When the Samaritan woman went to the well to draw water that day she went in the afternoon during the hottest hour of the day when she knew no one else would be there. She was trying to avoid seeing anyone. Because of things she had done in the past, having five failed marriages and living with a man who was not her husband I’m sure she was the “talk of the town” and she learned to avoid rejection by avoiding the other town women, her peers.

Imagine the rejection she felt not only from those women but from the … Read more

Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.

His mother – in the house was looking out the window – saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter … Read more

The boy stood with his back arched, head cocked back and hands clenched defiantly. “Go ahead, give it to me.”

The principal looked down at the young rebel. “How many times have you been here?”

The child sneered rebelliously, “Apparently not enough.”

The principal gave the boy a strange look. “And you have been punished each time have you not?”

“Yeah, I been punished, if that’s what you want to call it.” He threw out his small chest, “Go ahead I can take whatever you dish out. I always have.”

“And no thought of your punishment enters your head the … Read more

During the waning years of the depression in a small southeastern Idaho community, I used to stop by Brother Miller’s roadside stand for farm-fresh produce as the season made it available.

Food and money were still extremely scarce and bartering was used, extensively. One particular day Brother Miller was bagging some early potatoes for me.

I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily appraising a basket of freshly picked green peas. I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas.

I am a pushover for creamed peas … Read more

In 1973 The Supreme Court said it was okay to kill unborn babies. Since then, we have killed more than the entire population of Canada. And it continues. A woman’s choice? Half of those who have died in their mothers’ wombs have been women. They didn’t have a choice. It is called abortion.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.

First, it was in dingy, dirty theaters. Then, convenience stores. Then, grocery stores. Then on television. Now it is available in the homes of millions via the Internet. It is called … Read more

There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly in his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did.

For years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold massive surface of the unmoving rock pushing with all his might. Each night the man … Read more

There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.

Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail … Read more

Many parents are hard put to explain to their youth why some music, movies, books, games and magazines are not acceptable material for them to bring into the home, for their youth to see, or hear. One parent came up with an original idea that was hard to refute.

He listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie. It had their favorite actors. Everyone else was seeing it. Even church members said it was great. It was only rated PG-13 because of the suggestion of sex. They never really showed it. The … Read more

A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.

The lad dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With no little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy and the rock was very huge.) When the … Read more

Recently, Steven, our 8½ year old middle child, brought home a daffodil bud from school with instructions from his teacher to cut the bottom off and put it in a vase of water which we promptly did.

Later that evening I could hear the kids in the kitchen “Mom, she’s looking at my flower!” He was referring to Emily, our 5 year old youngest child. I tried to explain to Steven that it was OK for Emily to look at his flower, she wouldn’t hurt it. He said his teacher told the students the flowers might bloom that night and … Read more

This issue celebrates our Fifth Anniversary of the first issue of “The Well” which began April 1999. We thought it would be a great idea, in honor of this momentous anniversary, to have the readers vote on which stories they thought were the best from over the years and compile an issue of these stories. This issue contains the results. On each page we noted which issue the stories were originally from. I hope you will enjoy them as much as many others did when they were published the first time.

There were so many more “good” stories that didn’t … Read more

It’s just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas – oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it: overspending; the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma; the gifts given in desperation because you couldn’t think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided … Read more

A man’s daughter had asked the local pastor to come and pray with her father. When the pastor arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows and an empty chair beside his bed. The pastor assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. “I guess you were expecting me,” he said.

“No, who are you?”

“I’m the new associate at your local church,” the pastor replied. “When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew I was going to show up.”

“Oh yeah, the chair,” said the bedridden … Read more