ice bucket challenge

I was nominated by two friends to take part in the ice bucket challenge.  

At first I didn't know what it was all about.  

I spent some time googling the challenge...and learning a little bit about ALS.  
I've seen clips of all sorts of people famous and otherwise completing this challenge.  

I even debated completing the challenge myself.  Look, I even found a bucket at church that I could use.  

Then I realized that it made more sense to make a donation rather than record myself being doused in ice water.  I read a great post about people potentially spending more money on water and ice than the money some were giving to charities.  I did debate turning this post into into a video blog....because part of me wonders if more people would see it that way if I posted it on Facebook.  
But here it is, a written post.  

So after I decided that a donation would be the way to go, I floundered.   
I see post upon post of friends raising money for different organizations that are near and dear to their hearts and mine.  I regularly pray for friends and church folks who face life threatening illnesses and the challenges associated with living with those illnesses.  I could help kids go to camp, I could feed people in my community, I could help people responding to natural disasters, I could support the ministries within my own congregation, I could sponsor all sorts of people through all sorts of walks and runs.  Argh....too many choices.  
The need that surrounds us can be overwhelming.  

Yet more important than that, the abundance that surrounds us is amazing.  We, in essence, live with enough and live in the abundance that God has blessed us with.  We are able to give...we are able to share...we are able to care for one another and work towards cures for all sorts of illnesses.  But seeing so many of them around us may cause us to become numb to the need in our world or cause us to believe that alone we cannot make a difference.  

So if this "ice bucket challenge" makes us aware of the abundance that surrounds us and helps us to focus in on one place we can give....good deal.  I hope that is the greater outcome.  

If you've doused yourself with water....keep rockin' it.
Thanks for bringing awareness to ALS.  Thanks for causing me to think and pray and figure out how to respond.  

After a truly holy experience at a memorial service this past week, I'm donating to a nearby congregation that has a gathering of people connected to 12-step recovery and all who seek wholeness in their lives.   

See the abundance that surrounds you...be challenged by the needs of our local and international neighbors...and give.  

Until the next post...