Aren’t the readings this week about the journey of faith? The Israelites in the desert, with some stubbornness, come to trust in the God who really is with them and saves them.

The Israelites grumbling in the desert asked the right question, the only one that matters when you come right down to it: Is the Lord in our midst or not? If not, we might as well get what we can in this world and Commandments be damned.

To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.

He thought he’d lost everything. He’d lost his job. He’d lost his car. He’d lost his self-respect. And now he was losing his family. The one thing he couldn’t seem to lose was his thirst.

A young manager signed on to run a fundraiser at his parish. He asked for 10 volunteers to help pull all the plans together. Then he set them to work during the day; at night after his regular job, he’d stop by the parish to see how things were going.

A while back, a young deacon came to our parish to help out on weekends. He loved coffee, the stronger the better. And if he wasn’t drinking coffee, he had a large bottle of diet cola in his hands. So I was surprised on the night before Ash Wednesday when he announced he had decided to give up caffeine for Lent.

In our journey through Lent we seek the living water and true food Jesus offers us to do the will of God.

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.