A CUP OF COLD WATER

OFTEN TIMES, WE MUST LOOK INTO OUR PAST AND TAKE A REFLECTIVE JOURNEY BACK INTO TIME TO HELP US REMEMBER OUR SACRED DUTIES AND REMIND US WHAT IS RADICALLY IMPORTANT TO OUR GOD. A CUP OF COLD WATER IS A SIMPLE BUT SACRED BACKYARD MISSION. WE ARE REMINDED THAT EXTREME GRATITUDE, INVIGORATED BY THE GRACE OF GOD, REFUELS OUR SOULS AND HELPS SEND US AGAIN AND AGAIN INTO THE HARD REALITY OF GOING WHERE THE NEED IS. ONE OF THE SACRED DUTIES OF THE DEACON IN THE ANCIENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS TO DISTRIBUTE FOOD AND TO CARE FOR THE POOR. IN 258 A.D, LAURENCE WAS ONE DEACON WHO TOOK HIS ASSIGNMENT SERIOUSLY. AS A TRUSTED DEACON OF BISHOP SIXTUS II OF ROME, LAURENCE WAS ENTRUSTED WITH THE ENTIRE TREASURY OF THE ROMAN CHURCH WHEN BISHOP SIXTUS II WAS JAILED BY THE ROMAN EMPEROR VALERIAN. LAURENCE THEN GAVE THE ENTIRE TREASURY TO THE POOR AND SICK. WHEN EMPEROR VALERIAN LEARNED THAT LAURENCE HAD BEEN GIVEN THE TREASURY OF THE CHURCH, HE HAULED THE DEACON INTO COURT AND DEMANDED HE TURN OVER THE TREAS