"Dry County" is a song by Bon Jovi from their 1992 album Keep the Faith. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi. "Dry County" stands as the band's longest song released so far, with a length of 9 minutes 52 seconds. A shorter 6-minute version reached #9 in the UK Charts and #1 in Latin America.
A "Dry County" is a county that prohibits alcohol, but in the context of this song, it's a county that was rich with oil, but the wells have dried up. Like many of fellow New Jersey music icon Bruce Springsteen's songs, this tells the story of someone trapped in a run-down town, yearning for a better life.
A dry county is a county in the United States whose government forbids the sale of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. Hundreds of dry counties exist across the United States, a majority of them in the South. A number of smaller jurisdictions also exist, such as cities, town.
Water into wine
Some say it's the devil's blood
They're squeezing from the vine
Some say it's a saviour
In these hard and desperate times
For me it helps me to forget
That we're just born to die
I came here like so many did
To find the better life
To find my piece of easy street
To finally be alive
And I know nothing good comes easy
And all good things take some time
I made my bed I'll lie in it
To die in it's the crime
You can't help but prosper
Where the streets are paved with gold
They say the oil wells ran deeper here
than anybody's known
I packed up on my wife and kid
And left them back at home
Now there's nothing in this paydirt
The ghosts are all I know
Now the oil's gone
The money's gone
And the jobs are gone
Still we're hangin' on
Down in dry county
They're swimming in the sand
Praying for some holy water
To wash the sins from off our hand
Here in dry county
The promise has run dry
Where nobody cries
And no one's getting out of here alive
In the blessed name of Jesus
I heard a preacher say
That we are God's children
And He'd be back someday
And I hoped that he knew
Something as he drank his cup of wine
I didn't have too good of a feeling
As I head out to the night
I cursed the sky to open
I begged the clouds for rain
I prayed to God for water
For this burning in my veins
It was like my soul's on fire
And I had to watch the flames
All my dreams went up in ashes
And my future blew away
Now the oil's gone
And the money's gone
And the jobs are gone
Still we're hangin' on
Down in dry county
They're swimming in the sand
Praying for some holy water
To wash the sins from off our hand
Here in dry county
The promise has run dry
Where nobody cries
And no one's getting out of here alive
Men spend their whole lives
Waiting praying for their big reward
But it seems sometimes
The payoff leaves you feeling
Like a dirty whore
If I could choose the way I'll die
Make it by the gun or knife
'Cause the other way there's too much pain
Night after night after night
Down in dry county
They're swimming in the sand
Praying for some holy water
To wash the sins from off our hand
Here in dry county
The promise has run dry
Where nobody cries
And no one's getting out of here alive
Of course the song takes us slap bang into John chapter 2 and the wedding at Cana in Galilee. That Jesus and his mother and his disciples are invited to. An everyday wedding but such a gran affair with such a grand atmosphere. For a while at least they run out of wine and Jesus comes up with a solution.
John 2:1 - 12 "1 "On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” 11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days."
Why does Jesus do this miracle at a wedding? To what purpose does he perform the unheard of?
At the wedding feast in Cana we catch a glimpse of Jesus’ kindness, the warmth of his personality, and his enjoyment of a good party. “I cannot imagine Jesus sitting alone with a serious face,” wrote Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, in Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John. “Instead, I see him a part of the celebration, singing with everybody else, rejoicing in the festivity, profoundly happy to celebrate with people he knows and loves. . . . Jesus is so beautifully human!” Yet at this feast much more than Jesus’ humanity and empathy was made evident – the divine glory of Jesus was manifested at Cana. Cana isn’t far from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, so it’s likely that the wedding Jesus and Mary attended was that of a close relative or neighbour. To run out of wine would have been quite an embarrassment for the newlyweds, since Middle Eastern hospitality demands that hosts care for their guests graciously. So, at his mother’s discreet request – the only record in Scripture of Mary’s asking her son to fill a need – Jesus remedied the awkward situation.
An abundance of wine is one of the dominant images that characterized the visions of the messianic era foretold by the ancient prophets of Israel (Isaiah 25:6; Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13-14;). And the wedding feast mirrors the Old Testament image of marriage as an expression of God’s relationship to Israel (Isaiah 54:5-6; 62:4-5; Hosea 2:19-20). In the New Testament, this messianic age is likened to a wedding banquet (Matthew 22:1-14; Revelation 19:9). When Jesus changed the water held in jars used for Jewish ritual purification (John 2:6) into wine, he was hinting that the messianic age had now arrived. With this “new wine” (Luke 5:33-39), a new era had begun – an era in which Jesus himself is the bridegroom (John 3:29). For, by providing wine in plenty at a marriage feast – a responsibility of the bridegroom – he pointed to his identity as divine bridegroom and Messiah and to the new covenant he was to accomplish by his life and death.
The extravagance of God, the Grace of God is so evident in this scene that Ive done the maths. Jesus made over 4,000 glasses of wine at the wedding and it was not cheap plonk. God 's Blessings are not cheap that are extravagant and like the wedding wine, God's heart is to bring blessing to your heart no matter what you've run out of.
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