Today marks the beginning of something that is going to be pretty powerful for the next forty days.  The Forty Day Fast starts today with a post from Brant about the slums of Nairobi.  It’s a pretty powerful look at the understanding of Jesus from someone who lives there.  

Make sure to bookmark Inspired To Action for the next forty days and check in.  There are also plenty of badges to put in your sidebar to help get the word out.  

Anyone been to Nairobi? 

Kristin and I are still up in Michigan, but I wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow is the last day for our Blood Water Mission fund raiser here.  Remember three months ago when I asked what everyone thought about trying to raise some money to build wells in Africa for three months?  Well this is three months later and I am planning on sending the check to Blood Water Mission on Monday.  Honestly, we are nowhere near the amount to build three wells, but we are closer than we were before we started and that’s all that matters.

If you haven’t been paying attention, or are new to this blog, there is a giant orange button over on the right where you can donate to Blood Water, or you can head to JesusGreaterThan.org and buy a “Jesus>Thirst” shirt.  All the proceeds from the shirt sales will also go into this account.  

So here’s the deal.  Let’s all dig deep today and tomorrow, click that orange button and give whatever you can.  I know there’s a bunch of stuff you can be giving to right now, but if at all possible this is something great to help with.  And thanks to everyone who has given already.  It’s going to be be great to pass that check along.

I’m not going to lie, I have been pretty negative the last few weeks, and I think a lot of it is with good reason.  Things have been going great in life and moving forward with work, but you know those times where things seem to be going great except for a few key elements that cast a negative light on the rest of the good things?  That’s been the last few months for me.  It’s not that everything has sucked, it’s just that there are a few major things that suck that overshadow everything good.  

That being said, I was over at Cool Mom and Dad’s place last night because every week they host a chat where we can all get on there and talk about bathing in burritos and drunken scooter riding.  Well, last night I “met” a guy named Adam who said that he has been reading my blog for a while, but never commented.  He used the creepy word “lurker” and mentioned that he is close to having a blog of his own, but hasn’t started yet.  We talked about the Christian music industry a bit, recommended some music, and that was about it.  I ended up asking Adam to email me so we could continue our conversation, and talk a little more in depth about music and whatever else came up.

The reason I mention “meeting” Adam is because through talking to him on the chat, he mentioned that he is currently in the Navy and on some military boat off of some African Island.  I don’t remember the name, but I remember him saying it was “seven degrees south of The Equator”.  I have no idea what that means, but sitting in my bed, late at night, with my wife asleep less than a foot away from me, I know that ”seven degrees south of The Equator” is a lot further that I would ever want to be from my family.  I thought about the isolated feelings that I would have, I thought about how weird that would be, and not to mention the whole “being at war” thing.

This is by no means an “anti-war” post, or a political post, or anything like that.  I just wanted to take the time to recognize the sacrifice and dedication it takes to willfully put yourself on a boat seven degrees south of The Equator, away from your family, to live for something you believe.  That’s pretty cool to me.  It’s a lot cooler that sitting around moping about how a few things in my life aren’t going so great.  

So anyway, thanks Adam for what you are doing to protect us, and thanks for taking the time to “lurk” here at this blog…. even if that’s a creepy way of saying it.  I know there are a few military wives on this blog, but are there any other military folks out there?  This post is for you guys too.  It’s not something I could ever do, and I appreciate that you are.

So, welcome to Tuesday.  This “Positive Post Tuesday” thing had gotten so cool with literally no plan to do so.  Thanks to all that are continuing to be involved in it. Let’s make this week the biggest yet.  Here’s how it works for those just showing up.  It’s pretty simple.  (1) Write something nice about someone, building them up, encouraging them, you know… junk like that. (2) Fill out the box below.  

*The only part that has been causing a little confusion is the “URL part”.  Make sure that you put the URL of the “Positive Post” not just your blog.  That way people can find that specific post if they come back to read them later in the week.  It should look like this - “yourdomain.com/the-name-of-your-post”*

Make sense? Have fun. Ready? Go.

 
 
(**Recent developments show that Adam has now started a blog called Lost At Sea, so make sure you go there and welcome him. ** Also, referencing the word “lurker” as creepy is a direct response to the actual word “lurker” being creepy and in no way suggests that Adam or anyone else “lurking” is in fact creepy**)

Just wanted to remind everyone we are still trying to build some wells in Africa through the work of Blood Water Mission. So far the response has been great, but I know there are plenty of other folks out there that wanted to give.

Remember my piss-poor math? Ten bucks a month, or thirty bucks for three months because we are trying to give enough for two wells every three months. With the amount of readers here we should be able to get that done in no time. Obviously there is no penalty for giving more, so do that if you wish.

Click that giant, obvious orange box over there on the right and enter the amount you want to donate, or head over to Jesus>Thirst and get a shirt, where the proceeds will go into the pot. Remember, June 1st is the day that I am sending the check. It’s not too close right now, but I don’t see why it can’t be a lot closer by that date, so let’s get on it. Everyone here has some cash laying around that can go to help save some lives.

Ready? Go.

The shirts are ready.

So far the response to our “Two Wells Every Three Months” has been great, but I think that several of you were waiting for the “Jesus>Thirst” shirts. Well, they are ready to go and up on site.

Make sure you head over to the site and pick up a shirt. And like I mentioned before P.D. has graciously offered that all the proceeds from these shirts will go directly to the collection for Blood Water Mission.

My plan is to send a check in on June 1st, so let’s see how much we can raise before then. I’m excited to see where this is going to go.

So there you go…. go get a shirt… or donate by clicking the button on the right.

Thanks again.

A group of folks from my home church in California is taking off tomorrow and headed for Uganda with an organization called Village Care International.

Staff member, Sally Lunetta writes:
“Among other things, they will be presenting our 3-day “Outcomes, Practices and Open Space” training to the Lugazi Community Primary School in Lugazi, Uganda. This school has over 300 orphans in their orphanage and over 1200 students in the school. The training is presented to help the community get mobilized and achieve the outcomes we want for all children: to be safe, healthy, living in a loving home, attending and doing well in school and behaving well in their community.”

Pray for them and their travels. Pray that they can accomplish what they set out to do and make sure to check out their site and see what they are all about.

Remember the other day when I asked if we here as a “blogging community” would be willing to take on the feat of raising enough money every quarter to supply two wells through Blood Water Mission? Well, I was serious, and so were several of you. I was contacted by a friend of mine who is making some noise with several different shirts he is making. He told me that the next shirt that he is planning on making is a shirt simply stating “Jesus>Thirst”. Seems appropriate, don’t you think?

P.D. explained to me that he wants to get behind this little project here and we are working out the details on how to link the two. Right now P.D. has offered that if someone buys a “Jesus>Thirst” shirt and mentions Blood Water Mission he will donate all of the proceeds to the goal of Two Wells Every Three Months. Pretty generous, eh?

So here’s the deal. The shirts are on order, the “donate” button is conveniently placed over there on the right, and we are ready to go. I will keep you all updated on where we are at as far as our goal, and together we can start giving people something that we daily take for granted, clean water. This is something that I see as a “regular” thing, and am going to keep bugging you people about it. I’m thinking if we all do at least ten dollars a month we should be able to get pretty close to our goal. I’m not a business guy, I don’t know anything about non-profit stuff, this is just giving money to something I believe in. Once we have enough for the Two Wells, I will take the money out of the Paypal thing, and send them a check. I don’t really know how else to do it, so that’s where we are at. Eventually I will have a button that you guys can put on your blogs to spread the word to your readers.

Who’s with me?

Remember when I talked about Long Way Round? Did you see it? If not, you still need to. And if you have here’s the second installment. This time they ride motorcycles from John o’ Groats in Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa. And from what I can tell it’s just as good as the first one.

Kristin and I started it last night and watched two of the episodes in a row. Every time I watch an episode it makes me want to do something crazy and exciting. So far they have made it in to Africa and are camping on a beach in a sand storm. It was late when it finished, I wasn’t really paying attention to details.If you haven’t seen it, I’m not one to tell you what to do with your entertainment time, but this is worth it to watch.

Who’s seen it?