I grew up in the south � not just south, but �deep south�. During the summer
months down there the humidity is usually about the same as the temperature.
95 degree temperature usually meant 95 percent humidity even when it was
not raining. You could walk outside with dry clothes on and walk back
inside 15 minutes later with damp clothes. Basically, the summers were hot
and sticky!
With weather like that, a kid would drink a lot of water. Of course, each
glass of water required a clean glass. By the end of the day, I normally
would have used 9 or 10 glasses � all of which were left sitting on the
kitchen cabinet next to the sink.
My grandmother tried to convince me to use the same glass every time, but
that didn�t work. We didn�t have a dishwasher, so my grandmother got very
tired of washing all these glasses by hand. She finally came up with a
solution. She took a small BBQ sauce bottle that was empty, rinsed it out,
took the label off, and wrote my name on the bottle and the lid. Then she
filled it with water and put it in the refrigerator.
This was my water bottle. I was allowed to drink straight from the bottle.
As long as I kept it filled, I always had cold water to drink anytime I
wanted it.
Sometimes my grandmother would put a second bottle in the refrigerator
filled with sweet tea. There is just something about sweet, cold tea that
makes you feel real good on a hot day. Most of the time when I had a choice
between tea and water --- I drank the tea!
When I drank from my jug, I didn�t just sip it � I gulped it down. I would
take the bottle of water or tea, turn it up, and not bring it down till the
last drop was gone. I guess you could say that I was kind of a show-off.
On what seemed to be an extremely hot and sticky day, I was out in the yard
playing. I was hot and sweating and decided to go inside for something to
drink. Walking up the stairs to the back door I felt like I was crossing
the desert. I couldn�t wait to get inside, open the refrigerator, and
swallow a whole jug of water in one gulp.
I opened the refrigerator door and knew that I was the luckiest and happiest
boy in the State. Right next to my water jug was a second jug --- I had
some ice tea to drink!
I took the bottle from the rack, closed the refrigerator door, opened the
bottle, and turned it straight up�. It only took me a couple of swallows to
realize that something was wrong. The label on the bottle said tea and my
eyes saw tea in the bottle � but this was NOT tea! It was bitter and it
stunk! I spit out whatever it was that was in my mouth, dropped the glass
bottle on the floor (yes, it broke) and started coughing.
My grandmother came running in the kitchen. There I was with a broken
bottle at my feet, this tea colored stuff spilt (and spit) all over the
hardwood floor and a look on my face that can�t be described.
I explained to my grandmother what had happened � I was hot, I opened my tea
bottle, and it was NOT TEA! I didn�t mean to drop the bottle � I didn�t
mean to spit on the floor!
About that time, she recognized the smell that was filling the kitchen and
stinking it up like some had just scared a couple of skunks. It was �RED
VINEGAR�! Somehow, my tea bottle had gotten filled with VINEGAR!
My grandmother told me she was sorry and she didn�t know how that could
happen, but the taste was still there in my mouth. I don�t know how many
glasses of water, koolaid, and milk it took to get that taste out of my
mouth. With the taste finally gone I went back outside to play while my
grandmother finished cleaning up the mess.
A few hours later, I was thirsty again. I went back inside and opened the
refrigerator. Again, there were two bottles � one marked tea and one marked
water. I chose the water and left the tea there. No way was I going to
take a chance at the label being wrong again.
Over the next few days, I always drank the water. I just couldn�t bring
myself to try the tea. Every time I looked at the tea bottle, I got that
bad taste in my mouth again.
My grandmother noticed that I wasn�t drinking tea and asked me why. I told
her that every time I looked at it, I thought of the vinegar that I drank.
She sat me on the stool next to the kitchen sink and poured out the tea from
my bottle. She rinsed out the bottle several times. The she took the tea
pitcher from the refrigerator and poured 2 glasses of tea � one for her and
one for me. She drank about half of hers and then told me to drink mine. I
tasted it slowly � it was tea � and then drank it down. She filled my tea
bottle from the pitcher and told me to drink some from it. I drank slowly.
Within a week or so, I was back to drinking tea from my tea bottle again. I
remember that I was still slow to accept or trust the tea label for quite a
while. It took time for me to regain my trust that what was really in that
bottle was sweet and good for me.
What labels do you wear? Do you wear the label �Christian�? Do you wear the
label �Royal Ranger�? If someone �opens your bottle�, will they find
inside what the label on the outside says, or will it leave a �bad taste� in
their mouth?
When someone walks into your church, outpost, home, or life --- do they get
the sweet smell of the love of Christ or do they get bitterness? If they
get bitterness, how long will it take them to get over it and trust somebody
else that is wearing the label �Christian�?
In I Corinthians 8:9-12, Paul says:
�(9)Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a
stumbling block to the weak.
(10)For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge
eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been
sacrificed to idols? (11)So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is
destroyed by your knowledge.
(12)When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak
conscience, you sin against Christ.
(13)Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will
never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.�
We need to be careful that what we do and say reflects Christ in us. Being
without Christ or Christian fellowship because of a bad experience is many
times worse than being without ice tea!
In His Service,
Allen R. Cook - Cookie
Outpost Chaplain
Belton A/G -- Belton, Missouri
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
web page: http://www.crosswinds.net/~rrcookie/
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