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.

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

Day 7

February 24, 2010

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Probably the biggest thing I got out of my 40 Days of Water was a tweet that blood:water mission retweeted.

Beautifully put RT @justicehoney: Some see it as giving something up. I see it as being set free. This helps me get through the day

That actually helped put things in perspective for me. I may or may not do my fair share of complaining about missing flavored liquids. But the thing is, that stuff (tea, soda, coffee, beer, etc…) was allowed a certain amount of control over my life, in the sense that (this is with the tea/soda/coffee, and things like that with caffeine) my body had become physically dependent on that to make it through the day. And that is ridiculous. I long to not be controlled by outside forces other than Christ. I mean that.

No running took place today. Which, really is a shame, because this is probably the only chance I’ll have for a long time to run in the snow…I’ll catch it next time.

-Stippick

Day 6

February 23, 2010

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I’m going to be honest with you. On days like today, there may be no reason for you to read this stuff other than that you’re  trying to follow my full 40 Days of Water journey with blood:water mission. And if that’s you? Thanks very much, I appreciate your dedication to my ramblings about my life, and how interesting I think it is. You and I might be the only ones who think that about my life.

I digress. While I didn’t have any big revelations today due to my water drinking, I did get to share with someone why I’m drinking mostly tap water. Which, if you didn’t know, is to be a constant reminder to myself of how much easy access I have to good clean water, when the majority of the world does not. And I’d even not really thought about since day 2…or something like that. It’s a pretty big deal when you think about it.

I also went for about a 20 minute run in the park. When I collapsed afterward though, I saw this bright light, and this voice said, “Quit being such a pansy, you’re not dying.” I look up, and there is Michael Sawyer…Just kidding. He didn’t say that. But I did collapse, and complain to him for about 3 minutes.

Drink more water. And be thankful for it.

-Stippick

Day 5

February 22, 2010

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Day 5 of my 40 Days of Water journey with blood:water mission was not exactly pretty.

I decided to make it my day off. You know. Just to start with my day off being Sunday and keep it that way. Now, I didn’t go as overboard as I thought I might. I had one to go cup of Dr. Pepper, and then a can of Dr. Pepper later, and a medium strawberry Fanta. I mean. I could have gone crazy with it, but I tried to keep it mild. I think that I will probably be regretting this decision tomorrow…but today, I am content with it.

I also did not go for a run, or bike today. I will start up again tomorrow though…I am going running at 5:10 p.m. in the park with Brian and Michael. It should be interesting…

Have a great week,

Stippick

Day 4

February 21, 2010

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I’m not going to lie to you. The best part about Day Four of the 40 Days of Water with blood:water mission for me was finding out that this deal is a 6 days on, 1 day off deal. I have no idea how I missed that, but it seriously may have been the highlight of my week to find that out. I’m not saying I’m gonna go bananas on stuff that isn’t water on the day off…but yeah, it’ll be a nice break for sure. Maybe that means I’m weak, but…I don’t think I care.

There’s honestly not a whole lot more to report as far as anything related to my 40 Days journey. I did go for a bike ride today instead of a run, for those of you who are following that little story line. Not really sure which is more beneficial for you…but I don’t guess I care that much. I’ve done more voluntary consecutive days of physical activity in the last three days than I’ve done…probably ever. Seriously. And physically feels awful right now. But morally it’s a big one.

Here’s lookin’ at you Wednesday!

-Stippick

Day 3

February 20, 2010

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Flavorless.

Water is absolutely flavorless. I don’t know if you knew that about water or not, but now you do.

I hadn’t ever really thought about it much until this morning when I woke up and drank a glass. I am on day three of 40 Days of Water with the folks over at blood:water mission. So I wake up, drag myself to the kitchen, and am downing the glass of water, and my initial reaction is that I want to spit it back up. I wanted something with flavor. I needed something with flavor.

My next two reactions were these:

1) I am pathetic. It’s just water for 40 days. I should be thankful for how much water I have access to. And, It’s very western culture of me to think that everything should have “flavor”. Not just food and drink, but everything. And there should be all kinds of “flavors” so that I can find the one that I like best.

2) I was reminded of the command that Christ followers have to be the salt of the world. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls his followers the salt of the world. I’ve heard several sermons preached on this, and I’m sure a lot of you have too…but I don’t think I got it until I got tired of the blandness of water. Salt adds flavor. As a follower of Christ, I am called to be salt. To add flavor to the world. The flavor of what? I didn’t know off the top of my head honestly. I had to think about it for a few hours, and I had to filter through some church answers until I landed on one. I need to be adding the flavor of Christ. The flavor of salvation that can only be found in Him. And that sounds like a super duper church answer. But…It’s the truth. All of my actions, words, thoughts, etc…should point to Him, and who He is, and what He offers. I was thankful for the ordinariness of my water this morning.

In other news. I went to a soccer game this evening, and it took a lot of self control not to order some hot coco to warm my body. I thought about crying. Instead, I tweeted blood:water mission to let them know I was suffering for the cause. I enjoyed the games though, I got to watch some students doing what they love to do, and I am passionate about supporting them in whatever they’re passionate about.

Then, I went to see Shutter Island on my “date” for the Shockwave Love series. While there, I ordered a Mr. Pibb…and was reminded by my date that I’m only drinking water. Twice in one nigh? That is a little sad. Shutter Island though, was an EXCELLENT movie. It may have made it into my top five movies of all time.

That’s all the happenings of Day 3 in my 40 Days of water with blood:water mission folks! Hope you had a great day!

-Stippick

Day 2

February 19, 2010

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Today was Day 2 in the blood:water mission 40 Days of water. For a little more info on this, refer to the second link there.

It was not as bad as day 1. I only had one really bad head ache, and I did end up taking an excedrin migraine for it. That helped, but I did feel like it was cheating. (I’m hoping tomorrow will be the last one (If I even have to have another one), and that it will be not as severe as the one from today and yesterday.)

And speaking of cheating. I have not yet. Like I said yesterday, I was very tempted to, and today I didn’t even really have the temptation. I think part of that is the accountability issue. I would hate to let down all of my faithful followers (All 5 of you), and my friends who now know about this. In all honesty though, I think the accountability is a big part of trying to do something like this. And by that I mean…Just about anything. It helps when you’re trying to accomplish something, or reach a certain goal to have some people who are asking you about it, and trying to push you on towards it.

I also, and I am fully aware of how laughable this is, went on a run today. I mean. It probably only lasted about 15 minutes. Tops. Because that was when my body said “If you don’t stop. I will stop you.” So I decided to cool it for the day. But it felt good. Mostly. And I think I might try it again tomorrow.

I’m not sure if I’m going to be updating about this EVERY day, but I will definitely be keeping you posted throughout the process.

Cheers,

Stippick

Day 1

February 17, 2010

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Today was the first day in the blood:water mission 40 days of water, where they encourage you to…drink only water for 40 days. While you’re doing that, you are supposed to keep a tally of other drinks (soda, coffee, alcohol, etc) that you would have bought, and donate that at the end of the 40 days, and it goes to whatever project they’ve decided to put that money towards that year. You’re supposed to only drink tap water, and not buy bottled water. The point is to make you think about just how easily you can get water when you want it, and how much of a luxury that really is compared to the majority of the world.

So I’m trying it out. I’m not entirely positive that I’ll make it all the way through, but I’m going to make an effort. It’s not going to be easy though. Today, when I hadn’t really told anyone about it yet, I was getting really tired, and realized it was because I’d had zero caffeine so far. So I thought “Well I could just call the whole thing off and drink tea, and coffee, and soda, and no one will ever know, because I haven’t really told anyone yet.” What a pathetic attitude.

What I’ve learned from this first day is that I have a caffeine addiction (the headache is setting in as I type), and although I’m really really weak and almost gave in. I am stronger than I would have thought, because I didn’t. I told Satan to stop whispering in my ear, and kept on drinking water. Take that Devil.

So…I am looking forward to this journey, and hope that I am able to complete it. I’ll keep you posted.

-Stippick

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