Weekly e-News July 22
Hey, everyone!
Whew! “Hot enough f’r ya?”
Todd the weather guy says “the heat is ON! Highs will remain 5 to 8 degrees above average through Friday and the weekend reaching the lower to middle 90s each afternoon…”
So, I’ve got a tip for keeping cool! How ‘bout a nice cup of HOT tea?!
Amazingly, Italian soccer players have been drinking it on the sidelines at halftime since Michelangelo was a middle school goalie! Like so many folks “over there”, they have always believed that drinking iced tea with actual ice in it ain’t wise and probably down right dangerous! And they’ve always believed that if you drink something piping hot when you are, it cools you down!
Kinda like on “Cheers” when Diane asked Cliff, the mailman why people drink cold beer on frosty Boston nights…”It equalizes the internal and external temperatures.”
“Well, why do they drink cold beer on hot summer days, then?”
“What else are you going to do with it?”
Well, turns out they did a study at the University of Ottawa’s School of Human Kinetics and my Italian friends are right! “Una bella tazza di te’ caldo” will cool you off…eventually! Professor Ollie Jay says “What we found is that when you ingest a hot drink, you actually have a disproportionate increase in the amount that you sweat… the hot drink is hotter than your body temperature…but the amount that you increase your sweating by, more than compensates for the the added heat to the body from the fluid.”
Sounds counterintuitive! And sweaty!
But loads of things are like that! To accomplish something, do the opposite of what you’d think you would!
Like last night…
Lee, Christy and Thomas all came into the Morgan County prison with me so we could have an evening of worship with a room full of guys! It was soooo awesome to hear them sing the songs you love! And sing them as loud as you!!
I met a later middle-aged gentleman from Mexico for the first time last night. He was so soft-spoken (very little English) and dignified. Sometimes I can’t help wondering why guys are in there. “What’s his story?”, I can’t help asking myself. He seemed to have such a deep love for Jesus.
“Dios les bendiga por haber vendido,” he said.
“God bless you for coming”
And I felt blessed! Deeply blessed! And close to Him! As always when I leave that dark place.
It makes sense that if you want to feel close to Jesus, you should go to church. Who would have thought that if you want to feel close to Him you should go to jail?
But He said this crazy counterintuitive thing once…
“I was in prison and you visited me…”
Jesus in prison?!
“When did we see you in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.’ “ (Matthew 25)
If you really want to have a time when you feel closer to Jesus, you could not find a better way to do it than deliberately look for a regular time when you reach out to someone who is sick…
Or help someone who is hungry.
He is never either of these, but counterintuitively, as you reach out to them, He says you do it to Him!
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat… I was sick and you looked after me… whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.”
“I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…”
If it’s a day like today, try a cup of something hot!