Thirst and Life, Part 1

This, and the posts that follow it, are a sermon I delivered today at Bethesda UMC

You may remember, if you have been part of Bethesda UMC for a few years, that you had a pianist for a few months in 2015-2016, who was named Josh Matthews.  Josh is our son.  I thought today I would tell you the Rest of the Story (as Paul Harvey used to say). 

Josh finished his undergraduate degree at Marshall and then moved to Tuscaloosa. Alabama to do his graduate work at the University of Alabama, which leads me to say something I never imagined I would say: Roll Tide. 

Anyway, he worked with the Million Dollar Band as a graduate assistant and earned his Masters degree in Music Education.  His next goal was to find a job as a music teacher, and he did.  In the late spring early summer of 2020, he accepted a position as an assistant band director at Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nevada.  Henderson is a neighboring community to Las Vegas.  And in case you don’t know, they are both in the desert.  The hot desert.

So, in July of 2020 – in the middle of a pandemic – in the middle of a hot summer - Steve and I drove to Tuscaloosa, helped Josh pack up his moving truck, and began our four day, three vehicle caravan across the country to Nevada.  It was great – we enjoyed the time together, saw beautiful scenery – beauty that is so different from our West Virginia Hills. 

At noon on our last travel day, we pulled into Henderson, got the keys to his apartment, and started unpacking the truck.  It was 106 degrees.  And there was no shade.  And his apartment is on the second floor.  And Josh owns the heaviest couch in the country.  And it had to be carried up 19 steps, and a hillside.  In the 106 degree sun.

They say it is a dry heat. As if that is something different from a wet heat.  It is.  What I discovered is that a dry heat is just as hot as any other heat – but you are much more thirsty.

Steve is a long-distance bike rider.  When he is preparing for a ride, he doesn’t start drinking when he’s riding the bike.  He starts drinking water before the ride – to prepare for what is to come.  When you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. 

Our need for water as living beings is just as fundamental as our need for oxygen or food.  Water keeps us alive, and thirst is our body’s warning sign to us we are dehydrated and that we need water. 

The problem is, sometimes, that we don’t even recognize our thirst, do we?