By John Grant
“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14
Life was never to be a bed of roses for Richard Blanchard. A severe lung problem developed, and Blanchard was left with one-third of his lung capacity. But a diminished physical well-being did not stop young Blanchard.
In 1953, he became the pastor of a church in Coral Gables, Florida, and one day, was asked by a young couple to perform their marriage ceremony. However, the couple was quite late for their counseling appointment. Blanchard told his secretary, I will wait for thirty minutes and I’m leaving. He then went to a nearby Sunday school room and sat down to play the piano for a while.
He later said, “When I was not in the mood to be used of God, God was in a mood to use me.” In less than thirty-minutes, as he waited for the young couple, God gave him the inspiring song “Fill My Cup, Lord“.
Like the woman at the well I was seeking or things that could not satisfy: And then I heard my Savior speaking: “Draw from my well that never shall run dry”. Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up, Lord! Come and quench this thirsting of my soul; Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!
Dick, as he liked to be called, was a pastor in our community when I got to know him. Even debilitated by his lung disease, he could still play a mean trombone. I was fascinated as he told me of writing Fill My Cup Lord. God gave him the words in six minutes and it took another twenty to complete the music. He said there had been a few moments in his life when things came from God and there was no other way to explain them. Writing Fill My Cup Lord was one of them.
There were times Dick was empowered by God and times he had to lean on God. I remember when a tragic accident caused his son Rick to be a quadriplegic and the reliance he put on his relationship with his Lord.
Like Dick, as Christians, there will be times we are empowered by God and times we will have to lean on the Savior. It reminds me of another great song: “What a friend we have in Jesus.” Certainly we do and He will empower us to do great things and he will be our comforter in times of distress.
(a thought on life from John Grant )
You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2012/09/03/jg_fill-my-cup-lord/
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney