Sharing Living Water

By David Maldonado

Antonio Maldonado didn’t know much English, so he motioned to an interpreter at the reception at the U.S. White House in Washington.

Antonio, a member of a mining delegation visiting from Peru, saw that the guests were being served fine whiskey, but he simply wanted a glass of pure water to raise for the toast with President Lyndon B. Johnson. Speaking through the interpreter, he politely voiced his desire to a waiter.

Image © Pacific Press

It was a difficult request to make. Everyone seemed to be holding glasses of whiskey, and Antonio didn’t want to make a scene. He didn’t want to embarrass fellow delegates as they wrapped up trade U.S. talks. But as a young man, he had made a commitment never to drink after seeing the ruin that alcohol brought to homes in Peru. Two years earlier, in 1963, he had given his heart to Jesus after hearing Voice of Prophecy radio broadcasts.

While Antonio spoke softly with the White House waiter, a pair of eyes watched him. Those eyes followed the waiter as he brought Antonio a glass of water. As Antonio accepted the water, he heard a voice speak.

“Waiter, wait,” the voice said. “What did the gentleman ask of you?”

“This guest wanted us to change his whiskey glass for one with pure water, Mr. President,” the waiter replied.

Lyndon Johnson extended an arm and handed his own glass of whiskey to the waiter. “Please bring me a glass of water as well,” he said.

After the toast, the president approached Antonio and, almost whispering, asked, “Why don’t you drink like the others?” With the interpreter’s help, Antonio replied with a large smile. “When I was young, I promised myself that I would never drink, and many years later I renewed that promise with God,” he said. “So far, everything has worked well.”

The president extended a hand. “Congratulations for being such a magnificent example,” he said. “I, too, am a man of faith. God bless you.” A firm handshake ended the conversation.

As Antonio mingled at the reception, he felt curious stares. His habit of abstaining from alcohol, strengthened by his faith, had resulted in an unexpected encounter with one of the most powerful people on earth. His heart rejoiced that he had been able to represent God at the White House.

Today, Antonio seeks to represent God every day in Concepción, Peru, where he lives with his wife, Enma. He is ninety-nine and she is ninety — a living witness to their conviction that “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, NKJV).

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Visions of Future Glory,” Pages 722-733, in Prophets and Kings.

Modern science teaches that all matter is composed of atoms, themselves made up of two smaller particles, quarks and leptons, which are believed to be the building blocks of all physical reality.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

If, then, at the core the physical world is quarks and leptons, couldn’t the God who not only created and sustains that world just reconfigure the quarks and lepton when the time comes to resurrect us? Mocking the resurrection, atheist Bertrand Russell asked what happens to those whom cannibals ate, because their bodies are now part of the cannibals’, and so who gets what in the resurrection? But suppose the Lord simply grabs quarks and leptons, the ultimate building blocks of existence, from wherever, and, based on the information that He possesses about each one of us, reconstructs us from those quarks and leptons on up? He doesn’t need our original ones; any will do. Or, in fact, He could just speak new quarks and leptons into existence and go from there. However He does it, the God who created the universe can re-create us, which He promises to do at the resurrection of the dead.

“The Life-giver will call up His purchased possession in the first resurrection, and until that triumphant hour, when the last trump shall sound and the vast army shall come forth to eternal victory, every sleeping saint will be kept in safety and will be guarded as a precious jewel, who is known to God by name. By the power of the Saviour that dwelt in them while living and because they were partakers of the divine nature, they are brought forth from the dead.” — Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1143.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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