were probably in better health than most Americans drinking the finest of mineral and spring bottled waters. The moral to the story?

After considering all of the factors that went into this creek water I can certainly say that it is the salt that makes water undrinkable.

In our scripture passage for today it starts off by describing how blessings and curses can not flow out of the same mouth. We all know people like this. One minute they are blessing us and the next minute their mouth is completely foul and filled with curses. What if this were a mouth to a stream and could contaminate a whole nation with it’s filthy drainage. Something would definitely have to be done quick to stop that mouth from contaminating the complete water source and doing some serious damage to the entire nation.

The scripture goes ahead and ask the reader a question about the fountain. For my entire life I always considered this fountain to be in my home and all I had to do was shut it off and go to the store and get good water. But in this case it is not that easy to get good water.

See the fountain mentioned in this book is actually a public fountain where a whole community would draw their water so if it were to somehow get contaminated it would be much more serious than merely turning a knob shut and going to the closest store to get something better.