There is a drink sold all across this nation that is celebrating its 59th birthday today. It was created at an SEC school and borrowed the name of their team mascot. It’s also a drink that caused some of the football team to vomit immediately after consuming it because of the original vile taste.
The team? The Florida Gators. The drink? Gatorade.
“As the tale goes, the Florida Gators football coaching staff, led by head coach Ray Graves, approached university researchers with a unique request—to develop an athletic beverage to fuel their athletes through practices and games.
“Up stepped a team of young, intrepid researchers—Dr. Robert Cade, Dr. Dana Shires, Dr. Harry James Free and Dr. Alejandro de Quesada. Applying their knowledge of the physiological rigors of exercise and the science of hydration and energy metabolism, they concocted the first version of Gatorade.
“This primordial Gatorade consisted principally of water, sodium, sugar, potassium and phosphate, accented with a splash of lemon juice for palatability.”1
Despite the taste, if you could keep it down, Gatorade did its thing. The team was hydrated, energized, and ready to play. A 1967 Orange Bowl championship win was credited to this miracle elixir. Thankfully, the taste has improved, and many flavors are available. It’s still heralded by athletes but has also found its way into the homes of those who work hard jobs, especially outdoors. It’s also found a following in the medical world for those dehydrated from illness. Others just enjoy the taste that quenches thirst and doesn’t leave your mouth feeling contaminated as is often the case with fruit drinks and soda.
What do you do to quench your thirst? Jesus closed out the canon of Scripture by saying in Revelation 21:6, “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” This is a concise reiteration of what Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:10-14. “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (11) The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? (12) Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? (13) Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: (14) But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Here’s another way to demonstrate that the Bible clearly, painstakingly demonstrates the
eternal security of the believer. The lost person is described as thirsty. When they drink of the water of life – when they are saved and born again – they will never thirst again. The spiritual thirst for a new life in Jesus has been quenched once and for all.
Now, we thirst for the refreshing that comes from drinking in all the goodness of God throughout the day. We thirst for Heaven. We thirst for the things of the Lord. This is a good thirst. One thirst is permanently quenched and a new, driving thirst consumes us.
Sip on a Gatorade this morning and reflect on a couple of passages in Psalms. First, Psalms 63:1-3. “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; (2) To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. (3) Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.”
Second, Psalms 42:1-2. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. (2) My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”
1https://www.historyoasis.com/post/gatorade
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