Was it a challenge?

Did you take the Thirsty Challenge?

How'd it go? What did you learn? What did God show you through your experience?

Leave a comment here and let us know!

Digging deeper?

Exactly how deep is a deep well?

How shallow is a shallow well?

Hollywood Sign: 50 feet

Hand-dug well: Up to 50 feet

Leaning Tower of Pisa: 179 feet

Shallow Well: 200 feet

Sears Tower: 1,450 feet

Deep Well: 1,500 feet

Stats courtesy of LWI. www.water.cc

SO WHAT’S A WELL?

A well is simply a hole in the ground that reaches down to an

aquifer. Traditionally, people in the developing world have dug

wells by hand, which means that only the shallowest aquifers

can be reached; hand-dug wells rarely exceed 50 feet, and are

often left open, allowing run-off water and other contaminants

to enter the well from the surface. The shallow aquifers that

these wells draw from are vulnerable to pollution from agricul-

tural fertilizers, industrial waste, or seepage from nearby latrines.

With the right equipment, wells can be drilled to deeper, safer

water. A pipe and a pump are used to pull water out of the

ground, and a screen filters out any particles. Drilled wells are

lined with PVC or galvanized steel to protect them from pollu-

tion that could otherwise seep in. They are sealed systems, with

pumps that only allow water to flow out of the hole, to prevent

contaminants from being introduced from the surface.

OKAY... HOW DOES IT WORK?

Wells come in different shapes and sizes, depending on the

soil conditions and how much water is needed. In some areas,

wells need to be very deep to reach good water—sometimes

1,500 feet or more—and require powerful electric pumps pow-

ered by diesel generators. These wells are drilled in large com-

munities, and are often installed at a hospital or school. They can

produce hundreds of thousands of gallons in a day and serve

tens of thousands of people.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, wells don’t need to be

so deep; safe water is usually found within 100 feet of the sur-

face. For a well like this, a manual hand pump can be installed.

There are many kinds of hand pumps, some of which can pull

water up from a depth of 200 feet. While not as convenient as

an electric pump, a hand pump is usually a much more appro-

priate solution for a rural community, both culturally and

technologically: hand pumps use common, easily-replaceable

spare parts, and are simple for a village caretaker to maintain

with minimal skills and few tools. Except for the occasional

repair, it costs the community nothing to operate the well. Hand

pumps are cost-effective, and the pumps used at LWI’s wells

are proven to be robust and reliable under field conditions. A

single hand pump can easily provide water for a community of

500 people, but LWI teams regularly visit areas where two or

three thousand people rely on one pump, and more wells are

desperately needed.

courtesy of LWI. www.water.cc

The Thirsty Challenge

FAST: Drink only water for 1 week

GIVE the $ you would have spent on other beverages toward the Thirsty initiative

PRAY for God to teach you how to give yourself away this holiday season.

Something to think about (by Andy)

Upon further reflection, the concept of generosity through poverty and the intertwining of generosity and gratitude has come to be, for me, an issue of legacy for my family. What sparked the deeper reflection was (of all things) VeggieTales. Micah loves to watch VeggieTales. Today he was watching "Lyle, the Kindly Viking". It's a great story about a little Viking who breaks rank from stealing and plundering to share his things with some monks. On the surface this is just a happy little story to teach your kids about sharing, right? Well, yes.

But it got me thinking anyway.

When I began to think about this in the scope of how generous we are called to be as followers of Jesus and what I've brought back with me from Nicaragua, I began to tie two things together. What I've brought back isn't just a new understanding of generosity, gratitude and poverty, but an opportunity to instill in Micah that same understanding.

VeggieTales became a teaching moment for me - not just to teach Micah, but for God to teach me. For me this can't just be about transforming how I live life or how I lead my family, but it has to be about teaching my son how to be generous. Beyond that, it has to be an opportunity that I am willing to take to help him and teach him to be better at it than I am so that his kids can be better at it than he will be. It's about leaving a family legacy of generosity. A legacy that is built on loving God and my neighbor more than I love myself. A legacy that creates stepping stones for each generation to exceed the previous through teaching moments. But those teaching moments can't be all that it includes. There have to be teaching experiences.

Teaching experiences are invaluable. The whole point of doing the Thirsty series before Christmas is so we have the opportunity to begin to transform how we view and do Christmas - and hopefully more than Christmas. Will I use this series as an opportunity to do that? Will I begin to use the experience of Micah's 3rd Christmas to propel forward and transform not only this Christmas, but his 4th? His 5th? 6th? Will my future kids not know Christmas as it will be this year because each year our generosity toward the "least of these" grows and our focus on ourselves diminishes?

Just something to think about...

Are you thirsty?

Last year, Radius Church and Refuge Church were able to raise $30,000 to send to Living Water International so that they could build wells in Nicaragua. This year, with your help, the goal is $60,000.

Why help?

The need is great. Thousands of people do not have access to clean drinking water. Women and children sometimes walk miles to the nearest well to get water. Basic needs that we don't even think about are luxury's to these folks. And we can do something about it.

Start thinking about how you can make a difference. Start brainstorming about how you and your family can show our Living God through living water. Become a follower of this blog, and we'll share more about how you can help.

Photos courtesy Living Water International. www.water.cc

by the numbers

Roughly 1 in 8 people don’t have access to safe water.

The average North American uses 400 liters of water every day. Average person in the developing world uses 10 liters every day.

1/2 of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water borne diseases.

American’s spent over $15 billion each year on bottled water. That’s an average of 167 plastic water bottles per person each year.

As little as $10 can provide a person with a lifetime supply of clean water.

For every $1 dollar invested in water sanitation, $8 dollars is returned.

443 million school days a year are missed because of water related illness around the world.

97.5% of the earth’s water is saltwater. If the world’s water fit into a bucket, only one teaspoonful would be drinkable.

1.4 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water. This amounts to around 4,000 deaths a day or one every 20 seconds.

Andy's take on things...

This series has been a process for me. This whole experience has been a process for me. Traveling to Nicaragua in September was never meant to be a once-and-done event for me - I knew that going in. What I didn't expect was the deep mark that it would leave. I have been on mission trips before. I would consider myself passionate about reaching "the least of these". But none of my previous trips or experiences, have left the deep impression that this experience has.

What I experienced by way of the hospitality, generosity of spirit and true joy among the folks in Nicaragua was in stark contrast to the backdrop of what I saw: poor living conditions, infrastructure problems, and deep political issues. Their generosity and happiness showed me something profound.

While Chris, Doug and I were flying back, I spent both flights reviewing the hours of footage and hundreds of photos that we took. The pragmatist in me was trying to "use my time well" and get the clips separated and labeled to begin working on the Thirsty series videos and the trip promo video. What I didn't realize is that while I had just about 4 hours to review footage, I was also getting 4 hours of reflection. I sat in my seat, headphones on, silently reflecting on the footage and photos that we had taken the 3 days prior. I looked at the faces of the kids (and the adults) - smiles abounded. While I could see deeper worry in the eyes and faces of the adults, there was still happiness amid their circumstance. If gratitude and generosity had a single expression, this was it.



I learned a lot on this trip. I've learned more since I got back. A lot about myself and my selfishness. Mostly about God and His generosity and how I should respond to Him. I've learned that generosity and gratitude are tightly intertwined (and in many cases could be the same). Generosity, as I experienced it in Nicaragua, was born of gratitude. Perhaps that is how our response in the Church should be. Maybe we are to be generous with others (not only of dollars, but of spirit, of love, of time - this list here could go on and on) because we have been given so much. I (You) may have little to give (monetarily, time, whatever fits the present excuse), but I (you) still have something to give because I (you) am (are) connected to the One who gave it all. It was said to us that the people of Nicaragua haven't had a chance to "see the Gospel", but somehow they showed me a portion of it.