Say, do you think King David ever hung out in Florida?
I ask because I stumbled across a phrase in my Bible this week that makes me wonder. It’s Psalm 32:4 (labeled “a Psalm of David”) and it sure does sound like David’s walked a mile or two in my sweaty moccasins. The NASB translation reads, “For day and night, Thy hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.”
Fever heat. Oh yeah. That’s the perfect phrase for Tampa in August. Your light sweat breaks out into a massive sweat the minute you head for your car and when you wring out your tee shirt after you get home, you can’t find a dry one because it’s so dang humid/hot that clothes that you hang up to dry (I do this to avoid shrinkage with some items) NEVER dry, and you end up with a children’s size 6T after you finally give up and throw the nasty, mildewy things in the dryer.
And the harp guy was right – whatever meager vitality you woke up with drains away around the bowl and down the hole within the first two minutes you step outside. Energy gone forever. I believe the dude had some kind of special insight into what life would be like in the 21st century, even with the miracle of air conditioning. Maybe it’s an offshoot of the gift of prophecy or something.
Okay, so maybe David never made it to the Flower-state in the New World. Ponce de Leon hadn’t been born yet. But do you think David ever tried to take a riverboat cruise down the Danube River in August? Because the NKJV translation of that same verse (Psalm 32:4) reminds me of what I just went through for the past two weeks when we signed up for an anniversary riverboat cruise (celebrating being hitched for 48 years): “For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.”
The drought of summer. “They it is!” (One of my favorite quotes from a wonderful old movie called “Searching for Bobby Fisher” – look it up if you haven’t seen it … guarantee you’ll love it (p.s. It’s not about THE strange but brilliant Bobby Fisher exactly – it’s about an adorable little boy chess prodigy from real life in the 70s, walking in Bobby’s chess-master footsteps but without his weird personality quirks. Anyway, when the little boy (Josh Waitzkin, his real name in real life) sees his intimidating chess opponent make a crucial mistake during a huge tournament, that’s the line his NY Queens-raised earthy “coach” utters to let Josh’s parents know Josh is gonna win sometime during the next 12 moves. And he does. And you cheer. And maybe even shed a tear or two.)
Whoops. Way off grid here. Back to my point: The drought of summer.
That’s exactly what we experienced after reserving space over a year ago to cruise down the beautiful blue Danube (which was more green than blue), but we were stymied because the rivers were suffering from low water from a long drought during the fever heat of summer over there, to the point where sunken warships from WWII were popping up above the water’s surface for the first time since the war was over.
To avoid our ship running aground, we had to switch ships 3 times, meaning they pulled over, piled us on busses and drove us across wide swatches of countries with too many consonants to pronounce to our next port, where we boarded another Viking boat exactly like the last one. You know, I really didn’t mind it so much – I found it charming and fun to see slices of European farmland and rolling hills that we would never have seen otherwise.
What I DID mind was the food poisoning that socked me in the gut for three days. But let’s not go there and ruin a perfectly good story. (We’ll go there next week.)
So here are as many pics as I can cram onto this page. I may include a few more next week … whadaya think? Want to see them?
Your turn: Tell me, dear BFF (Blessed Friend Forever), when have you felt like you were battling uphill with the drought of summer? (Maybe it’s not physical drought, but more emotional or spiritual?) You know, a time when you felt your vitality get sucked right out of you and swirl away down the drain?
