Living Water

Something really cool happened in my life this week. Maybe we will look back one day and call it monumental, but only time will tell. I sent in my registration form and money to take a trip with Living Water International to a village in Guatemala to drill a water well in May.

Living Water is an organization that was started about 20 years ago out of a church in Sugarland, Texas. This church took a mission trip to a country. We will leave the name of the country and village out of the story, because in truth this story about this village is the same story as that of thousands upon thousands of villages all around the globe. This church was able to see the living conditions of the people there. The people drank water that we would not even allow our pets to drink. It was causing their children to be constantly sick and to die of diarrhea and other diseases associated with drinking unsanitary water. This was the only source of water that they had, though.

Not only was the water completely unsanitary, but also was miles away. The villages women and children’s sole job was to make the trek back and forth carrying water. This means that most women did not have jobs to support their family and that most children in these communities did not attend school. Survival and satisfying thirst outweighs education and economy in these villages, as it would to us if we lived there. Can you imagine the life? Carrying water all the time, every day? Never having enough to satisfy? Working so hard to get water, only to see your kid get sick from it? Having no hope of life?

This church saw this injustice and decided to do something about it. They mobilized resources and people to begin to drill water wells in villages all around the globe. Their motto is – Providing a cup of water in Jesus’ name. Living Water (along with many other organizations) exists to spread the fame, glory and love of Jesus Christ by meeting the basic needs of people all around the globe. Drilling a well is not enough for them, and should not be. They bring the name of Him who is the true Living Water, the one who can truly satisfy. Living Water is committed to spreading the gospel, educating people about health and sanitation, and providing one of the basics of life, water, to tens of thousands each year.

I am extremely excited to be a part of the solution to the World Water Crisis. I am stoked to get to go share the name and hope of Jesus by helping drill a water well in Guatemala.

Want to know more about the World Water Crisis? Check out this video from Living Water International. Think about these statistics from Living Water’s website and other resources.

·         There are around 884 million people in the world without access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s almost three times the population of the U.S.

·         More people die each year from drinking dirty water than from the world’s hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes combined

·         Water-related diseases cost 443 million school days a year. That equals 2 million kids not going to school all year because of lack of clean water.

·         More than 150 million school-age children are severely affected by waterborne parasites like roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm.

·         In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 40 billion hours of labor are wasted each year carrying water over long distances. If that was America, that would be the equivalent of 400-800 billion dollars of lost pay.

·         These factors contribute to keeping people trapped in poverty

·         More than a billion people live on less than a dollar a day, including the vast majority of those without access to safe water.

·         Many women spend 15-20 hours per week collecting water, often walking up to 7 miles in the dry season.

·         At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease.

·         Nearly 90 percent of all diseases in the world are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene.

·         Every year, there are 4 billion cases of diarrhea as a direct result of drinking contaminated water; this results in more than 2.2 million deaths each year—the equivalent of 20 jumbo jets crashing every day.

·         The World Bank offers a range of cost estimates to reach “basic levels of coverage…in water and sanitation” to be $9 billion at the low end, and $30 billion a year for “achieving universal coverage” for water and sanitation. They add that the figure “…represents less than five days’ worth of global military spending and less than half what rich countries spend each year on mineral water.”

Knowing the stats and being aware is only part of the solution. We are called to action. Not by Living Water or Blood Water or any organization, but by Jesus in the Scriptures. The call to do justice, love mercy, provide for the poor, and give to the needy is so intertwined with the Christian life, it would be impossible to separate the two. To love God is to love people. To walk with God is to walk with people and show them the love of God. To be a Christian is to be about doing justice and loving mercy.

If you would like to help Living Water, please do. Now. Don’t wait or you won’t do it at all. You can donate to their website. One well cost about $5,000. Would God have you give to that this Christmas instead of piling up some more junk? Could God be calling you to go? I believe we are all called to go, and if we are not going, then we should be sending. All the while, we are all praying that the love of God would be shown throughout the whole world and that people would come and be satisfied with the Living Water.