What comes to your mind when you think about water?

The seashore? A beautiful lake? Swimming? Fishing? A cool drink on a scorching day?

If we could ask Helen Keller that question, she would probably say, "a water pump," because it was at a pump that this blind and deaf woman learned that things have names. "W-A-T-E-R," her teacher, Anne Sullivan, spelled into her hand for what seemed like the millionth time. "The thing has a name - W-A-T-E-R." And young Helen sprung to life, understanding for the first time what most of us discover as children - that things have names. She emerged a new person, knowing a new dimension of life and growth at a well that day.

At another well, on another day, Jesus said in effect, "I am the water of life" (John 4:5-42). He told the Samaritan woman that he h…