More Than a Bucket of Ice Water on the Head

If you aren't on facebook, instagram, or just don't care about social media, you may have not heard yet about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It has gone viral and continues to raise more and more money for research into this disease. As of yesterday, that number is in the $70 million territory, which is a huge amount of money. The rules get a bit fuzzy at times (as anything viral is prone to), but basically, you dump a bucket of ice water on your head, and then challenge friends or family to do the same, or donate money, or both.

There are compilations on YouTube of celebrities taking the challenge and people failing at it in almost every way imaginable. Some people, including President Obama, were unwilling to take on the challenge due to to amount of water it uses or because of fear the money will be used for stem cell research. Much internet ink has been spilled over this idea, with many claiming this is just group-think or fad activism at it's worst.

One thing that has struck me about this whole thing is how many young people have gotten involved. A survey of teenagers before this summer would probably have produced dismal results regarding ALS, but now, there is awareness. Greater than this, I hope that everyone involved discovers something new. I hope they discover generosity.

Giving is an essential part of the Christian life. A "God perspective" of possessions and money is essential to our understanding of the world. In Matthew 6, Jesus says "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." We recognize that there are certain external things in life that display inward realities. When a 12-year-old spends every last bit of their money on candy swizzles, they are showing what is most important to them, namely candy swizzles. Likewise, when a 40-year-old spends every last bit of their disposable income on a two-wheel device that lets them drive down the street very quickly, they also display what is important to them.

The great thing about generosity, though, is it is a spiritual disciple just like prayer or study. It is something we can get a taste for and the amazing thing about it is, it is fun! Not in a "look at how much better I am than all these other people" sort of way, but an actual "look at what God can do with my little bit" sort of way.

The reality is that pouring water on your head is kinda fun, especially when it means you get to tell your friends to do the same thing, but that is not what it is about. I hope that at least a few people out there give money away and get a small taste of generosity. And through that small taste, they look around for other ways to get involved, to reject a consumerist "me" mentality and find ways to give. I know that everyone that participates will not experience this, but I think there will be a few. And for those few, this could be a first step.

Lens Cap

I am have too many interests. Bethany says I had a major in college, but I have a lifetime minor in curiosity. Too many things in this world are fascinating! One thing I really love is photography. It's an exercise in perspective. You are either trying to capture the beauty of every day objects, or distill an experience into a single frame.

The thing about photography is there are so many details to remember. You can miss one tiny setting and there will be something wrong with your photo. And the settings are different for each condition. The camera can be perfectly set for one circumstance, and then conditions change and your photo is too dark, too light or completely out of focus. There is a lot to think about. The one thing that is consistent is the lens cap. It doesn't matter how expensive your camera is, if your lens cap is on the lens, you're not capturing anything! Every time you want to take a picture, you have to pull off the lens cap. It is the most basic and obvious step of any photographic adventure.

Today I was watching the Olympics in London. There are always a thousand photographers in the background. It is cool to see them snapping away and capturing those moments. In the background of one of the shots, I noticed a professional photographer checking his camera and trying to figure out why it wasn't working. From my vantage point, I could see that his lens cap was still on his camera. In a minute or so, he figured out the issue and got to work.

This half a second on camera got me thinking for two reasons. First, if professionals can make this mistake, I don't feel bad at all for making the mistake myself and accidentally leaving my lens cap on sometimes. Second, I think we always want to make things more complicated than they really need to be. In photography, sometimes it's as simple as taking the lens cap off to fix the problem. In life, we look for some mystical secret behind having a relationship with God. Really it can be very simple...He is the one seeking intimacy with us. I think there are times when we sit there fiddling with the settings on "our camera" and wondering why it doesn't work. But we aren't practicing the basic spiritual disciplines. We don't seek community with others and have real conversations that really challenge us and challenge others. Often, we get stuck with our lens cap on.

Photo credit: rollingroscoe from morguefile.com

Learning to Thirst

One of the things I love about intense physical exercise is the sense it gives you of your own body.  I'm not talking about a weird mysticism, but the more I work out, the more I have a sense of what my body needs in a moment or how I am feeling.  Sometimes it is a soreness that wakes up stiff muscles; other times, it is digging deep into energy reserves for a big push and burning quads.  I really enjoy this feeling. I believe we glorify God when we use what He has given us to explore His creation and test our personal limits.

A few weeks ago, we had some of the hottest days of the year.  While most people hunkered down in their air conditioning and waited out the heat wave, I went for a bike ride.  The heat index in Minnesota was well over 100 degrees F, and the wind was whipping across the open farm fields at about 15 miles per hour. Everything about the day was intense.  As I rode along, I asked myself several times, "am I really out here, braving this?!"  About ten minutes into the ride, I grabbed my water bottle and took my first gulp of water.  At that instant, a feeling rushed through my body. It was as if my body was screaming out, "Wow! That is exactly what I need!"  My body was so thirsty that there was physical response of relief and refreshment.

It is easy to forget how spiritually dry our lives can be.  Often, it is not until we take a much needed spiritual drink, such as spending time together in prayer, having an engaging spiritual conversation or meditating on a passage of scripture, that we realize how spiritually thirsty we actually are.  How easy it is to forget to grab that drink of water!  It is not until after we have been refreshed that we realize just how thirsty we were.

On the largest day of the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem, Jesus stood up before the crowd and said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37,38).  In fact, Jesus uses this a few times.  He says something like this to the woman at the well.  In both cases, Jesus was alluding to the words of the prophets.  They spoke of God as a fountain of living water.  This metaphor resonated with the people living on the edge of a desert where water is an important resource.  And on hot summer days, we understand a piece of what it means to thirst physically. And as we grow in our communion with God, we will also begin to understand what it means to thirst spiritually.

May the hot summer days we've had this summer remind us that we are ever in need of staying spiritually hydrated!