The Life and Times of the Watters Family

Blood:Water Mission– how can I help?

So, this might be a wordy post but I figure it’s a good place to write out my thoughts on the issue.

We have been watching American Idol this season pretty regularly (kind of ashamed to admit it) but anyway, the other night they did a pretty good thing. They raised over 60 million dollars (still going up) for children in Africa and the U.S. who live in extreme, poverty stricken conditions. While I watched the show I sobbed as they told the stories of so many children who have been orphaned by AIDS or who die of Malaria in Africa. The big question I am always left with is, “How can I make a difference?” I want to be aware of what’s happening in our world and become a part (as small as it may be) of the solution.

I heard the song Light Gives Heat today after dropping off the boys at school and it reminded me that Jars of Clay set up Blood:Water Mission a couple years ago as a way to respond to the crisis in Africa. While I can’t be sure how the donations given on the AI show will be distributed, I am confident that resources given to Blood:Water Mission will be “committed to clean blood and clean water to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to build clean wells in Africa, to support medical facilities caring for the sick, to make a lasting impact in the fight against poverty, injustice and oppression in Africa through the linking of needs, talents and continents, of people and resources”. If you would like to join our family in doing what we can to live out James 1:27, we’d love your participation. To make donating to this organization simple– I set up a “Charity Badge” (look right) and it will track all of the donations we raise together.

“Clean water is a powerful way to begin a large scale conversation about AIDS. The 1000 Wells Project is a simple campaign that has very little controversy surrounding it. It is difficult to argue whether or not a person should have clean water. It is also difficult to deny the equation: $1= clean water for 1 person for 1 year. And it is vital that the church begin to build relationships with African communities. When a well is built, a conversation is started, a relationship between the church and the community benefiting from the project begins. This is the seed of a worldview shift. This is what excites us about this project.”

-Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay

One of the main things I appreciate about the approach that Blood:Water Mission takes is that the goal is NOT to go to Africa like we are the “Heroes from the West, We don’t know you, we know best”. The idea is to offer our help and treat each one with the dignity and respect they deserve. Going to be the Light.

Light Gives Heat

Catch the rain empty hands
Save the children from their lands
Wash the darkness from their skin
Heroes from the west
We don’t know you, we know best
This is not a test

You treat me like I’m blind
Setting fires around houses on the hill
But light gives heat
You segregate my mind
Burning crosses from your fears
The light gives heat

It’s not the way to light their way
Boys in holes in empty fields
Oh, how good it feels
Lower-class, and understate
Empty promise, empty plate

You treat me like I’m blind
Setting fires around houses on the hill
Light gives heat
You segregate my mind
Burning crosses from your fears, your fears
But light gives heat, gives heat

You treat me like I’m blind
Setting fires around houses on the hill
Light gives heat
You segregate my mind
Burning crosses from your fears
But light gives heat

Will you teach us how to love?
To see the things you see
Walk the road you walked
Feel the pain that you feel
At your feet I kneel,
I want to see you shine
See your light not mine
‘Cause light gives heat
Your light gives heat

Words and music by Dan Haseltine, Charlie Lowell, Stephen Mason, Matt Odmark

---

---