HAVING A HEAT WAVE? 7/24/11

ACCORDING to the national weather report our country is having a heat wave with record breaking temperatures mostly in the mid west and on the east coast. Here on the western front our weather is pretty much on target; except for the occasional storm clouds that bring a few buckets here and there and the threatening of thunder storms. For the most part having the four seasons, doesn’t assure us of having them, in the literal sense of the word.

IN MY OLD AGE, I have welcomed the warm weather. When the A/C comes on, I go out into the sun to get warm. For me that is a strange kettle of fish! When Jim turns the A/C on in the car, I freeze! I try to wear long sleeves and usually long for a blanket. Just give me a cool drink of water or turn the A/C off; that is until I get too hot! Meanwhile, where is my sweater?

THE PROBLEM with high temperatures is dehydration. For some, the very young and the elderly, this is a problem. With dehydration you perspire a lot! When the salt water leaves your body that shows your body is functioning as it should. If you stop perspiring you could be on the verge of a heat stroke. You must replenish the water by drinking lots of it and in some cases you must replenish the salt. Remember your salt tablets; when working outside!

MANY YEARS AGO, I heard a preacher tell the story of a man driving through the Mojave desert. He was the only driver on the road, and so his eyes were drawn, to the now extinct,"Burma Shave" road signs, that were popping up everywhere along the road. After a while he saw one that just said; “Cool Water!” He begin to think; “cool water sounds good!” After seeing that sign for a while, he noticed the sign now read; “Cool Water just ahead!” “Boy, cool water is beginning to sound very good;” He thought! Then the sign read; “Turn Left, go 3 miles for Water!”

WITHOUT THINKING, he turned left and drove 3 miles and found a little shack of a house at the end of the road. On the gate was a sign that read; “Cool Water.” As he got out of the car an old gent came out of the front door with a tall class of water. He handed him the glass and said; “Cool Water!” The man drank the cool water down without stopping, because by this time he was so thirsty just thinking about it, and indeed, it quenched his momentary thirst.

THE MAN asked the old guy; “Do you get many visitors stopping for a drink of water?” The old guy responded slowly, with; “Oh, on some days, more than others!” The visitor soon realize the old man must be lonely, because he didn’t stop there. He continued with; “It gets lonely out here so I decided to offer drivers a diversion and a gift. The diversion is reading the signs with anticipation and the gift of a cool drink of water.”

OF COURSE Jim and I remember this story differently. And of course, because I am old, I probably don’t remember it as well as Jim, whose memory is far better than mine ever was. But, this gets my point across. Many years ago, the Mojave was pretty barren without any places to stop and refuel your car or yourself. Many years ago it was just dust and more dust!

OUR BIBLE gives us many pictures of living water doesn’t it! In Jeremiah 2, God likens Himself to the springs of En Gedi as living water. In Jeremiah 17 water is compared to a person who trust in himself rather than in God. In Psalms 63 David compared water to his thirst for God. In Psalms 78, Isaiah 41 and 58 you find images of living water and an oasis that illustrate what God provides for His people. These are similar to the images of the springs of the En Gedi. But Jesus says; “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14 We turn on our faucets and we drink the water that replenishes our bodies for physical life. But God gave us Jesus and His words, it is like a cool drink of water in a dry, parched land. The refreshment is beyond words! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 7/23/11