Bring Water to the Needy

The Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2009 (S.624) aims to bring clean water to 100 million people who need it. You can help bring sustainable, first-time access to clean water and sanitation to some of the poorest people in the world by only signing your name. Please take a moment and help this move forward!


SUPPORT THE BILL BY CLICKING HERE

Michigan May Dissappear Into the Great Lakes

Things simply don't get any better for people living in Michigan. They have just been hit with a round of heavy storms and simply ludicrous amounts of rain, leaving those already ravaged by unemployment with new auto bills or feet of water in their basements. Currently, according to news sources, there are roughly 30,000 people without power. That lack of power means even those who were "prepared" and had sump pumps in their basements are still flooded unless they had a generator as a backup power source (Mom, you were right).



Already the state with the worst economy in the country, it was reported in May that Michigan leads the nation with a 14.1% unemployment rate. That is simply shocking. The number may not seem that large, but that is roughly 1 out of every 7 people. The national average is 9.4%. So for a state desperately struggling to get by, rather than any relief, they instead get higher gas prices (recently Michigan's gas was 40-50 cents higher per gallon than here in Tennessee), a new set of auto repairs for people who attempted to drive or were caught out in the flooding, and homes that are full of water.

Here are the links to stories and some of the more interesting quotes from news reports and people around the area about the recent storms and damage:

Wood TV 8, "Holland Is Under Water"

Wood TV 8, "Storms Flood Parts of West Michigan"

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=110570&catid=14

Quotes:

Many buildings on the campus of Hope College have been flooded. A cleanup effort is underway.

The lower level of the college's Schaap Science Center has an estimated three feet of flood water.

11:12pm I just drove down from Ludington on US 31 to Spring Lake. The rain was so bad that it sounded like rocks hitting the car. I could barely see the lines in the road, so I just suggest that people stay off the road or drive very slowly.

10:57pm On 120th Ave. between Riley and Felch in front of the Meadow Springs Apartments in Holland: Water is four feet deep, higher in some areas. Currently, there are approx. 35-40 automobiles, Minivans and SUV's stranded in various stages of flooding, with motorists desperately trying to push their vehicles out of the road while other larger trucks (semis) are pushing their way through the area. Waves cresting up to five feet and overtaking motorists along the half mile stretch. Creeks and ponds in the area are over flowing, adding to the depth in this area. Please advise your viewers to avoid the area at all cost.

10:13pm Holland is crazy! Looks like a tornado went through on Ottawa Beach road. Power lines and trees down all over . Police have the road blocked off. Stay off the road!!

10:13pm I'm on southside of holland. Meadow lanes townhomes is under water, the entrance is completly flooded the water was up to the bottom of my jeep cherokee door.

9:51pm I have received 4.75" of new rainfall in the last 18 hours in my rain gauge in my garden. I am between Hudsonville and Allendale. 40th and Baldwin Street. Moderate winds, but no hail yet.

9:50pm Most of the roads in Holland are impassable and under water. People need to stay OFF the roads. I was driving on 7th and the intersection of Pine, water was coming up over the hood. Major trees down by Kollen's Park, power outages. The street in front of my house is water from sidewalk to sidewalk.

9:48pm I just got a call from someone at the Holland power plant who said that had 3 feet of water in parts of the plant and were sandbagging to keep out the flood. A roof drain blew out and they are having major problems.

9:41pm I live on Hillcrest Way in Logan Estates in Zeeland Michigan. The road is entirely flooded and many cars are trying to make it through and their cars are stalling. Severe lightning, tremendous rain accumulation.

9:35pm I live near Third st and Stocking st. on the Northwest side of Grand Rapids, the extreme rain that came down so much and so fast has caused our entire gutter system around the top of our home to collapse because of the weight of all the water, also my parents live on the SouthEast area of Grand Rapids, 2 cars stalled in flood water and extreme flooding at the intersection of Burton street and Kalamazoo Ave.

9:28pm Hey, We just drove from zeeland to holland. Going under 31 on chicago drive there was about 2 1/2 feet of fast moving water. There were some cars that went through it and were stalling out on the sides of the roads.

Birthday Wish

I suppose, despite the attempted ignorance on my behalf, that if I choose to live in reality I must then accept that as June 21 approaches, so does my 25th birthday. Though this is not the most pleasant of all thoughts that have crossed my mind recently, rather than dwelling on the plans for my 1/3 life crisis (the average life expectancy for men in the US is 75), I will instead try to make the most of the day.

My family has always been one to celebrate birthdays in a fairly traditional way; by eating a favorite meal, sharing a favorite dessert, and opening many presents. Almost a mini-Christmas for one, if you will. This year, though I certainly have needs that I must address, I am asking for something a little bit different. Instead of giving any gifts to me (if you were even contemplating doing so), I would ask that you consider putting that money to better use. As I have already stated, I certainly have needs, but for the most part I have more material objects and possessions than I would ever know what to do with. So instead of buying something for me, I am encouraging everyone to give the money to those who truly need it.

Perhaps it is a sign of the times, but I have started a "birthday wish," as they are so aptly named, on Facebook, and I would love for everyone who uses Facebook to check it out. Specifically I am asking that people would contribute money to the organization Blood:Water Mission. They seek to provide clean blood and clean water to people who are without. Only $1 can provide clean water to someone in Africa for an entire year. With that in mind, please consider donating and visit the wish page by clicking here. If you aren't on Facebook, you can still donate by visiting the Blood:Water website. Also, there are plenty of other organizations that I support and trust and would love for you to look into such as The Mocha Club, World Hope International, and Word Made Flesh. If you would rather support something with no religious affiliation, please check out Charity: Water. My goal is to raise $500 for Blood:Water Mission, which is as simple as 20 people contributing $25. Think about it, check out the page, and hopefully do something life changing with the money with which you have been blessed.

Thanks so much!

Joanna

Tonight caught me off guard.  However, before I go any further, I need to communicate the context.  Please read my friend Kyle Scott’s latest blog before continuing with mine.  I promise it will make sense later.

For those who know me well, you’ll know that I often struggle to know what a proper reaction is to a situation.  Conversations and encounters can easily become awkward because I am unsure of which words are appropriate.  Simple compliments and expressions of gratitude find me lacking a response.  The silence builds with the tension as I run through all of the possibles solutions in my head; none of them seeming to fit.  This is almost certainly linked to my tendency to over-analyze.  My thoughts never shut off.

Well, this also occurs when I see people in poverty.  Despite having been around need before (frequent visits to the Grant County Rescue Mission during college, trips to Mexico and Zambia, time in large cities...), just like a compliment, I never become comfortable with it.  I watch so many people simply walk by, the vision of someone on the street not for a second tugging on their hearts.  That is not me.

An inward battle rages in me every time I pass.  My heart is filled with pain as I yearn so desperately to help.  The pangs of guilt creep in and I resent my lot in life, that I am the one who was so fortunately born into better circumstances.  I long to empty my wallet; to give everything I have.  But alongside that pain is the thought that perhaps they cannot be trusted.  Society, and sometimes even personal experience, has told me that any money I might give would be used misused.  Maybe the person even deserves to be in his current state.

So tonight, as I stood looking into Joanna’s eyes, once again my desire to help found itself battling my sense of entitlement.  “Hey,” came the cry from somewhere behind me.  I was walking to my car after attending an art gallery open house.  I noticed a way out through a parking lot as I was exiting The Arcade, but decided to take the slightly longer route through the rest of the building instead.  I had no idea if the call was directed at me, so I continued to walk, hands in pockets on a mild night in downtown Nashville.  Again came the cry, though this time with some urgency.  

“Hey!”

I decided to turn around, and upon doing so I saw her, arm in the air attempting to flag me down as she awkwardly jogged toward me.

“I can’t move that fast, I’m pregnant,” she exclaimed as I began to walk toward her.  Before she was within five feet of me she had already begun to spout her needs and explanations as to why I should help her out.  Though my first desire is to help, it wasn’t long before I found myself in that oh-so-familiar place of inner turmoil; trying to decide if I could believe her or not.

Her words were fast, and not always clearly annunciated.  Her emotions were obviously high as she attempted to explain her situation, and something about it made me think that this was not her first attempt.  It could have been her attempt to tell me all that was wrong in her life as quickly as possible, or maybe it was the nervous way her hands moved as she spoke.  Regardless, I stood silently trying to hear it all.

The first thing Joanna said was that she was trying to get a dollar for coffee.  She wanted to go to McDonald’s and was very hungry.  I asked why she wouldn’t get food if she had a dollar since coffee wouldn’t help her that much.  She then informed me that it was all she could afford, because she had to pay for the bus to get there.  Knowing that the golden arches could be found only a few blocks away, I was a bit confused.  She mentioned her pregnancy again, though she was not showing enough for me to verify.  The pregnancy became a theme throughout the conversation as she referenced only drinking water (because she couldn’t afford food) and throwing it up due to the child.  It was a while before I found out that she was living at a women’s shelter in Antioch, a few miles away from Nashville.  This is where the bus comes in.  The bus brought her right to the shelter, where there was a McDonald’s across the street.  She went there with other women from the shelter, but with no money was only able to drink water as the others ate.

It took a bit of convincing before she agreed to walk toward the bus stop.  I had offered to pay for her bus ticket, but she was more concerned with getting food.  The problem was that in order to get food, I needed to get her on the bus.  Her initial protests did not help me believe that she actually wanted the money for bus fare and food.  The distance from our location at the time also was not in her favor.  But why must I always question someone motives when they ask for something?  Why can I not freely give?

As we walked to the bus station, she told me that she was pregnant because she was raped by someone who was now in the army.  She frequently mentioned that she loved God and loved Jesus.  She was Catholic and was at church earlier that night before our conversation began.  Standing at a traffic light, she told me that I would certainly be blessed for helping her.  That someday I would drive a Mercedes for my generosity.  I kindly explained that I would rather not have the Mercedes and don’t necessarily believe in a prosperity gospel.  As I spoke I couldn’t help but wonder if she viewed blessings as material possessions due to her circumstances.

Joanna, though already 40,  also felt that someday she would marry a white man and have lots of babies.  14 or 15 of them.  After I expressed that I didn’t think her solution to life was found in marrying a white man, she insisted the opposite and cited “more beautiful babies” as her reason.  This apparently cued her curiosity and she asked if I was married.  After hearing that I am unwed, she responded by saying I should be.  And for the remaining block spoke of how handsome she thought I was.  All of this positive reinforcement seemed to me to be her way of trying to ensure that I would help her.  I wish she could have seen that my help did not hinge upon her story, her telling me that she loved God, or her verbal affirmation.  All I wanted was to really know the truth.  I just am so slow to trust in these situations.

I like to make sure, at least as well as I can, that money I give someone is used well.  I have a hard time simply handing cash to someone (probably because I never have it on me), but am very willing to sit down and eat a meal with them.  Thus, upon arriving at the bus station and finding the bus doors closed and the driver taking a momentary restroom break, I decided to talk for a moment longer and give her the money as she boarded.  I still held some fear that she would take the money and never step foot on the bus.  For whatever reason, this really set her off.  She desperately pled with me to give her the money before the driver returned, insisting that I was intentionally embarrassing her by waiting.  For a reason I could not grasp, she did not want the driver to see me hand her money.  According to her story, the bus drops her off at the door of the shelter, so I could not understand how me giving her money would be any further insult.

Not knowing exactly how to react, I asked her to trust me.  She asked me for twenty dollars, apparently a bit more bold than when she first stopped me on the street.  I didn’t even have twenty dollars.  I was lucky I had cash on me at all.  She then asked for ten, and I looked in my wallet and saw a five and five ones.  The bus fare was $1.60 and I know the prices at McDonald’s.  By this point in time the bus drive had returned and I handed her the five ones.  I probably shouldn’t have been surprised, but her response of, “That’s it?” hurt me.  I tried to explain that I don’t have a job either and that money isn’t something I have a lot of.  After realizing she wouldn’t be getting more from me she dug in her pocket to see if she had the 60 cents for the bus in order to keep the rest for food.  As I heard the clang of the change moving in her pocket, my trust was broken down, for earlier in the night she had told me she didn’t even have two pennies.  

I simply don’t always have the answers.  As I walked away from the bus station, I found myself wondering if I had done the right thing?  Had I given too much to someone who would abuse it?  Had I not given enough and lacked the faith and trust that was necessary?  What is the proper response?  In the end, my heart will not stop breaking for the poor and marginalized.  The Bible explicitly tells us to take care of those with less than us.  No matter how hard it may be, and no matter how many times I feel taken advantage of, I cannot ignore God’s prompting.  As someone attempting to follow Christ, perhaps my only response in such situation is to give unless I feel anything different, and trust that God will take care of the rest.

A Crisis of Faith

I find myself now in the midst of one of, if not the, most trying times of my life. Not, however, for the reasons you may think.

It is not because there is nobody around me. I just spent a great month with friends and family in Michigan. I have a girlfriend who, despite the mileage between us, is always by my side. Though I know few people in this city, I am beginning to make new contacts and my “social life” here almost seems to be on the upswing.

It is not because of my work situation. Certainly this has been difficult as well; following what I thought to be God’s call to accept a new job in a distant city only to have it taken away after two months. I will not don the eternal optimist’s facade, smile and tell you this has not affected me. We are in the middle of a severe recession, jobs are extremely tough to find, and I have no idea where God wants me right now. I am trying to trust, but it is certainly easier said than done.

No, the cause of my current situation is not of circumstances, relationships, or jobs, but something much more fundamental. Faith.

After so many years, it's almost embarrassing to admit. I've been on this faith journey trying to seek out truth and follow God's will for my life for nearly 12 years. Certain messages have passed through my ears so many times that I could not attempt to recount them. Easter has recently come and gone, and the message of Christ's death and resurrection, the power of God demonstrated in His victory over death, has been prevalent. This story provides hope to all of humankind. That our iniquities will not mean our death, but that we can have life, hope, and complete restoration through Christ! Surely as someone who has believed for so long this principal could not even in question...

But for me, the power of God is a tricky thing. If you ask me the questions, I will give you all of the right answers. If approached by an unbeliever and questioned on God’s grace and forgiveness, I would most surely say that God’s love covers all. He will transform us and make us into new beings, pure in His sight. Our sins are forgotten, no account of them is held. And all of this is easy to believe...for someone else.

For myself, however, it is a different story. These trying, long-suffering times that I am in require more than I have to offer. No matter how hard I work and how much time I put in, I cannot conquer these obstacles. I stand staring in the face of my own unbelief. I desperately need to understand God’s grace and forgiveness for myself; to be able to accept it and therefore pass it on to others. But I can’t. I fight an uphill battle attempting to let go of hurts or pain caused by others, unable to shake images from my mind.

Do I honestly believe that God can transform wholly? That when we turn to Him we are completely renewed? Do I trust this for myself? Do I trust this for others, even those close to me? Can I let go of my own past and the pasts of others?

Oh, Lord, I know you are sovereign over all. Please make Yourself known in these dark hours.


23 " 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
24 Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, " I do believe; help me over come my unbelief!"

Mark 9: 23-24

I Need Your Support!

I have been absolutely amazed by the response to my video in such a short time. People have taken the time to view the video, leave comments, rate it, and even open up a YouTube account just so they could to that! Thanks so much, it is truly humbling to see that response.



That said, I still need support! If you haven't yet, please go WATCH MY VIDEO, give it a 5 star rating, and leave a great comment! You do have to follow the link to rate and leave a comment, so what are you waiting for? Go there now! And when you're done with that, head over to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSsQjmTe6_k and leave a comment there as well! I need your support to get this awesome job! If you can, pass this on to everyone you know. Thanks!

Rally the Troops

My friend David Welch emailed me last night to inform me of pretty much the coolest job ever. STA Travel is hiring 2 interns to travel the world this summer. I honestly feel as though this job was made with me in mind, given that the requirement are a ridiculously strong desire to travel and share your experiences, photography skills, ability to use a mac (did I mention I have degrees in the last two?), and being awesome. That last one is subjective, but regardless, the job entails traveling around the world, experiencing all sorts of amazing things, and simply sharing them via photos, videos, and blogs. I think I was made for this.

So when I found out about it I put together a video as fast as possible since the deadline was at noon today and have posted my official application for this job. The only problem is that part of the way they determine who gets this job is by the online response. Given my late entry, I am a little bit behind. So, this is my official plea for everyone who reads this to GO VOTE FOR ME! Give my video 5 star ratings, leave text comments saying that I am the perfect person for the job (you don't even have to lie because it's true!), tell all of your friends! Anyway, here are the links.

To view my video and give it a 5 star rating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CxH21471-E

To view STA's video, see other contestants, and leave a text comment saying that I should get this job:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSsQjmTe6_k

So click it, check it out, and let's see what happens!