Water Cache

“Our lives depend on it!” - sign on cache

“Okay, guys,” I announced, calculator in hand. “We need to figure out how much water to bring.”

Everybody started talking at once. Statistics and logistics flew around the room until my head was spinning. But eventually we got things ironed out. I went over the details . . . again. Just to make sure we had things right.

“Okay.” I rattled off the numbers. “One gallon per person per day. That’s the minimum for drinking, cooking, and hygiene. Four days, seven people, so seven gallons per day. Better make it eight since we will need extra water while carrying heavy packs and climbing. So thirty-two gallons of water.”

Everyone groaned. “No way! We can’t carry that much water with all our other gear!”

I agreed. Normally we just filter our water from lakes and streams. But here we were planning an expedition in the desert, and we would have to carry it all in.

“We’ll have to cache it.” I got out my calculator again – and the map.

“We’ll set up two caches,” I instructed. “We carry our water for day one. When we reach our first cache, that is where we camp. That cache will have the water for days two and three. On day two we carry half of that water to our campsite for day three. Then we hike to the second cache and camp there for night three.”

Everyone looked bewildered.

“If we carry the water for day one, we only need to cache twenty-four gallons,” I continued. “Of course, for the days we carry, we can’t carry gallon-jugs. We’ll have to distribute smaller bottles throughout our packs. How many bottles to a gallon?”

Here the internet was helpful.

“For a 16.9 ounce bottle, that’s eight bottles per gallon,” someone piped in.

“Ok, so that is sixty-four bottles we will have to carry on day two!” I said cheerfully.

  . . . And that is how we ended up trekking over ten miles, loaded down with 224 pounds of water, into the wilderness to set up our two caches, two days before our backpacking trip in the desert of southern California.

When we arrived at the planned cache points we placed the water in sturdy totes and taped down the lids. We put signs on the lids of the totes, asking anyone who came across them to leave them alone.

Then we went home and spent the next two days packing for our trip. Packing  – and fretting about the water. What if thirsty ravens poked through the totes and drained all the water on the ground? What if rodents chewed their way through to get a drink and contaminate it? What if hikers found the totes and decided to take a few bottles? What if some crazy person took it all just to be mean?

We knew that our very lives depended on those totes of water, sitting out in the desert wilderness. We needed them to be there, ready for us to use when we arrived thirsty and dusty and exhausted. We didn’t want to think what would happen if that water was gone. At the very least it would cut our four-day trip short and make for a difficult hike back out.

As it turned out, all of the water was safe and sound when we arrived at our cache points. We had plenty to drink, plenty to use for cooking, and plenty for washing up. If everything else had gone that smoothly it would have been a perfect trip . . . but that is another story.

It was hard work planning and caching our water supply. But we were so thankful when we arrived to set up our tents and it was there for us to use! It was worth the trouble!

As I had trudged down the trail when we set up our cache, my bag sagging with the weight of the liquid that would keep my body alive, I thought about how important it was for me to be caching “water” that would sustain my soul. Not the cool, clear flow of H2O molecules, but the refreshing, truth-infusing words of God that He has given to me in the Bible.

Just like I need water every single day to live, I need the Word of God every single day to survive. And I need to be caching some of those words – by reading, meditating, and memorizing – so that they will be ready for my soul in times of great need. I can’t imagine making it in the desert without having water available, and I can’t imagine going through the long, hard nights of doubt and discouragement and trial or the times of temptation, without having God’s Word available in my heart. And how can I share “water” with others who are thirsty if I don’t have any?

In order to get a drink in the desert I need to have water cached ahead of time. And in order for God to remind me of His Words they need to be stored up in my mind and heart.

So how’s your “water” cache? Are you keeping it stocked?

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