The Editor Speaks: Water and NEWSTART
Last Friday, my wife, Joan, came home with a free bottle of water and a pamphlet informing us how precious water is.
The free bottles of water and the pamphlet hand out was an initiative of the fifteen Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) churches here and I applaud them.
Maurice Chambers, pastor of the Berea Seventh-day Adventist Church in West Bay, speaking the Cayman Compass said, “At the Seventh-day Adventist Church, one of the main focuses is health. When you are feeling healthy, you will be more inclined to be spiritually healthy. As a church, we take great pride in teaching the health message, which includes drinking more water.”
Himalaya Wellness and Caymanian Times donated the pamphlets whilst the water was donated by Cayman Distributors and Foster’s Food Fair.
Feeling healthy is in tune with being spiritually healthy. What a good message. And of all the liquids we drink the healthiest one is water.
However, water is only one of the eight principles of health that make up the SDA “NEWSTART” :
Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunshine, Temperance, Air, Test, and Trust.
Nutrition
Proper nutrition is the foundation of good health and recovery. Cooking classes, meals, and cookbooks all demonstrate the variety, appeal, and satisfaction of whole plant food vegetarian cuisine.
Exercise
Action is a law of life. Muscle tone and strength are lost without exertion, but exercise improves the health of body, mind, and spirit multiplying vitality and health. Exercise therapy includes outdoor exercise, treadmill evaluations and Stretchercise. The many trails through beautiful surroundings beckon you to walk, walk, walk, but indoor exercise equipment is available
Water
Water Because the body is 70% water, keeping well hydrated and knowing what and when to drink are essential to health. Hydrotherapy (water applied externally to the body) followed by massage enhances the circulation and immune system in wonderful ways.
Sunlight
The sun is the established energy source ordained by God to sustain the cycle of life for plants and animals. Abundant in California, sunlight is supremely important for the body’s metabolism and hormonal balance.
Temperance
Using good things moderately and avoiding the bad is obviously wise, yet often hard to practice. Temperance can be neither bought nor earned, but is rather an important gift of God, a “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22, 23). Moderation in all things is a thread woven throughout the fabric of NEWSTART.
Air
The body’s most essential resource is air. More important than food or water, proper breathing and pure air are fundamental to good health. Fresh, clear mountain air surrounds the beautiful natural environment of Weimar Center.
Rest
Restoration requires rest because sleep allows the body to renew itself. Many types of rest are important for health, but the sweetest rest follows labor. “Early to bed and early to rise” is a vital NEWSTART principle, and a healthy lifestyle makes this principle easier to maintain
Trust
Trust In Divine Power – Directly linked to physical health (Proverbs 3:5-6), trust in God is a gift leading to right choices.
SOURCE: https://www.newstart.com/newstart2/
For me ‘Water” is the most important and I expect that is why the Cayman SDA’s chose that one to start their message.
I am not a SDA but this initiative of theirs struck a chord with me. A very powerful message.
Why did they hand out plastic bottles & not refillable bottles? The message would have been more powerful as a reminder that we need to protect our environment.
Very good point. The water was donated and I have not seen any water in disposable bottles on the shelves of the supermarkets here. Have you?
Colin
You can buy refillable bottles at all supermarkets here (all plastic bottles are disposable – not sure what point you are making). The refillable bottle is filled from a tap which I believe we all have as we are not in a 3rd world country, or coping after an event s ch as Ivan where water was turned off.
The point I was making was the bottles of water were donated. I did agree with you.
Cayman Distributors & Fosters should be ashamed of themselves encouraging single use plastic bottles by donating them to any cause. Our island is a disgrace for not doing more to encourage everyone to stop using plastic. Ban the import of single serve bottles.
The grocery stores encourage using non plastic grocery bags. Provide free drinking water at every hotel/restaurant/gas station/grocery store to anyone using their own refillable bottle.
Our island needs to do more to reduce the ever growing Mt Trashmore.
Give out free reusable bottles at events Fosters and Cayman Distributors & I will applaud you. Continue importing and selling single use plastic bottles and I will say ‘Shame on you”.
I agree with you. When the grocery stores made a big play about customers using their own bags or selling them theirs (non plastic) so as to save on the use of plastic the whole thing was nonsense. 80% of all packaging in the same stores is plastic – mostly heavy plastic. It still is!
Colin