During the course of the next two months, you’ll notice another voice having a say in this column. Robert McCollum is training to be a pastor and is carrying out a summer placement with me. So as part of his training he’ll get to try his hand at writing this column every other week. Over to him:

Bank Holidays—you’ve got to love them. However, I can’t say that I was thinking exactly like that on Monday morning. I had, for better or worse, agreed to take part in a relay team running in the Belfast Marathon. So, on Monday morning, I joined 17,000 other crazy people in pounding the streets of Belfast.

Looking around the other competitors as I ran, I could see that most of them had prepared properly for the event and were carrying water bottles and energy drinks in their special running belts. Stupidly, I had nothing. I felt such a fool. My head went down and my pace gradually slowed. I was parched. My mouth was bone-dry. I knew I had quite a bit still to run. Then I saw the sign. There it was—a beacon of hope which gave me a sudden burst of energy: ‘Water Station ahead’.

That cup of water beats any other that I’ve had. That feeling of water quenching my thirst was simply something else. Re-hydrated, I could keep on going and finish my leg of the relay.

As I ran on, I was reminded of the calendar verse for this month:

Jesus answered, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst” (John 14:4).

Perhaps you too know what it is to experience desperate thirst. At that moment in time, you do not want a three course meal, or money, or a holiday in the Caribbean. Only one thing can satisfy you—a drink of cool, fresh water.

Perhaps you find that you are thirsting for something more in your life, something that will quench the longings of your heart. And maybe you have tried to fill that longing with all sorts of things, like money, holidays, alcohol, work, drugs or sex. Like physical thirst, only one thing can satisfy you—Jesus. He can quench the thirst of every soul. Ask Jesus to fill the void in your life, and you will never thirst again.

Jesus answered, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst”. (John 4:14)