Being Dehydrated: You’d be surprised what you might learn.

It’s hot season in Cambodia. Tricia and I have to constantly watch to make sure we are staying hydrated and especially keeping an eye on the boys. Unlike people in the countryside, we have access to clean drinking water. We get dehydrated simply because of the constant heat, conditions and sometimes just overdoing it. During our time in Cambodia we’ve seen the terrible effects that the lack of clean water and dehydration have on children and families in rural villages.

We’ve shared stories of how the groups we work with, like Samaritan’s Purse and New Life Fellowship, work in rural villages providing water access and clean water. And as some who have been to Cambodia know, we have our own solutions to staying hydrated here in the capital city. Aside from drinking plain water, we drink plenty of the famous Royal-D!

We’ve gotten pretty good at spotting dehydration 

in the boys. They come home from an active day at school sometimes with the classic symptoms of sluggishness, sunken in eyes, having a headache, etc. And though it isn’t pleasant to mention, urine color is a great indicator. In developed countries you don’t talk about things like that much, but here it’s a different story. I was laughing a few weeks ago when I went to Reece’s basketball game and in the school restroom there were “pee charts” on the wall above the toilets in the gym reminding kids they may be dehydrated if their urine was certain colors. That’s just one of the fun things you’ll find when your living in a new place. And oh yeah, how could I forget irritability! We have nights where we are all argumentative with each other and then somebody wises up and we all sit down and have a glass of water, with Royal-D of course.

Recently though I recognized a symptom I hadn’t recognized before. Sometimes when you’re dehydrated you can actually start craving food. This isn’t a symptom you would normally associate with dehydration. Instead of interpreting your body’s signals as thirst, the signal is interpreted as hunger. I’ve realized often when I feel hungry at a certain time in the day that my body is actually prompting me to rehydrate, but instead I start eating!

When I realized this I was surprised not just on a physical level, but on a spiritual level as well.  One of the interesting things is that our nonphysical selves also thirst.  In the same way, we don’t always recognize the true need of our spiritual self. We may misunderstand spiritually what we need, and we may try to satisfy our needs with possessions, foods, or relationships that do not satisfy and that may bring dangerous side effects. I immediately thought of how often I have tried to satisfy my spiritual thirst with a number of different activities or things that never seem to satisfy me.

It’s no wonder the writers of the old and new testaments make so many spiritual references to thirst.

“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalms 63:1

It’s also interesting that Paul speaks of God’s love for us in a way that you would describe satisfying thirst.


“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Romans 5:5

I’ve seen the terrible effects of physical dehydration in Cambodia. But, today I see even worse widespread effects of spiritual thirst being misunderstood all over the world.  The effects are pretty obvious. We are misreading the symptoms! Jesus has pointed the way to the answer, an overflowing fountain running over with the water of life.

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “ John 7:37

Have you been trying to satisfy the wrong need lately?

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