Personal Hygiene and Desert Living

 

I took a shower this morning! Normally this would be, well... normal. However, we have not had regular water service for over a week. So, to be disgustingly transparent, personal hygiene has gone the way of all flesh.

Every year, at the end of the Costa Rican summer (dry season) we go through a few weeks when our municipality runs out of water. Since we live "right over the mountain" from the Braulio Carrillo rain forest - where annual rainfall is between 157 to 315 inches - it seems a bit ironic that we need to find ingenious ways to wash our dishes (this year we used paper plates) and flush our toilets (very thankful for that new storage tank!).

 

Every year I am also reminded of how precious water is. You cannot live without it. Living without internet makes you cranky. Living without water makes you smelly and, eventually, dead.  

 

I have visited several deserts over my ministry career. Central Asia seemed the least inviting. North Africa impressed me as the emptiest. The Salar de Uyuni (a salt desert in Bolivia) the most interesting. All of them had temperature extremes and lack of water in common. During each visit, my vivid imagination reminded me that without the help of my hosts I would not survive for long.

 

J. G. Ballard wrote, "Deserts possess a particular magic, since they have exhausted their own futures, and are thus free of time." He may have been right. However, from my own perspective, after a day in the desert I usually feel only the exhaustion and little of the magic. It takes hard work to do what you have to do in the desert. This is probably why God used the experience to train His people and to bring glory to Himself.

In Deuteronomy 32:10-12a we read, "He found his people in a desert land, in a barren place where animals howl. He guarded them, took care of them, and protected them because they were helpless. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreads its wings to catch them, and carries them on its feathers, so the LORD alone led his people." (GW Version)

 

In this passage we see four things that God did for Israel in the desert. First, He found His people "in a barren place where animals howl." Second, He guarded those rebellious, often cantankerous folk - often from themselves. Even though they didn't realize it, they were helpless. Without His presence they wouldn't have survived. Third, He took care of Israel. What a wonderful word picture here of the strong eagle gently caring for its young. Finally, He guided His people - He led them through and, when it was time, out of the desert.

 

Like Israel, all of us will eventually find ourselves in deserts of one type or another - many of them less hospitable than those in Central Asia or North Africa. We have tried to be transparent by sharing that Su is going through one right now. I take comfort from the fact that God cares for us in the desert just like He cared for Israel. In a place with no water He finds and protects us. Our continual hope is that He will teach us what we need to learn and, then, like the coming of the Costa Rican rainy season, eventually refresh us by leading us out to the other side.