Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, September 21, 2025
I was parched. I was so thirsty. I was almost through shopping on a very warm day in a rather small store that I knew well. It was fully stocked with groceries, but what I craved before going to the check-out line was a bottle of water.
Shelves of beverages beckoned me – all manner of energy drinks and juices and kombucha and fancy flavors. I stubbornly searched the aisles for just plain ol’ water. Finally I saw, stacked near the front of the store, what you see in my photo – a big 2.5 liter jug of water.
This was more than I was searching for, but it had no additives and the price was right — $2.99. I hefted it into my shopping cart and rolled over to the check-out line.
And there was another selling point: how could I turn down the offer of something labeled Eternal?
That question reminded me of a middle-grade book I read many years ago. Maybe you’ve read it, or have seen one of the two feature films based upon it. I haven’t watched either movie, wary that they might not stay true enough to the story. I’ll never forget the story.
The book is Tuck Everlasting, written by prize-winning author Natalie Babbitt. Winnie, an unhappy ten-year old girl, meets Jesse, a seventeen-year old boy who’s drinking from a spring in the woods behind her house. She is whisked away by his family, who tell her that because they all unsuspectingly drank from this spring 87 years ago, they are now immortal. In a less elegant word, they are stuck. They have unhappily remained the ages they were when they first sipped the spring water, and have no expectation of ever aging or growing into more than they are.
Dilemmas abound. Will Winnie choose to drink the water? Will she protect Mr. and Mrs. Tuck and their two sons? How will they all deal with a villain who emerges from the shadows, who schemes to turn the spring into a money-making bonanza for himself? Would living forever on this earth be a blessing or a curse? The book asks the reader, If you could choose to live forever, would you?
Suddenly the chorus of a long-ago song comes to mind:
“Anybody here wanna live forever, say “I do,”
Anybody here wanna walk on golden streets, say ‘I do.’
Anybody here sick and tired of livin’ like you do,
Anybody here want a home with love forever, say ‘I do.’” *
The song shifts the forever-living from this weary, sin-plagued planet to the golden streets of heaven, so the question dramatically changes. And my answer changes! Yes to living forever with my loving God in heaven! That’s my kind of Eternal! Or, I should say, that’s His kind of Eternal.
But what about those who would answer the question with No? No, I do not want to live forever with God in heaven? Does that mean that they live forever, eternally tormented in the fires of hell?
I’m so glad to say that I don’t think so. I believe the Bible teaches us that, in the end, sin and sinners will be no more. Fire will cleanse this earth, and the result of that cleansing will be eternal.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” says the Lord of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch . . . You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,” says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 4:1,3 NKJV)
This is only one verse in a fascinating study of Bible passages that speak about the purpose and nature of hell. See Hell for more verses.
Turning from fire back to water, let’s join Jesus and the Samaritan woman who encounters Him at a well, where He asks her the favor of a drink of water. Amazed that a Jewish man would speak to a Samaritan woman, she enters into a life-giving conversation with Him, which includes this eye-opening, heart-opening promise:
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13,14 NIV)
As you walk through this brand-new week, be sure to drink enough water – the kind you find at the store, and from your faucets, and especially from Jesus!
* “Say, ‘I Do’” by Ray Hildebrand