Streaming and Streams of Living Water

 

                                                    Streaming and Streams of Living Water

One day our daughter Shanda told us about a movie that she and her sons had watched together. “I think you would like it,”  she said and went on to explain that it was an animated movie about a robot named WALL-E.

Getting together with her and the family for a movie night sounded like fun, so we arranged a time and offered to bring the popcorn popper and popcorn. They were planning on “streaming” the movie from the internet and watching it on the big screen of their “smart” TV.   

A few days later, she also invited us to dinner before watching WALL-E. While we were enjoying a great taco dinner that evening prepared by our son-in-law Chris, he made the comment that I should write something about streaming.   

“Streaming?” I asked, surprised at his suggestion.

“Well, you know,” Chris said, “this is your first experience, isn’t it?”

I was delighted that he was reading my stories; however, all I knew about streaming could be summed up in one word, “nothing!”

“Streams” conjured up memories of fishing, wading and tubing; of plunging my tired feet into icy cold water after a long day of hiking; and of the beauty of rushing water over smooth granite boulders. And “streaming” brought to mind what would happen if the huge water tower in our neighborhood burst!

 Streaming a movie would definitely be a new experience. After eating dinner and making the popcorn, we found places to sit in front of the television in the family room. The images on the TV screen were indeed bright and clear and of great quality, all produced by a continuous stream of codes from its computer brain.

Al and I also appreciated the message, or perhaps messages, of the movie WALL-E which transported us several hundred years into the future to planet earth, a planet so covered with trash that its inhabitants could no longer live there.

Left behind to clean up the junk were small robots with the word “WALL-E emblazoned on their metal bodies. Thus, the origin of the name of the robot featured in the movie, perhaps the only one remaining that was still operational. WALL-E’s programmed task was to go out every day, scoop up trash into his built-in compactor and then spew it out in the shape of a cube.

Eventually the landscape was covered with skyscrapers of junk, and all signs of vegetation had disappeared. When violent dust storms descended upon the desolated land, the   little robot would scurry into his home, the back of an abandoned truck.

Inside, he had neatly stashed away various “treasures” that he had found, like a pair of glasses, a cigarette lighter and an old TV that still worked. WALL-E watched “Hello Dolly” repeatedly on his television, seemingly mesmerized by the singing and dancing in the musical. He seemed more humanlike than robot, experiencing loneliness and other emotions.

In the meantime, the people were living on a huge luxury cruise liner in space, the  Axiom.  They spent their lives on comfy recliners that were moved around automatically on conveyor belts, eliminating the need for walking. Robots delivered their meals and took care of everything they needed.

Other than occasional prerecorded announcements from the captain, there was no personal interaction.  They were constantly fixated on the computer screens attached to the front of their recliners. Life on earth had been forgotten long ago.

When a special robot named EVE was sent to the planet to search out anything growing and bring it back to the Axiom, she happened to meet WALL-E. I’ll leave the rest of the story to your imagination. However, Shanda summed it up well by saying that it took two robots to show people how to live again.

Jesus offered living water to all who are spiritually thirsty. He promised that by putting our faith in him, the Holy Spirit would flow into our hearts bringing new life, eternal life, and then would flow through us to others who desire a deeper relationship with God. Spiritual streaming!

Thirsty? Try it!

“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive.” John 7: 37-39 NIV