Thirsty

Thoughts of the beach go swirling through my head as I did my mile today. The wind whipping my hair as the waves wildly roll into shore. The suns beating down on my skin as little beads of sweat begin to form. Ok, a lush view. I'm not so graceful so the real picture is probably the following:
I stand in the surf, walking out as far as I can without being slammed to the ocean floor picking up a mouthful of sand. There is nothing like licking sand paper and choking on the ocean to put things into true perspective.

I really felt so incredibly thirsty during my mile today. I'm sure I was dehydrated and needing fluids before I even started but alas I began thirsty and I ended absolutely parched. It reminded me so much of doing The Breast Cancer 3 Day walk in the summer for the past two years. This is a 60 mile trek over 3 days in the dead heat of summer. The first year that my friend and I went, the coolest day was 95 degrees. There wasn't enough water and Gatorade to keep us hydrated. I really hate Gatorade and was drinking Propel instead of Gatorade. Little did I know that there is not the same amount of electrolytes in Propel. I developed a condition called hyponatremia where your electrolyte level is way too low. It is extremely dangerous and landed me smack in the med tent. I was so incredibly thirsty even though I was drinking over 32 ozs every hour. Nothing was absorbing and I was really sick. The second year, I learned my lesson and pretty much drank Gatorade. Let me tell you, every flavor ends up tasting exactly the same after 60 miles. I never knew that Grape could taste like orange...but I digress. All I remember being so incredibly thirsty that all I wanted to do was suck on anything. As soon as I started to think about that today, I began to think of what Jesus went through on the cross and how thirst really wasn't the biggest thing he was dealing with.  He was dealing with the sin of the world on top of everything else. 

There are so many clear cut prophecies in the Old Testament foretelling of what will happen in Jesus' time. Psalm 22 is just one. Look at this passage in Psalm 22:15 with such a vivid description.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
       and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
       you lay me ^[b]
in the dust of death.



While I can completely relate to the tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth, I wouldn't dare even begin to understand what Jesus went through on the cross. Minutes probably seemed like hours while everything seemed to dislocate and pain was at an insurmountable level.


Today, I was grateful for the thirst. I actually woke and cranked out days of my Bible study while my son was getting ready for school. I thirst for more knowledge and to be closer to Jesus. Our bodies are made of more than 70% water. I do not think it is a coincidence that Jesus is called the living water. It is time to quench our thirst with not only 8-10 glasses of water but to overflow our cup with the Living Water. Just like when we seek pop as a way to help our thirst, we will come up empty when we look to the wrong thing to fill us up.

With what are you filling your body and mind that is just empty calories for the soul?