Friday, April 11, 2008

H2O Manifesto

Going to Work With Dad

When I was younger my father worked in construction. During the summers I would go to work with him, almost every day. I wanted so much to be useful. I would try and help out, and he would come behind me and patch up what I had done, and explain to me how to do it a little better next time.

We serve a God who has chosen us to bear his light to a lost world. God could redeem this whole world with a word, but He has chosen to work with us and through us. I am absolutely blown away by the image of God the Father mentoring us in his work of bringing redemption to a broken world.

It is clear from the words of Jesus that we are to care for the poor, the sick, the hungry, the thirsty and the naked. And this from a man who died for us naked and thirsty. “If you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.”

Why Water?

Currently 1.1 billion people on this planet are without access to clean drinking water. A person can exist many days without food, but only a few without water. The destruction of AIDS is amplified drastically by the lack of clean water. Every $1 spent on water and sanitation creates on average another $8 in costs averted and productivity gained.

This problem is fixable. A well brings clean water for entire communities. The church in the United States has the resources to end the global water crisis.

What Do We Do?

Remember when Jesus is walking towards a boat across the water and Peter asks if he can come out to him? Jesus replies that he can and I imagine Peter took a running leap over the side of the boat and hit the water running. But then he started to sink.

Our focus is on Jesus and it needs to remain there. We cannot change a person’s heart, only Christ can do that. However, we can show the love of Christ that is present in us.

I am requesting support to drill a well. I am running a half marathon on May 4th and am asking people to sponsor me for $1 per mile. Every penny will go towards drilling a well in Ghana. I am essentially asking for a donation of $13.10 to be made to Living Water International using the gift code “Running4Water – Ghana”. Check out http://running4water.blogspot.com/ for more information, or you can email running4water@gmail.com . Please support this effort anyway you can.

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