Freeze-dried Or On Ice?
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
Slugger Ted Williams, "the greatest hitter in the world," the last player to hit over .400 for a season, died in July of 2002 and is now on ice in Arizona. No doubt he had soaked his aching joints hundreds of times in a tub of ice throughout his career with the Boston Red Sox. Now he's frozen upside down at a temperature of minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit in a stainless steel canister filled with liquid nitrogen at a cyrogenics lab in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Some of his family members say he wanted to be cremated and his ashes strewn over the sea. But others insist that an agreement had been struck with some family members to have their bodies frozen in the hope that someday technology would permit some sort of reunion, or new life.
Go figure. Williams was a great hitter, but he strikes out on this one.
Death is hard to accept. Even pet owners often have a hard time believing that Precious is gone. That's why some are taking advantage of a new freeze-drying technology that allows you to put Precious, your deceased poodle, in a freeze-dry machine. When Precious emerges, she looks just as she did in real life, and you can place her on the sofa, the rug, or at the foot of the bed according to her habits during her mortal -- er, canine life. And neither feeding nor poop patrols are necessary now that Precious has been redesigned for eternity.
Freeze-drying is much easier than traditional taxidermy which involves skinning the animal, removing the internal organs, cleaning out the insides, tanning the hide, rebuilding bone structure, padding the skeleton with foam, and refitting the skin and sewing it back on to the skeletal frame.
Freeze-drying only costs about $600 and involves evaporating water from ice to vapor without ever becoming water. The process takes time -- from two to six months depending upon the size of the animal. But once dried, the bodies won't decay. And they look as life-like as ever.
Eternal life. It's a fascinating and attractive idea. Those who are in Christ know that they have a future -- and it doesn't involve being suspended upside down in a stainless steel canister, or having the air sucked out of us until we're completely dry. (Well, who knows what will happen to our mortal bodies?) The truth is that those who love the Lord will spend time around the throne of God in worship and praise.We know that in eternity we will not hunger or thirst, and we will not cry from pain.
As for what we don't know about an afterlife, we should let it go, and focus on the here and now. Too many Christians live as though they're already on ice or freeze-dried. The Spirit's message to the church is, "Look alive!" Christ is Risen! Thanks be to God!
Some of his family members say he wanted to be cremated and his ashes strewn over the sea. But others insist that an agreement had been struck with some family members to have their bodies frozen in the hope that someday technology would permit some sort of reunion, or new life.
Go figure. Williams was a great hitter, but he strikes out on this one.
Death is hard to accept. Even pet owners often have a hard time believing that Precious is gone. That's why some are taking advantage of a new freeze-drying technology that allows you to put Precious, your deceased poodle, in a freeze-dry machine. When Precious emerges, she looks just as she did in real life, and you can place her on the sofa, the rug, or at the foot of the bed according to her habits during her mortal -- er, canine life. And neither feeding nor poop patrols are necessary now that Precious has been redesigned for eternity.
Freeze-drying is much easier than traditional taxidermy which involves skinning the animal, removing the internal organs, cleaning out the insides, tanning the hide, rebuilding bone structure, padding the skeleton with foam, and refitting the skin and sewing it back on to the skeletal frame.
Freeze-drying only costs about $600 and involves evaporating water from ice to vapor without ever becoming water. The process takes time -- from two to six months depending upon the size of the animal. But once dried, the bodies won't decay. And they look as life-like as ever.
Eternal life. It's a fascinating and attractive idea. Those who are in Christ know that they have a future -- and it doesn't involve being suspended upside down in a stainless steel canister, or having the air sucked out of us until we're completely dry. (Well, who knows what will happen to our mortal bodies?) The truth is that those who love the Lord will spend time around the throne of God in worship and praise.We know that in eternity we will not hunger or thirst, and we will not cry from pain.
As for what we don't know about an afterlife, we should let it go, and focus on the here and now. Too many Christians live as though they're already on ice or freeze-dried. The Spirit's message to the church is, "Look alive!" Christ is Risen! Thanks be to God!
