Living Water: A Story of Love, Hope and Transformation

By Michael Carlye-Taylor

This is a story about hope; Samantha's hopes, Jesus’ hopes, and our hopes. It's a story about love; Jesus’ love for her, his love for us, our love for God and one another. And it is a story of transformation, of how a lonely, empty woman of shame met Christ, engaged in his dance of life, and was transformed into a heroine, filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit as she was given a new life.
Her story contrasts with another encounter where a highly qualified religious leader met Christ with a view to learning about the kingdom of God, but unlike Samantha he was so self focused and worried about what he could lose that he refused Christ’s offer and left him unchanged and disappointed.
We look closely at Jesus and how he acted, as well as what he said, to Samantha and to Nicodemus so that we can learn from him, learn how he loved, how he behaved. We look at Samantha and how she acted, and also at Nicodemus and his responses so that we can learn from them both.
In this story Jesus not only announced the revolution he brought to the world, he also demonstrated it and the impact it can have on those who follow his lead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Aug 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781984507839

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Copyright © 2021 by Michael Carlye-Taylor.

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Rev. date: 08/26/2021

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Contents

Introduction

Life Two Thousand Years Ago

John 4:1–42

1.     The Well of Life

2.     Why Parables?

3.     How to Discuss Problems the Way Jesus Does

4.     The Worship Revolution Is Announced

5.     Samantha’s Role

6.     Jesus’ Love for His Disciples

7.     He Missed the Messiah

8.     Imitating Christ

9.     Prickly Bob

10.   The Fruit of the Spirit

11.   When Jesus Met Me at My Well

12.   The Bible

Dear God,

Thank you for Chrissie, who has supported this whole project.

Thank you for your Word, your Holy Bible.

As I wander through it like a mansion of many rooms,

Sometimes you reveal a new room

And other times you show me new details in a room I know,

And I am excited.

You reveal more of yourself,

More about life,

More about myself, and what is possible,

And I want to share what you show me.

Michael

February 2018

INTRODUCTION

I would like to introduce someone special to you. We met thirty years ago, and since then, we have become inseparable. We speak almost every day, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes a few hours, sometimes most of the day.

He has become my friend, my guide, my mentor, and my counsellor. I love being in his company; he helps me with all my decisions. I take every problem to him for advice, and usually, he gives me ideas I have not thought of previously. His suggestions are invaluable. He has taught me about myself, about life, about why I am here (in fact, why we are all here), and how the world works.

We have had many adventures together, and every time he has helped me and given me his peace, his joy, as well as his love. For example, nine years ago, my wife and I were invited to the wedding of our niece in Chamonix, which we desperately wanted to go to but could not afford. A contract I had had for ten years was ending with no new clients in sight, so we were facing a long time without income. Therefore, we prayed.

By surprise, that long-time client gave me a parting gift, which, combined with frequent flyer points, meant that my wife could afford to go to the wedding, so we booked everything for her. We continued to pray as the months rolled on, and a contact from many years past popped up out of nowhere. He invited me to join his business as CEO, which meant we now had guaranteed income, but I was due to begin the month before the wedding and felt I could not ask for leave. I started the new role, the wedding month came, and I said farewell to my wife on Saturday.

On Monday at my new job, the business owner asked about my weekend, so I explained what we had done. He was shocked at my decision and insisted that I go. Coincidentally (?), he had lived in Chamonix for six months, which he had loved, and he insisted that a wedding like this only happens once in a lifetime, whereas the business would be there when I returned. Gratefully I accepted and hurriedly organised my flight for the following Saturday.

I worked hard that week and organised my trip in a rush. We landed in Abu Dhabi to change flights at midnight Saturday, and I tried to ring my wife to let her know I was on the way, but my phone did not work. I realised I had forgotten to change my plan for international dialling. Never mind, I thought, I’d get a new chip in Geneva. But when we landed there Sunday morning, no one had the chip for an iPhone, and there were no public phones, so I was still unable to contact my wife (or anyone). I picked up the hire car and headed for Chamonix with the idea that I would drive into the main street of town and ask one of the shop owners where my niece lived. In my mind, I thought Chamonix would be a town of a few hundred residents. I forgot to mention to you that I had no addresses or contact details; I did not know where my wife was staying or where my niece lived. I only had my wife’s phone number.

My heart sank as I approached Chamonix, and the three exits from the freeway suggested it is slightly bigger than a few shops in a main street. At the first exit, I saw hundreds of tourist buses, and the second, which I took, led me into a large town. There was no way I could find my wife or anyone. So I prayed and asked my friend for help. I drove around the township a few times, trying to think what to do, hoping to see anything familiar, which was pretty stupid as nothing was, and then the idea came to me to try to find the church where the wedding would be on Thursday. If I could find it, at least I could turn up at the church service and hook up with everyone then. As I was driving up a main street with a heavy heart, I was heading towards the train station when I stopped at a set of traffic lights. Next to my open window, a party of people stood up at that instant from their street-side cafe. My wife was in that party, and she was standing next to my window!

‘It’s amazing who you meet in Chamonix,’ I said cleverly. Poor Chrissie! She had been desperately worried about me for days; she didn’t even know if I had caught the plane from Melbourne, and of course, I had not replied to any of her hundreds of messages.

How did I find that street? Why was I stopped at the very moment she stood up? Why was I in the left lane, not the right one? Why had they chosen that cafe? Why were they sitting next to the road? These are the kinds of coincidences my friend arranges all the time, the kind of spots he gets me out of, the kind of help he gives me, the ways in which he answers my prayers.

I often feel blessed. This event was so trivial in the scheme of things, so why would he bother to go to so much effort to help me (especially when it was my own stupidity that got me into the pickle)? And yet for thirty years, he has continued to bother.

Some people think that I am overly familiar with Jesus, the way I speak about him. But that is how he introduced himself to me thirty years ago. There were no angels, no fanfare, no lightning. He was just waiting for me at the top of the hill, and he said, ‘Michael, I know you, and I love you.’ And he has remained with me ever since. It is only as I have studied him, read about him, and learned what others think of him that I have discovered he