Like a Camel

A camel can survive seven days without water, but not because they are carrying large reserves inside their humps. They're able to avoid dehydration that would kill most other animals, thanks in large part to oval-shaped red blood cells (vs. the standard circular variety). As far as that hump goes, it's nothing more than a big mound of fat, though a useful one at that — the lump provides camels with the same amount of energy as three weeks of food. If there's any body part that excels at retaining water, the award goes to the camel's kidneys and intestines. These organs are so efficient that a camel's urine comes out thick as syrup and their feces is so dry, it can fuel fires! (www.animal.discovery.com)

Bet you didn't expect that as an intro to a Kingdom Bloggers entry, huh?

I had no idea that camels didn't store water in their humps.  That's what I was taught in grade school so why would I think any different.  It wasn't until I started kicking around ideas about this entry that I learned camels store water in their bloodstream and not their humps.   I also learned that a camel breathes out of its nostrils to helps retain moisture.

Wanting to share my new found knowledge of the camel, I wanna try to make a connection between even-toed ungulate and a Christian. Let's see if I can pull this off.

Just like a camel, God has created us to survive in a desert.  Like a  camel, we are equipped to endure dry times because His Word lives in us.  A camel can survive 2-3 weeks without food and God will provide all that we need and lead us to it.  A camel is built to endure temperatures that would kill other mammal and we Christians, being sealed with Holy Spirit, have a similar strength to persevere. The camel's hair, nostrils and eyelids can all form as barriers of protection and we Christians are equipped with protective barriers individually and through the Church.

I can look back at my times in the  'Spiritual Sahara' I see that I was just me being a lazy, selfish, short sighted punk.  I would get bored after reading a few minutes in the Word.  I couldn't feel His presence during worship. Or my times in prayer weren't spectacular, so I thought I must be in the desert. Knowing now what others have endured,  I didn't endure great hardship.

Instead of focusing on how dry and dusty I thought things were, my focus shoulda been on what what God had blessed me with.  Rather than complaining to Him about how I thought things were 'unbearable' and demanding an instant watering hole, I shoulda been exalting all that my God is capable of doing.

After all, He is Lord of the oasis and the barren.