There are many advantages to growing up on a farm. For me, one of those was having well water to drink. But I when I tell people that, some are not sure what to think.
Let me tweak that a little. As I grew, I began to get more off of the farm. One of the first things I noticed was that the vast majority of people had “city water.” That’s what my family called water piped in from a utility company. Whenever I had to drink city water, I would brag about the better taste of our well water. Most people understood, but there were a few who didn’t know what to think. Seriously. They thought I was talking about the classic well in fairy tales. You have probably seen pictures of them. They have a round stone wall with a little pointed roof over the top of it. You have to lower a bucket down by a rope for many feet to get the water. Of course, I tried to explain that we had an electric pump and we got water though a faucet like they do.
The funny thing is that nobody ever asked if we had to crank a hand pump to get water. Why is that funny? Because one of my cousins has one that stands a couple of feet from his back door. When they concreted that area, he had it poured around the antique pump. Not only do I think it’s very pretty, but I am somewhat attached to it.
My cousin’s daughter and I used to play together when we were girls. She was one of the few girls I played with. Anyway, we loved to crank that old well pump. When we first started, we actually thought that we could get some water to come out of it. That being said, we didn’t expect a gusher like you see when they strike oil. We just wanted a few drops of water. One day her dad walked by why were cranking the old pump. He said: “You all are wasting your time. There ain’t no water anymore.” Did we listen? Nope. We continued in the hopes that we would get just one drop of water. Needless to say, we never got anything out of that old pump except for some rust. While it was a little disappointing, we still had a good time. How many kids get to do something like that?
“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13-14 (KJV)
Getting water from the well in that time was very hard work. Plus, the water drawn didn’t last too long. People do something similar today in that they strive for something that doesn’t give a lasting satisfaction. Only Jesus can provide that. Once He quenches the thirst of your soul, you don’t need anything else.
The picture with the article is of our bathroom. We put in a new vanity, sink, and faucet a few years ago. Tim left it up to me to pick out what I wanted. After he had everything installed, one of my friends made the comment that faucet and sink resembled a pump used for wells. I was blown away. So, I guess you can say I finally found a way to crank water from a pump.

Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.