We'll be out at a restaurant, or eating at someones home and the question will come up as to what each person wants to drink. Someone inevitably will say, "Water please." When that happens, you can pretty much make book that Bernie, or someone else in the clan - we're all Bernie indoctrinees - will say, "Water, the most underrated beverage in the world."
It's a running joke in the family.
Anyway, I thought about that the other day as I read about a company in California, "Wayne Enterprises" (I'm resisting the Wayne tangent) is selling bottled "Holy Water."
It started out as a local thing, now it's getting national exposure, and the company owner is hoping to establish a charity or something with the funds raised from each 99 cent bottle of water.
I suppose I'm now a quasi-baptist since I'm attending a "non-denominational" church, but I was dunked. I believe you need to get dunked and in all honesty to paraphrase Kinky Friedman, I think there are few folks who deserve to be dunked and held under water a little bit longer than others.
This story of "bottled Holy Water" made the news wires in the "off-beat" sections. Something to sort of giggle at and move on.
The water though is actually "blessed" by both Catholic and Anglican priests, and the company isn't making a fortune having sold a few thousand bottles and sent a couple thousand more to troops in Iraq.
I'll admit it sounds a little silly, especially since the labels carry a warning that "sinners who drink the water may experience burning, intense heat, sweating and skin irritations."
However, I also starting thinking we're all essentially containers for Holy water, or at least have the potential to be, and when you do surrender to God, you realize how fragile and how strong such vessels can be.
Maybe it's the most underrated beverage beyond this world too.
