In the Zone

Have you ever been thirsty? Of course you have. We all get thirsty. Whether it is from a day of working out in the hot sun or eating something extremely salty, we all get thirsty from time to time. Thirst is the body's way of replenishing the lost of water in our bodies. In fact, the feeling of thirst comes from an impulse in the brain. As the brain senses that our cells our out of balance due to lack of water, it creates the sensation of thirst so we can fix that balance of water in our body. It causes us to want water. Our tongue swells. Our mouth grows dry. We crave water. It's a very human feeling. As human beings, we thirst. In fact, we will die quicker from lack of water than we will lack of food. We need water. It's part of the human experience. On the cross, Jesus grew thirsty. He was thirsty because his body was beaten, bruised and bleeding. He was thirsty because he hung on a cross in the heat of the day, exposed to all of the elements on his naked body.

I remember the first time I felt lost. I was a kid, and like all lost kid stories, I was in a grocery store. From some reason I got separated from my mom. I wandered down the wrong aisle or turned my head as she moved to the next. I don't remember those kind of specifics. But I do remember turning around and not seeing my mom. I had to be young at the time. It's an early memory. But I do vividly remember the fear, panic, and terror running through my mind. I searched frantically down the aisle I was in. I ran to previous aisle. Neither journey resulted in my finding my mother. Finally, a stranger, an older woman, asked me what was wrong. I told her I had lost my mom. She kindly took me over to the next aisle, and there was my mom and the grocery cart. I was finally reunited and calm. That's about as traumatic as my young life got. That's a pretty big deal for a 5 or 6 or 7 year old. We all probably have a similar story locked away in the deep parts of our brain.