Day 14

March 5, 2010

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Day 14 of my 40 Days of Water journey with blood:water mission finds me almost…apathetic. In my faith. Not in my water drinking. My water drinking is going great. When I got that boost from reading all over the blood:water site about the HIV/AIDS, and the water crisis going on over in Africa…it game me that extra boost to keep going. But my reason for it…I just want to see AIDS eradicated, and clean drinking water made available to everyone! But I don’t have Jesus in it…

James tells us in his letter that faith without works is dead. But I think it also works the other way around. There’s a song I like by Jimmy Needham, and in it he says,

Sure I’ve got zeal, but does love have a part in it?

Passionate words and beautiful phrases

They just don’t mean much if I don’t have Jesus in it”

I am a big fan of social justice. I think the Bible is clear that we are supposed to care for the poor and the disinherited. And honestly, I don’t always do a good job of seeking that out. But when I do. Look out. Because I’m on fire, and I’m going to try and light you as well. I can read all kinds of book and websites, and tell you all about it, and tell you that you should get behind it too. But it’s generally not because I’m reminded that Jesus is a bigger champion of those causes than I, or any billionaire could be. He already conquered them all when he died on the cross. but he allows us to come along side him to help. But I have to remember.

Jesus loves the people in Africa who don’t have water more than I do. And He can do more for them. And the same goes for those afflicted by poverty, and disease all around the world, including those in my own town.

If I want to be working along side Him, and not just “in His name”, though, that requires my relationship with Him to be growing. And as of late it hasn’t been. I’ve been running on empty, but making sure I’ve got words and actions to hide behind so that it’s not too obvious that I haven’t cracked my Bible on my own in a week or two.

And the thing is, I can sit here and tell you about how crappy I am at reading my Bible, or having a consistent prayer life, but that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if I don’t just cut the crap and start doing it.

Action. The word of God requires action from us. That’s where we get these great organizations like blood:water mission, World Vision, Compassion International, Mission Year, Word Made Flesh, etc…But to have our hearts transformed to take those actions we have to take the action to open a book. Not another book about world hunger, or the AIDS pandemic. But The Book. The Bible. Everything we need to know is right in there. It’s a 66 book love letter from the ultimate lover. And we have to take the action to talk to God. Hit your knees, fall on  your face, sit in a chair! He doesn’t care. He wants us to talk to Him. And he wants to talk back to us. These are the things He wants us to do to get to know Him. That way, we find out what He is passionate about, and what breaks His heart, and then He can show us in what ways we are equipped to help Him fix those things in this fallen, broken, sin sick world we live in.

Water teaches you things in funny ways.

Sabbathing

March 2, 2010

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I originally wrote this on my Mission Year blog on February 24th, 2009. Got a nice reminder about it last Sunday though.

We have a Sabbath built in to our week, and it’s great. I generally spend mine doing absolutely nothing but reading, web surfing, and blogging. I enjoy it…but that book that we’re reading that I told you about (Practicing Our Faith) made me rethink how I will probably be spending my Sabbath from here on out.

In the Jewish tradition, they are called to observe the Sabbath for two reasons. One reason is because God did. He worked for six days, and rested on one. If we are assuming that the world can not go on without our work for one day…how arrogant does that make us? What does that say about how we view God? The other reason is to remind them of their newly found freedom. He reminds them of their slavery in Egypt. Slaves can not take a day off, free people can. (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15)

In the Christian tradition, we kind of have this day built in to our weeks as well. Sunday. We get the family all together, go off to Sunday School, go to service, go out to eat, go catch a quick nap at home (if we’re lucky), then back to the church building for budget/personnel/ministry team meetings, and then there is always the possibility of the Children’s Choir performance or some banquet or other after that. We don’t honestly get that much rest, because we’re so involved. That totally used to be me.

The Sabbath is supposed to be a time of rest. A time that we use to thank God for giving us the time to rest, and for the work he has given us to do.

Sunday is no longer protected by legislation (Blue Laws), or custom. Because our lives are so busy on other days, we have to cram all those meetings and events in to one day. A lot of the time we don’t think about the fact that some people don’t ever get a day off, because they work multiple jobs, or have to put in insane hours at the one job they’re trying to keep. When we go out to lunch at a restaurant, we don’t wonder if our waitress has had a day of rest this week.

How great would it be if groups of three or four families got together to spend their Sabbaths together, and keep each other accountable to just…resting. Maybe they set up a rotating schedule of who provides food, or they all contribute every week. And they make a commitment not to be committed to anything that is work (or church work related). As far fetched as it sounds, if the body of believers decided to take back their Sunday as a day of rest, a Sabbath (this is most often the best bet because it is a relatively open day), then eventually the church governance would get the message and stop scheduling meetings on Sunday, and (and yes I really believe that if enough people did it this would happen) if people stopped going out to eat, restaurants wouldn’t open, and perhaps they’d learn something from S. Truett Cathy (founder of Chik-Fil-A and does not allow them to be open on Sundays).

We get scared of hearing something like this, or of considering making it a priority because ‘What about this project I have a work’, or ‘Yeah, but the garage isn’t going to clean itself’. Consider this though:
“People who know the Sabbath pattern of creation, liberation, and resurrection nurture a dissatisfaction with this system, however, and can work for change. Keeping Sabbath, we grow in our longing for a system where all people have work at a living wage, and time for rest and worship too.” – Dorthy C. Bass
People who decide to take a stand against what the culture decides to observe, and celebrate the Sabbath can change the culture.

Using your Sabbath as a day to rest, commune with God, and others, and respect the right of others to do the same will change your life. I promise

-Stippick

Day 12

March 2, 2010

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Ok. So I haven’t let you know a whole lot about my 40 Days of Water journey with blood:water mission in a few days. For those of you who are giving a rats behind. My bad.

Last Wednesday was the week marker. I’d made it a week on just water (except on Sunday…I had 2 Dr Peppers, a Fanta Strawberry, and some tea…). But I was feeling really good about it. I even had someone give me some really great encouragement that night. At that point, I had run more days that I hadn’t throughout the process, and I seemed to be on a great track. I’d learned some cool stuff in the first week, and was excited to continue the process.

The back half of last week rolled around, and I was not feel as gung-ho about the whole thing. I had a big personal discouragement that was my fault, and I remembered how flavorless water was. The first week, I’d been drinking 7 or 8 glasses of water a day. By the end of last week I was down to two or three, and I was feeling sluggish. I got another headache, and I was not happy about it. The caffeine should have been out of my system by now! (I realize that other things cause headaches, but at the time, this is what I chose to blame the situation on.) So I popped another excedrin migraine, and let ti work it’s magic.

I’m going to be completely honest with you. Coming into this week, I was no longer pumped, or thrilled about any of this “drinking only water stuff”, I was more…apathetic. I was going to keep doing it, but not because I really wanted to, because I’d committed to it. Hoping for some inspiration, I decided to go over to the blood:water mission website. It was a nice kick in the seat of the pants.

I remembered that I’m not doing this for you. I’m not even really doing this for me. I’m doing it for families in Uganda. Who I’ve never met. Because Jesus tells us that when we are given much, we have a larger responsibility. I have the option to have tea, soda, coffee, beer, wine, milk, whatever it may be. Simply because I was born into the middle class of a western country. And  I have access to as much clean water as my heart desires. People in Majority World countries do not have that luxury. I don’t have the option to not help them have access to clean, safe, drinkable water.

-Stippick

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