We had a phrase where I grew up: “It’s July hot in August!” Well, August will not arrive until the first of next week; but it is certainly July hot right now! As I write this, most of America is sitting under what has been termed a “heat dome”, suffering triple digit temperatures in days completely devoid of rain.
In fact, the National Weather Service produced the following heat map, which pretty much says it all. (I'm located in the pink!)
Of course, none of this is anything new. The old folks call this time of year “dog days”. As a child, I was told it was because the dogs would simply lie around under porches (or anywhere else they could find shade), unwilling to expend even the smallest amount of energy in order to endure the heat.
The folks at Dictionary.com have another, more official, definition (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dog-days):
1. the sultry part of the summer, supposed to occur during the period that Sirius, the Dog Star, rises at the same time as the sun: now often reckoned from July 3 to August 11.
2. a period marked by lethargy, inactivity, or indolence.
Note the secondary definition. It shows that most of us humans are little different than canines when it comes to dealing with oppressive heat!
I say "most of us" because this is not true for everyone. Some people actually like the heat!
One such person is Dr. Tony Evans, a gifted communicator of the gospel who resides in Dallas, Texas, where he serves as Senior Pastor to the over 9,500 member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. As you might imagine, living deep in the heart of Texas, he knows a little about dealing with heat, as he makes plain in the following illustration that he once shared…
A lot of people talk about how hot it is in Texas. The heat doesn’t really bother me, though, because everything is air-conditioned in Texas. Your car is air-conditioned. Your house is air-conditioned. Every building you go in is air-conditioned. So while you do sometimes have to be under the sun, and while you’re in it, it’s hot, most people here just don’t hang out in the sun.
Actually, I’m a hot-weather person. The hotter it is, the nicer it is for me. Where some people like air conditioners blasting in their cars, I prefer to roll down the windows. I’d rather have hot air than cold air-conditioning. It’s just my particular temperament, and I know something is wrong with me, but that’s just the way it is. I don’t mind hanging out in the sun.
That said, most people I know don’t want to hang out in the sun. They just want to pass through the sun. What a lot of people want to do with the s-u-n they want to do with the S-o-n. They just want to pass through. When you hang out in the sun, you’re going to sweat. Why? Because you can’t be under that much power and it not affect you. If you hang out under the S-o-n, you’re also going to sweat. You’re going to sweat His commandments. You’re going to sweat pleasing Him. You’re going to sweat His Word because you can’t hang in His presence without Him rubbing off on you.
The way you know He’s rubbing off on you is that you begin to walk as He walks. You begin to pick up some of His habits. You begin to pick up some of His direction. You begin to pick up some of His influence.
Thank you, Dr. Evans, for this valuable insight. Between now and August 11, at the very least, I will likely be spending as little time as necessary in the s-u-n. But whenever I do, I will now reflect on how much time I actually spend in the S-o-n! Hopefully, I will be reminded to spend as much time as possible soaking up the influence of the latter!
Hopefully, you will as well.
SOURCE: Evans, Tony. Tony Evans' Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009.
An online edition is available here: https://books.google.com/books?id=O-d2JAlk9uMC&pg=PT8&lpg=PT8&dq=tony+evans+on+hanging+out+in+the+son&
source=bl&ots=zV3aHGGikW&sig=k7aAlY4rqXhDyz_XDMDA6UDx2Wo&hl=en&
sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSjJSX4I_OAhVD7SYKHXJECPAQ6AEIKjAC#v=onepage&
q=tony%20evans%20on%20hanging%20out%20in%20the%20son&f=false.
Dr. Evans’ own web site is: http://tonyevans.org/. His materials are available there.
In fact, the National Weather Service produced the following heat map, which pretty much says it all. (I'm located in the pink!)
Of course, none of this is anything new. The old folks call this time of year “dog days”. As a child, I was told it was because the dogs would simply lie around under porches (or anywhere else they could find shade), unwilling to expend even the smallest amount of energy in order to endure the heat.
The folks at Dictionary.com have another, more official, definition (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dog-days):
1. the sultry part of the summer, supposed to occur during the period that Sirius, the Dog Star, rises at the same time as the sun: now often reckoned from July 3 to August 11.
2. a period marked by lethargy, inactivity, or indolence.
Note the secondary definition. It shows that most of us humans are little different than canines when it comes to dealing with oppressive heat!
I say "most of us" because this is not true for everyone. Some people actually like the heat!
One such person is Dr. Tony Evans, a gifted communicator of the gospel who resides in Dallas, Texas, where he serves as Senior Pastor to the over 9,500 member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. As you might imagine, living deep in the heart of Texas, he knows a little about dealing with heat, as he makes plain in the following illustration that he once shared…
A lot of people talk about how hot it is in Texas. The heat doesn’t really bother me, though, because everything is air-conditioned in Texas. Your car is air-conditioned. Your house is air-conditioned. Every building you go in is air-conditioned. So while you do sometimes have to be under the sun, and while you’re in it, it’s hot, most people here just don’t hang out in the sun.
Actually, I’m a hot-weather person. The hotter it is, the nicer it is for me. Where some people like air conditioners blasting in their cars, I prefer to roll down the windows. I’d rather have hot air than cold air-conditioning. It’s just my particular temperament, and I know something is wrong with me, but that’s just the way it is. I don’t mind hanging out in the sun.
That said, most people I know don’t want to hang out in the sun. They just want to pass through the sun. What a lot of people want to do with the s-u-n they want to do with the S-o-n. They just want to pass through. When you hang out in the sun, you’re going to sweat. Why? Because you can’t be under that much power and it not affect you. If you hang out under the S-o-n, you’re also going to sweat. You’re going to sweat His commandments. You’re going to sweat pleasing Him. You’re going to sweat His Word because you can’t hang in His presence without Him rubbing off on you.
The way you know He’s rubbing off on you is that you begin to walk as He walks. You begin to pick up some of His habits. You begin to pick up some of His direction. You begin to pick up some of His influence.
Thank you, Dr. Evans, for this valuable insight. Between now and August 11, at the very least, I will likely be spending as little time as necessary in the s-u-n. But whenever I do, I will now reflect on how much time I actually spend in the S-o-n! Hopefully, I will be reminded to spend as much time as possible soaking up the influence of the latter!
Hopefully, you will as well.
SOURCE: Evans, Tony. Tony Evans' Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009.
An online edition is available here: https://books.google.com/books?id=O-d2JAlk9uMC&pg=PT8&lpg=PT8&dq=tony+evans+on+hanging+out+in+the+son&
source=bl&ots=zV3aHGGikW&sig=k7aAlY4rqXhDyz_XDMDA6UDx2Wo&hl=en&
sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSjJSX4I_OAhVD7SYKHXJECPAQ6AEIKjAC#v=onepage&
q=tony%20evans%20on%20hanging%20out%20in%20the%20son&f=false.
Dr. Evans’ own web site is: http://tonyevans.org/. His materials are available there.