I don’t live in the country. I live in the city where you pay a water bill. I would love to live in the country on about 20-40 acres, a nice huge farm pond, and a ranch-style home.
One of the aspects of country life is getting your water from a well. I know how it all works. It’s simple. You drill in a spot where maps and indicators show there is water, tap it, and BOOM, you have water.
But, sooner or later you may have to deal with the fact that your well may run dry, or at least water flow falls dramatically below daily need.
What are your options?
- Drill deeper
- Walk away
Choosing to dig deeper is an investment with no guarantees. Many wells require you to drill from 100 to 600 feet down. At $15 per foot to drill, that can get expensive. There is a saying for those who have well water – “Quantity and Quality are not guaranteed.”
Choose to walk away is what some people have had to do because drilling deep produced no water. I have read stories online of people who have drilled 500+ feet and never found water, even with specialists who said they located water at that spot. With the research and drilling… that’s $10K spent with no water. They had to walk away… unthinkable!
There is another axiom rural residents live by: “Your well. Your problem.”
What’s With The Water Well Story, Rich?
A family that finds itself in a crisis like “no water” is faced with a big decision. You want to exhaust all your options at finding water on your property before you even consider the option of walking away. Walking away is a serious thing, but you can’t get water where there isn’t water. You can drill past 600 feet, but if there’s no water, you continue to waste resources in a futile exercise.
And, it’s not always a case of “no water.” If a family’s basic needs require 50 gallons of water per day, but your well is only producing 10 gallons, you still have a major crisis.
The real question is, how long do you keep on trying to dig deeper or drill in new locations on your property before you quit and walk away?
That is where I am.
My well is my business I started more than a decade ago.
At times it flowed so generously that we had an abundance. We shared. We gave. We saved. We paid off our debts.
For more than 3 years, I have been operating below our need. I dug deeper and deeper, but it has now reached the point where it is apparent the well is dry (actually it’s been apparent for awhile, I’ve just been in denial). No amount of digging will generate the water we need to sustain ourselves on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Three years is a long time to try and hang on. But, when it’s your business, you try things, make adjustments, correct your course, add new features, new services, etc. You do what you can to dig deeper before you are faced with the reality of a dry well.
And sometimes that reality produces denial.
I’m Tired of Digging
I’ve been digging for over 3 years. Actually, I’ve been digging for more than a decade, but I’ve been digging to survive for the last three.
I’m tired.
I’m just simply tired of showing up to keep digging in the same well, deeper and deeper, only to produce a trickle of water or nothing at all.
There is still fire and passion that burns within my bones. This is a big planet and there are many opportunities, careers, and vocations where water exists. Some places the water is just below the surface. Some places it still requires digging deep.
Some places the water exists in such incredible abundance; other places it provides just exactly what a person needs.
That’s okay. I know how to dig, and dig deep.
Anyone can dig. Some may quit before they have dug deep enough, but anyone can dig.
The true skill is not in the digging, but the locating.
I’ve learned much as a business owner over the last decade. I have valuable experience and insight.
I pray that God will give me the wisdom and skill to locate a new source of water so I can dig a new well.
So Really Rich, What’s Up with the “Well” Analogy?
Earlier today I was praying, desperate for God to rescue me, provide, intervene. I have read through Psalms a couple times over the last 2 years. One common theme is hearing the psalmists crying out to God because they feel surrounded by their enemies, abandoned, alone, or desperate. They are left to cry out to the One, the only One who can rescue them from their situation.
As I was praying I heard God say:
God: A dry well
Me: I’m listening???
God: How do you get water from a dry well?
Me: I don’t know. How?
God: Look it up.
That’s what I did. I Googled it and found out that when a well is dry, you have two options:
- Drill Deeper
- Walk Away
I have spent the last few years drilling deeper, and deeper still, and yet even deeper, and deeper again, and finally – even more deep.
Nothing. The well is dry.
How do you get water from a dry well?
The Answer: You don’t. It’s dry.
It’s time to walk away.
There was a 3rd option that came out in my research – locate water in a new place.
As my pastor, Pastor Robert Morris would say, “What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?”
I believe He is saying, “Walk away and let’s go find water in a new place.”
.