Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, December 21, 2025
I remember bobbing for apples in a metal tub at the Stewarts’ house when I was a child. I was a shy little girl, not eager to plunge my face into cold water in order to chase and grab an apple with my teeth. (And who thought that was a good idea anyway? It seems unattractive and even hazardous to your health, especially viewed through the lens of recent global pandemic experience!)
I hadn’t thought of the Stewarts’ party for many years until last week, when we drove State Route 167 through Kent and saw hundreds of pumpkins bobbing in the flooded fields. A few days later we weren’t able to make that drive; a six-mile stretch of the road, including the route we drove, was closed both north and south due to continued flooding.
Words that have dominated the news the last two weeks include: rain, wind, flooding, forecast, dam, levee, closure, rescue, and atmospheric river. And one more word I heard several times: saturated.
Yes, our ground is saturated, causing concern that strong winds could topple trees made vulnerable by their soggy footing, and those downed trees could cause all sorts of harm.
That word saturated has lodged in my mind. I’ve turned it over and over, thinking of how I usually hear or use the word myself. I hear commentators lamenting that we are living in a media-saturated culture. I remember writing on more than one occasion that we live on a sin-saturated planet. I believe both of these things to be true.
But is there any upside to the word? Can it be positive as well as negative? Is there anything in the Bible that is described as saturated?
To answer the last question, I think of Elijah on top of Mount Carmel, challenging the pagan prophets of Baal to a test to see which God or god would answer a sacrifice by sending fire upon it. As we read the story in I Kings 18, we hear him call for twelve large jars of water to be poured over the sacrifice he has prepared, until it is thoroughly drenched in water. And then:
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” (I Kings 18:36-39 NIV)
According to vocabulary.com, saturated originally meant “satisfied . . .” It seems that in this Mount Carmel showdown, God was satisfied with Elijah’s faithful, courageous service, and the people were satisfied that the true God had showed up, and burned up, the saturated sacrifice.
No other saturated circumstances come easily to mind from my Bible memories, but I jump instead to a word that could be a close cousin: overflowing.
I think I made that mental leap because I was still searching for a positive shine on the word saturated, and the word overflowing reminds me of one of my most favorite Bible verses:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
This verse seems to be full to overflowing with wonderful words! God, hope, all, joy, peace, trust, power, Holy Spirit! I’ve discovered that I can’t read it without smiling.
As we enter Christmas week, closely followed by the turning of the page to a new year, Romans 15:13 is my prayer for myself, and for you, as we trust in Him!