Why Witness?

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Introduce Your Friends!

High in the Colorado Rockies, my parents own a redwood cabin sitting on a parcel of land surrounded by National Forest. Our family affectionately refers to it as The Property.

We first visited The Property in April. While exploring, we came across a grove of Aspen trees surrounded by ferns and tall grass. The soil was dark and damp. Wondering if digging would uncover a spring, we got tools from the cabin and prepared to find out.

We soon had a hole carved into the mountain side-a distorted circle about four feet across and two feet deep. The soil became more damp with each shovel full of earth we removed. Gradually the dampness changed to mud. Finally water bubbled up.

The puddle that formed was muddy. It seeped in so slowly that we decided to leave it alone for a while. After a couple of hours we were delighted to find the hole twothirds full of cold, clear water. We took a drink and left, hoping that when we returned it would be full and overflowing.

Imagine our disappointment two hours later when we discovered the water level to be exactly the same as it had been earlier. We pondered the mystery and wondered why it had stopped filling. We probed about in the bottom to see if the seep spots had gotten clogged or covered, but we only made the water muddy again.

We wondered if the pressure on the bottom had increased (as the hole filled) to the point where it could no longer seep. To test that theory, we took an old pipe and pushed it through the soil from the downhill side. It penetrated our reservoir below the water line acting as a drain.

We watched as the reservoir drained lower and lower. Finally it reached the top of the drainpipe. Then an amazing thing happened. Water kept draining out, but the water line remained constant at the top of the drainpipe! We kept waiting for the water to stop draining, but it never happened. In amazement we watched a steady stream continue pouring from the end of the drainpipe.

We ran and got a six gallon container from the cabin. Placing the container beneath the stream of water, we clocked the rate of fill with a stop watch. We couldn't believe the results! The little "seeps" we had uncovered in the ground were producing water at the rate of 3 gallons per minute! We were pleased and drank deeply.

Later that year we returned to The Property in late October for another visit. The aspen leaves had turned to gold, falling like nuggets to the ground. I went for a walk in the forest and decided to check the spring. I was disappointed to find no water coming out of the pipe. The once clear water had become murky and stagnant with tiny insects swimming about.

At first I thought it was simply because the water source had dried up. Then I noticed leaves and debris clogging the outlet. Reaching through the muck, I cleared the drain. Water began flowing once again and before I left for home that week, the spring was clear.

Nature demonstrated this spiritual principle: As you share what you know and love about Jesus, you will receive more to share. Your experience with Him will continue fresh and new each day. If you don't "let it out," what was once new will become old, stagnant and undesirable.

The man who had been controlled by the unclean spirits kept begging Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus refused to permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your own [family and relatives and friends] and bring back word to them of how much the Lord has done for you, and [how He has] had sympathy for you and mercy on you." Mark 5:18-19 (The Amplified Bible)