Out of the Sun

I sat in church and suddenly felt dizzy. It must be that the many days of kayaking in a heat index of 100+ weather had finally hit me. So I tottered out to the section outside the sanctuary for the mothers of young children. There was a TV monitor there so I could listen to the sermon (which was excellent) while not causing a stir should I pass out.

An usher rushed over and asked me if I was ok.
"Well, I feel faint," I told him, "so I didn't want to pass out in there and disrupt the service."
He hurried to the lady behind a desk nearby and told her to keep an eye on me. Then he returned and asked if he could get me anything.
"No," I assured him, "I will be fine."
His concern was very touching. After a few minutes, I felt almost normal again, but I liked sitting with the young mothers and their little babies cooing and gurgling around me. One kept dropping his toy, and I kept picking it up. The mother kept thanking me and telling me I didn't need to do that, and I kept telling her I really didn't mind.

After church, my friend texted me asking if I wanted to kayak with her. Yes, of course! But I should not. I think the dizzy spell might have been a touch of heat exhaustion. I read that heat exhaustion can actually build over several days of exposure to high heat. It has been very hot here, and I have been kayaking nearly every day. But I hate to pass up a day of kayaking. Still, it would probably be smart to just sit in the cool AC and rest. I regretfully told my friend I better not go, and settled down to read. First, I read about heat exhaustion. After succumbing to heat exhaustion, one is susceptible to high heat for at least another week! Oh no! The effects linger, and can become even worse if one continues to be overheated. The only cure is to stay out of the sun.

That is not unlike our sermon! The guess speaker, a well known author and theologian, Dr. Norm Geisler, methodically and factually laid out the case that America was founded on the moral bedrock of Christianity. Schools, public officials, and the community all embraced the teachings of Christ as foundational in fostering the ideals and basis of freedom and natural rights. However, as time went on, and the country moved further and further, step by step, from that foundation, societal ills increased exponentially - divorce, crime, abortion, suicide, drug use and other addictions, etc. He made a very compelling and well thought out case for how the continual immersion in a society that removed God from its center led to an increasingly sick society. Like heat exhaustion, it would only get worse if the source of the illness were not removed.

I drank cool water and reclined in my air conditioned home thinking how I needed to get out of the SUN, but our culture needed to find its way BACK to the SON.
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The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. (Revelation 16:8, 9 NIV)





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