6.19.2010

death in a mini-van in the K-mart parking lot.......

you know when you are super dehydrated and you feel as though you might actually die of thirst???

i had one of these moments that i remember very vividly when i was about 6 years old.....

let me set the scene for you......

it was a hot summer day... me, my two older brothers and mom in her mini-van. it is scorching. this is alabama. it gets really hot. we are running errands with mom... and we are ridiculously thirsty.... i mean, like cotton mouth thirsty...

so, the search to quench our thirst begins...

we go into k-mart.... somehow all of their drink machines were broken.... the vending machines outside were also broken..... AND the surrounding areas drink providers seemed to all be broken as well.......... how this happened, is still a mystery to me....

so by this time, i was in tears.... i'm not sure if my brothers had cracked and spilled some tears at this point, but i know they were just as miserable as i was.

it was then that the knowledge of not being able to get anything to drink suddenly made me even more thirsty... of course i was like 6, so all of this seemed like a life or death situation... i even remember thinking... that if the car breaks down, i will literally die of thirst.... a little over dramatic, i know.

so, at this point, i feel as though i am ending my days on this earth in this hot mini-van in the k-mart parking lot and that i might as well be crawling in the desert eating dust and sand.... somehow through my imagination of dying in the desert i see an oasis... i see water... and it is coming to me in the form of a mcdonald's cup filled with water.... HALLELUJAH! death is not approaching me just yet!!! i still have life to live!!!!

to say the least that was an incredible cup of water... i felt as if i were a dry sponge that had been submerged in water... it was awesome.

that day easily goes into one of the most miserable days in my life history.... but in the end, oh how satisfying was that drink of water? amazing.

i do have a point to this glimpse of my life as a child....

lately, i have felt as though i am back in the k-mart parking lot stuck in that hot mini-van..... but this time its my heart and my spirit that is dying of thirst...

tonight, i opened my bible and read a couple verses that i had underlined at some point.... nothing really heart shaking happened.... no big revelations, no little revelations... i didn't hear God tell me what my next step in life is.....

but

i did feel as if i were walking in the desert and all the sudden, i saw a real life, incredibly refreshing and beautiful pool awaiting me... stocked with any beverage of my choice... everything necessary to hydrate this dry and weary soul of mine....

the word of God continues to amaze me. it is freakishly alive. i mean, how can my dry and weary soul all the sudden feel rehydrated after literally reading like 4 lines of scripture???

ummm, because it is the word of God... His breath is on the pages and He is powerful and He created all of existence with His words.... that is how.

His words are pretty powerful.

Jesus, Your word quenches my thirsty soul.

for this, my heart sings!

"my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water...." psalm 63:1

"I (the LORD) will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.... for i give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert....." isaiah 43:19&20