“Thirst” by Scott Harrison, Lisa Sweetingham
“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force,
but through persistence.” -Ovid
What’s in this review?
Book Summary:
Say you have it all…Money, a career where you literally party every day, recognition - you’re living the dream. What would you do if you wake up one morning, and you suddenly realize your lifestyle is filled with a whole bunch of emptiness?
What if you are experiencing numbness in your body, and it’s because your lifestyle is not aligned with your purpose - but you just don’t know it yet?
Would you take the risk of losing everything you had to move to an unsure, blurry future? That’s what Scott Harrison did.
This book is a remarkable account of how one man had the courage to trust God to transform his life from a world of meaningless relationships and unfulfilling work, to a life filled with meaning and significance.
Scott Harrison went from promoting nightclubs so people can party to promoting water so people can live.
It’s a testimony about how God’s grace flows like water and brings healing whenever compassion for others takes the form of action.
All we have to do is direct our efforts towards serving others.
Three reasons you might enjoy reading "Thirst"
1. The Message of Redemption:
Change always seems to show up with “aha” moments. Usually, the awareness of emptiness comes when there’s this experience of “having it all. ”
When there’s no true purpose, even a successful life feels like bondage. Everything becomes nothing, and too much is never enough.
“So this is how it all plays out, I thought to myself. There will never be enough. Someone else would always have more money, a nicer car, a prettier girl. The evidence was all around me.”
Harrison, Scott. Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World (p. 52). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
2. The Meaning of Amazing Grace:
I love this. Inspiration in the moment of crisis. Here Scott is (literally) running away from his past life. When I read this, I could not help but see Grace orchestrating an end to one way of life - so he could start a new life.
“And that’s when inspiration hit. I said it out loud, to no one but myself and God: ‘I’m going to tithe a year of my life.’ One year for the ten I’d wasted.”
Harrison, Scott. Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World (p. 65). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
3. Compassion in Action
The rest of the book is an amazing story of how one compassionate decision morphed into a company that now supplies water to 9.5 million people in 27 different countries.
I believe individuals, start up companies and corporate America could learn a lot from Scott. Incorporating meaning, passion, intention, values and integrity into the way we approach our work each day is the secret sauce for success.
“‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ I said. ‘They drink this?’ Mosquitos hovered over the surface of the water, and I was pretty sure I saw something big move below it. Lafe nodded. ‘Yep. It’s all they have.’ I couldn’t believe it. The water was disgusting. I didn’t even want to touch it. And the people here were drinking it?
I honestly hadn’t understood water poverty before. It had been one thing to hear Lafe talk about people drinking bad water, but seeing it up close made me angry.
I decided right then that if I could ever do anything to help these people, if I could help Lafe build more wells, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
Harrison, Scott. Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World (pp. 112-113). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Deeper thoughts & resources:
For More Information, be sure to check out the Charity: water website.
There is also a great interview with Annie F. Downes on the That Sounds Fun Podcast, episode 101.
Get the book…
Check out some interesting facts from the United Nations Website:
2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services. (WHO/UNICEF 2017)
4.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation services. (WHO/UNICEF 2017)
340,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases. (WHO/UNICEF 2015)
Water scarcity already affects four out of every 10 people. (WHO)
90% of all natural disasters are water-related. (UNISDR)
80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused (UNESCO, 2017).
Around two-thirds of the world’s transboundary rivers do not have a cooperative management framework. (SIWI)
Agriculture accounts for 70% of global water withdrawal. (FAO)
Roughly 75% of all industrial water withdrawals are used for energy production. (UNESCO, 2014)