Drinking From the King's Cup

Drinking From the King's Cup

Buddy and I visited a friend in the nursing home yesterday. We have been friends since we were just little tikes and he's a relative of Buddy's. He had a horrible four-wheeler accident a couple of months ago and was seriously injured. For several days, he wasn't expected to pull through. After weeks and weeks in the hospital and undergoing lung surgery, he is now at the nursing home in Morrilton for rehabilitation.

Just the week previously, Buddy had visited him at the hospital in Little Rock and he could still barely speak and was unable to walk. Much to our surprise when we walked into his room at the nursing home yesterday, the second he saw us he smiled really big and threw up his arm and said, "Hey, Buddy and Susan!" Buddy couldn't get over how much he'd improved in only a week. Ricky told us that he'd been taking a few steps with the aid of a walker and he is just overall doing so much better.

After visiting with Ricky for awhile, he began to share with us different experiences he has had since his tragic accident. I hadn't intended to write a blog about this until I just opened my devotional book and turned to today's entry. "Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again - ever!" (John 4:14) Oh my! After hearing Ricky's description of some events that have occurred over the past few weeks that have to be more than mere coincidences - and then seeing what my devotional scripture was for today - well, all I have to say is, "It's time to write again!" So, here we go . . . .

Ricky had both Buddy and me completely captivated! He was beaming while relating these happenings to us. The one I feel I have to share, because of today's verse, is about water. Ricky said he has been so thirsty for weeks. He also had been unable to speak for weeks and had problems even letting anyone know that he was so very thirsty. Shortly after he was moved to the nursing home last week, still unable to speak very well, fatiguing extremely easily, and unable to make his requests known very well, he said he was so thirsty he thought he was going to die. He told us that he didn't know a person could be so thirsty and he was desperate for a drink of cold water. He began to pray and tell God that he sure would appreciate it if He would send someone in his room with a cold drink of water. He said he watched the clock and in exactly fifteen minutes, an aide came into his room with a cup and said, "I thought you might want a drink of water". She helped Ricky drink from the cup and he was thinking to himself that this was the best water he'd ever had in his life. The aide left and Ricky started realizing that the few sips of water he'd just had didn't even begin to satisfy his extreme thirst and dry throat. So, he began to pray to God again, saying, "God, I sure don't want to bother you, but if you'd just let someone out there know that I need more water, I'd sure be grateful". He watched the clock. Exactly fifteen minutes after he'd prayed, the aide came into his room again and said, "I brought you more water, eight ounces". Ricky said he was absolutely thrilled and exuberantly gulped the cold water. The aide again left the room.

A few minutes passed. Ricky was STILL thirsty. He said, "Father, if I had about twice that much water, I think it would finally quench my thirst." In exactly fifteen minutes, in walked an aide carrying a large plastic cup. She said to Ricky, "I brought you more water, 16 ounces this time" (exactly twice the amount she'd brought before.) Ricky said he drank the water and his thirst was finally quenched.

I can't recount this like Ricky did. You'd really need to hear him talk about it. He was talking about "drinking from the King's cup", because he knew God had heard his request and sent the water to him. There are so many analogies that can be drawn from this from a spiritual viewpoint, but we'll leave that to Ricky. He's planning to write a book about his experiences and I wouldn't be surprised if it's entitled Drinking From the King's Cup. I'm so excited for him and am very much looking forward to reading it!

Ricky Chapman is truly inspirational! Buddy and I thought we'd visit him to "cheer him up" and "make him feel better". . . . . Just the opposite happened. We left the nursing home feeling so uplifted and hopeful because of Ricky's testimony - What a blessing!!!

Susan Trafford Martin
November 22, 2010