$ + Meaning = Value

I was reading an article the other day about how pennies and nickels are becoming less and less practical. It actually is more expensive for the US mint to make a penny or nickel than for us to use one: 1.79 cents for a penny and 9.22 cents for a nickel.

What exactly is your money worth?

When it comes to money, the value printed on our currency does not really convey what its true value is. For example, if I am struggling to make ends meet, a $1 bill is worth a lot more to me than to someone who has a high paying job and no debt. And, if I'm spending my money to buy a beloved family member a gift, the dollar price on that gift does not adequately convey the value that I have added to the item because of who I am giving it to. A $1 bill isn't always worth just $1.

So, what does $20 mean to you?

At its lowest level, $20 is to me:
Not even half of my phone bill, cable/internet bill, or electric bill
About two and a half bags of dog food for Darcy
Four times I meet my friends for coffee and only buy one drink
Less than what I'll need to buy a hardcover book

But what if we take that same $20 and give it more value by using it for something much more important that my wireless internet, overpriced coffee, or another book that I should have just gotten from the library?

$20 can give one person clean water for 20 years. Think of how much value that $20 now has. An adult or child no longer has to walk miles every day to access clean water. The threat of violence in that individual's life has now decreased because they are not spending so much time on the road. A child can now consistently attend school. Another child is no longer at as high a risk for illness. An adult can focus on working to raise money to support their family rather than worry about how they are going to provide clean water for them.

That's an awful lot of value added to one $20 bill. Does your money have any value?

The Dog Park Pond

By now you've all see pictures of the most philanthropic dog in the world, Darcy. Just in case you need to be reminded:

Darcy is a very active dog. Definitely more so than I can ever keep up with. When he was a puppy, his favorite thing was to go to the dog park and run around like a maniac for hours.

It's been years though since Darcy has gone to the dog park. Unfortunately, a few years ago a dog died from drinking contaminated water from the pond at the park and now I won't risk taking Darcy there. He isn't just called the water dog because of his dedication to the clean water cause after all.

In the United States when a dog dies from diseased water at a dog park, we shut the whole park down. We bring in a team to decontaminate the whole park. And then we send out press releases informing the community that the park is now safe and encourage them to return. Of course, there are some people, like me, who never will because the risk seems too high. (How exactly do you decontaminate an entire dog park and keep it safe anyway?)

Now I love dogs. There can't possibly be any question about that. But, don't you think there's something wrong when we're more concerned about the cleanliness of the pond at our dog park than the water our fellow human beings drink?

Darcy deserves clean water, and it is my responsibility to provide him with it. Maybe it is also part of my responsibility to help my brothers and sisters in other countries have the same. After all, it is only through God's mercy that I was born in Connecticut, not Uganda.

The Water Dog

This is Darcy.

This Darcy getting a bath.

Darcy's bathtub holds approximately 151 L of water.
Someone living in a slum may get only 30 L a day for all their water needs.

What's your God idea?

So, we all have good ideas, right? They can be about anything, happen at any time, and always cause interesting dinner conversations.

Good ideas are things like:
Maybe I should turn one side of my two car garage into a workout area
Maybe I should take my dog to dog school for the third time (Sorry, Darcy!)


But what about the ideas we have which are actually God ideas? Have you ever had one of those ideas that won't leave you alone? It comes across your mind one day, and all of a sudden, everywhere you go, things keep happening that relate to it. Every conversation seems to apply in some way. You start running into people who know something about some aspect of the idea. You're visiting a random blog on the internet, and your heart perks up at something the author wrote which applies to your idea. Sermons at church keep speaking to your idea. Or, the idea keeps coming back into your mind every time you pray.

God ideas are things like:
Starting an after school literacy program for at risk kids
Running a marathon to raise money for an important cause
Asking Oprah to use her O to raise money for clean water

The question isn't if you are going to get God ideas. It is what you are going to do once you get them.

To read two more eloquent and detailed descriptions of good vs. God ideas, please visit:
One God Idea by Mark Batterson
Good Idea or God Idea? by Scott Greene

Leave a legacy

Recently I heard a talk given by Louie Giglio in which he discussed how each of us preach our own funeral service. My life is the sermon given at the service.

Thinking about these words made me stop and consider what the legacy of my life will be. How do I want to be remembered? How do you? If you don't have any idea of how to answer this question, do you really know what you're living for?

Maybe you are living for your job and the money it provides you with. Being able to buy what you want, when you want it, drives you. Will your legacy be to leave wealth and/or possessions to your children or friends?

Maybe you are living for happiness. As long as you are happy, no price is too high and nothing can slow you down. Will your legacy be friends with happy memories of late nights and crazy days with you?

Maybe you are living for safety and being comfortable. You don't adventure too far from the town you live in, maybe not even the couch you sit on. Anything that has even the potential of being dangerous is better avoided. Will your legacy be one town that knows your name?

None of these are wrong in and of themselves. But, don't you think you might be selling yourself short? Could you possibly be capable of so much more?

Where there is no vision, the people perish.
     - Proverbs 29:18

Food Update

So, it's been a week and I figured it was probably time to share how I am doing with my rice and beans fast.

Breakfast is the hardest. I'm not much of a breakfast eater to begin with so finding something that I was able to eat at 5:30 AM which didn't nauseate me was pretty tough. After some prayer, God gave me the idea of rice cakes. So far, so good! And, thankfully there are plenty of varieties of rice cakes so I should be able to last the whole month having them for breakfast each day. This does mean I'll need to venture into a grocery store next week but I'm actually looking forward to the challenge.

Dinner has become a fun experiment, combining items and spices. And, so far, everything has been edible! I'm very thankful that there are so many varieties of rice and beans.

I've been really surprised at how easily I've given up drinking milk. For those of you who don't know me, I am a huge milk drinker. Milk is to me what coffee or soda is to other people. Thankfully, my body seems to be handling the lack of it just fine.

Other than the first two days when I had really bad headaches, I've been feeling fine. My energy level has been down but I'm not sure if that is because of the fast or because this was my first week back at work after vacation.

I am hungry all the time though. I never feel like I'm full, and I'm always thinking of what I can eat next. It's been a really good lesson for me to see how much time I'm currently devoting to thinking about food, preparing food, wanting food, and eating food. Yesterday I was reading Matthew 6:25-27 and was reminded of how God reigns over this fast I am in. Hopefully, in this new week, I'll spend less time in thought about food and more time in service.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

Despite some of the difficulties I mentioned above, I refuse to complain. I may be restricted to rice and beans but I have the means to have as much of those two things as I want. And, I, of course, have all the clean water I could want.

But more important than all of the above... 21 people now have clean water because of your donations! My restricted diet is a small price to pay for providing water to many more. I can't wait to see what happens next week.


(Thanks to Mom, Amy, Kim, and Allyson for cooking for me and/or providing recipes!)

A child shall lead them

This project began in large part because of the story of a little girl named Riley who challenged me into action. Now I'd like to challenge you with the story of another child, Bridger, who had a big idea and even gave up his Christmas to make it a reality.

I'm still young, and my generation is still young. While I'm incredibly excited about these kids from the generation after mine who are planning to change the world, I'm not ready to give up on my own generation. I refuse to believe that it's too late for us to change the world.

For more information on Bridger, visit All he wants for Christmas is water.