Name: Jill Christensen
Title: Senior Associate Athletic Trainer
Department/College: Department of Athletics
Scripture of the Day: EX 17: 3-7; ROM 5: 1-2, 5-8; JN 4: 5-42
The symbolic story of Christ and the Samaritan woman presents a transcendental metaphor of spiritual thirst and fulfillment. What is spiritual thirst? How does one even comprehend that one is spiritually thirsty? What happens spiritually when your thirst is quenched?
I was raised in a very God-loving, church-going family. Fortunately, because of that, when my six-year-old brother was diagnosed with leukemia and called to heaven, our family’s spiritual thirst for why this happened was fulfilled though the words and guidance of our family and friends, acts of kindness that were bestowed on us, and the Lord Jesus Christ through His much-needed hopeful and healing words.
I have worked at St. John’s University in the Sports Medicine department for the last 30 years.
While the allure of collegiate sports is rich and rewarding, it is the culture of faith, and the embodiment of actionable faith through service opportunities that Campus Ministry offers, that continually grows my relationship with God and fills my spiritual thirst.
So, all that I have been given—being a kidney donor, a cancer survivor, an active volunteer in many service projects at the University—these have served symbolically to teach me the single most important lesson of spiritual thirst: service to others in need. To give and fill the thirst of others is to also satiate your own spiritual thirst. Thank you, Lord, for your cup of life and for helping me to keep it full!