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By ProudDog on Monday, June 23, 2008 :: 201 Views :: 1 Comments

How much water are we supposed to drink everyday? For so long I’ve read that it is 8- 8 oz glasses per day. It’s been reported that drinking that much per day lets your body do a better job of cleaning out toxins, helps weight loss and results in healthier skin.  More recently, however, researchers have questioned the claims and the recommendation – even going as far as saying, ‘Just drink when you’re thirsty.”

“whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple--truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

In this week’s short Bible reading from Matthew 10:40-42, Jesus finishes up the instructions he gave to the disciples (filled with warnings about difficulties and assurances that God would provide what was necessary) with a reference the disciples and anyone else hearing and reading would understand, “Help refresh the helpless and forgotten – and you’ll be rewarded.”

Jesus had spent plenty of time previously reminding the disciples that seeking rewards for showing love towards others wasn’t what the whole “Love God and love others” was all about – so I don’t think this talk of rewards was meant to bring out the greed in the hearers. I think it was really meant to leave a lasting, refreshing image in the mind of the hearers. 

Jesus brings refreshment – share that refreshment with others.

What are your thoughts?

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By harmi @ Monday, June 23, 2008 4:23 PM
Mary and Dean had just celebrated, with their sons, their 19th anniversary. Dean became ill. At first the doctors thought the illness was related to something he ate. But . . . no one else in the family became ill. The doctors tested, first one thing, then another. There was no health insurance. There was no sick leave. There was no disability insurance. Mary wondered how she, on one paycheck, could continue to make the mortgage payment and keep food on the table. Mary and Dean had worked for all their 19 years together at the same factory. On the first Friday Dean didn't get a paycheck (because he was, after all, too ill to work) the office manager came to Mary at the end of the day and handed her a cigar box filled with quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies, and a few one dollar bills. Every Friday, for as long as Dean was unable to work -- more than 4 weeks -- a cigar box went from machine to machine and everyone threw in the change they had or the dollar bills in their pockets. At the end of the day, each Friday, Mary took the cigar box to the bank and learned, after the change was counted, that she had been given almost exactly as much money as Dean would have earned that week. Mary and Dean didn't know everyone who worked in that factory. Mary and Dean and their sons did come to learn . . . there are those in this world who have received from God and they will respond to God by sharing what they have received with those who are in need. Is that what this week's scripture tells us . . . that we worship the God who created us and seeks to save us by trying to save others?
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ProudDogProudDog (Kirk Moore) is the pastor at Union Congregational Church, UCC, in Somonauk, Ill. Kirk also enjoys leading sing-alongs for people of all ages, writing random thoughts in his blog and spending time as a speaker and ministry trainer. Kirk, wife Cassie and their three children live in Warrenville, Ill.

bmrathbun (Barbara Mason Rathbun) is an ordained UCC minister, currently serving as interim minister at First Congregational UCC in Hendersonville, N.C. She has taught biblical studies at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, Ind. She enjoys music, reading, quiltmaking, travel, and cooking. She, her husband John and their cat live in Mills River, N.C.