Author: Craig

Doc reads the Bible with new appreciation

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In the venture of bringing water to all people in Darfur region, Doc Hendley had come to the edge of a violent death at the hands of bloodthirsty men. In the midst of incredible beauty he had also encountered the foreboding power accompanying the wildness of nature. His spiritual journey evident throughout his book, Wine to Water, A Bartender’s Quest to Bring Clean Water to the World, takes another turn. He writes:

I started reading the Bible–it’s pretty much unavoidable when your dad is a preacher man–but when I was a kid, reading the Bible was always something we were required to do.  This time, reading the book again smack in the middle of one of the most beautiful mountain ranges I’d ever seen, I began taking something different away from the Bible.

I loved reading about how Jesus hung out with drunks and hookers, and that his first miracle, as I could best calculate, was making approximately a hundred and twenty gallons of wine so that a wedding party could continue rocking out instead of ending early because there was no more booze.  And I was fired up when I began to learn the uncensored versions of those Bible stories that I heard as a child, like when David, after knocking Goliath out, took the giant’s sword, cut off his head, and proceeded to carry it around for the rest of the day, wielding it as a trophy.

Instead of making me feel like I as being preached at or judged, the stories spoke to me. And what I read made me feel hopeful. It encouraged me that I didn’t have to be a perfect do-gooder to actually do something good in this world.

It also made me yearn for the opportunity to one day become a husband and a father.  I can’t explain why exactly.  Maybe it was Ismael hounding me about why I wasn’t married yet, or seeing Amir playing lovingly with his children.  Or maybe all that desert living just finally gave me some clarity, telling me it was time to grow up.  Whatever it was that last night in Jebel Marra, I prayed out to God, asking him to spare my life and to get me out of that crazy place so I could one day experience firsthand the love of being a husband and a father.  What I didn’t bargain for was the fact that from that day one, I was for the first time legitimately scared whenever I went back into the field. Before, I was younger and reckless. Suddenly, I guess, I had a real reason to stay alive.  p.212-213

Learn more about Doc Hendley and the work of Wine to Water.

 

 

Run in the path of His commands.

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Every one of the 176 verses in Psalm 119 speaks of God’s Word.  Each verses is a  testimony to the psalmist’s very personal engagement with God’s Word.  Each section of eight verses composes a prayer.

25 My soul clings to the dust;

give me life according to your word!

26When I told of my ways, you answered me;

teach me your statutes!

27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,

and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

28 My soul melts away for sorrow;

strengthen me according to your word!

29Put false ways far from me

and graciously teach me your law!

30I have chosen the way of faithfulness;

I set your rules before me.

31I cling to your testimonies, O Lord;

let me not be put to shame!

32I will run in the way of your commandments

when you enlarge my heart!

 

As I pray through Psalm 119 I’m reminded:

God’s Word is a gift.

God’s Word is a revelation of Him.

God’s Word draws me into His character.

God’s Word gives voice to the Spirit’s work in my life.

God’s Word shows me how much I need Him.

Oh Lord, I will run in the path of your commands

for you set my heart free!

So Praise Him!

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Worship is response.

When the conscience has been awakened

to the stark contrast between who God is

and who I am

despair and avoidance are options.

Seeking to appease God is an option too.

So we may be tempted to strike up a deal

and try to make things “even with God.”

Thus we have religion.  Thus we have denial.

Who thought we could really achieve our way?

When our vision of God is informed

by God’s grace through Jesus

we have praise.

6So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.   Ephesians 1:6-7 NLT

Praise is a joyful response

to God,

for who He is,

for what He has done.

So praise Him!

Where Discipling Happens

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Recently I read that disciple-making is akin to including people in your family because Jesus has included them in His.  That’s a good reminder for the university crowd since we tend to think that most knowledge is gained in the classroom, the lab, or from the books.

 

Genuine discipling though has to break out of those walls.  Jesus was including people in his life.  There in the course of His life they “heard the word of God” and he showed them how to “do it.”  Being a disciple of Jesus is not just an exercise of individuality.  Its also an exercise of being connected with others and being willing to learn from them, with them, and for them to do the world of God.

 

19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”  Luke 8:19-21

The Water School in Haiti

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This past year I was introduced to The Water School and its activities in Haiti through the UBC Alumni magazine Trek.  Here is an excerpt introducing The Water School and the work of a UBC alum, Bradley Pierik, who is extending the SODIS approach beyond bottles to bags:

The Water School was founded by Robert Dell, a retired water chemist who ran Dell Tech Laboratories, a chemical regulatory compliance company, for 21 years. After a trip to Kenya in 2001, he began researching water treatment technologies that could be useful in Africa, and came across solar disinfection. The method had been studied extensively by a Swiss aquatic research institute (EAWAG), and after his own field work in Uganda, Dell made some further simplifications to the process. The Water School works in five countries, and maintains a “train-the-trainer” approach, so that teachers or other leaders promote the method to their own community.

As an undergraduate engineering student at University of Toronto, Pierik spent a summer in Africa working for a church organization and digging wells. The next year, while working at a large Canadian water treatment company, he met Dell, who later asked him to work for the Water School. He completed a thesis project on various aspects of the science of solar disinfection. At UBC he built a sunlight simulator and wrote his master’s thesis on the effectiveness of using plastic bags instead of bottles. The idea proved successful, and several other organizations that promote SODIS are now looking at using bags for treating water in disaster relief because they are easy to transport.

Pierik has studied many methods of disinfection, and often finds that great ideas work well in the lab but not in practice. His favourite part of his job is traveling to places like this and meeting the people who use the technology.

Read the Trek article.

Learn more about SODIS and The Water School.