2010 Water is Basic 5k

The 2010 Water is Basic 5k is less than two months away. Jenny, Brenden, and I participated last year and had a great time. The location has moved to a popular running spot called in Dallas called Katy Trail, near Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. The race is scheduled for Saturday morning, October 9, at 8:00am.

Water is Basic drills clean water wells in Sudan. A $3000 well can supply clean water to 1000-2000 Sudanese for 20 years or more. Run by Sudanese with financial support from U.S. partners, WIB meets physical needs in the name of Jesus. So far it has drilled over 150 wells. We hope to drill several more with the money we raise from this year’s race.

We hope that many of you will join us!

Fall Benefit Runs – Mark Your Calendars

I know it’s only April, but since some of you might be interested, I wanted to post dates for two great events this fall that raise money for two excellent causes. You don’t have to be a runner to participate! Most likely, Jenny and the boys will be walking with friends while I run. The point is to get together, exercise a bit with like-minded people, and raise money.

Water is Basic 5K
Saturday, October 9, 2010 – 8:00am
Katy Park, Dallas, TX
This race raises money for Water is Basic, an organization that drills clean water wells in Sudan and saves thousands of lives.

Undy 5000
Saturday, October 30, 2010 – 8:30am
White Rock Lake, Dallas, TX
This race raises money to fight colon cancer, a disease that our pastor is fighting and that has affected both sides of our family.

Water is Basic 5k Report

Despite the cool weather and early start time, Jenny, Brenden, and I had a fun time at the Water is Basic run on Saturday. J & B did the “one-mile” fun run, which was actually more like two miles because the turnaround point wasn’t clear. I ran-walked the 5k. Due to some knee pain, I didn’t run as much as I’d hoped, but I loved being surrounded by so many runners all doing their thing for a good cause. At church this evening we heard that nearly 500 runners participated, raising around $12,000. That’s about 4 wells, enough to provide clean drinking water for several thousand people. Praise God for technology that can save lives!

Sharks and Cage Diving

As a kid I read a lot, hopping from topic to topic. One of my favorite topics was sharks, which interest me to this day. One of my favorite times of year from a TV perspective is Shark Week, the Discovery Channel’s annual homage to the the shark. Although it tends to focus too much on shark attacks since people are so interested in them, it also includes programs about the scientific side: diet, behavior, differences among different regions and species, and conservation efforts. I have watched a LOT of shark shows this week and hope to catch or record many more. It’s like Christmas in August!

Although many people find them terrifying, I find them fascinating. Sure, my heart speeds up a bit if I see one while snorkeling, but for me it’s more of a healthy respect than terror. I think people have mostly accepted that man sits comfortably atop the worldwide food chain, especially with today’s technology. But swimming with sharks unprotected knocks us down a level. The great steward and “master” of God’s creation suddenly becomes potential prey, and many of us don’t like that idea. The movie and book Jaws (which was based on a true story, by the way) and tons of hype by the media have grossly overemphasized the danger that sharks actually pose to humans. This demonization of such an amazing creature both angers and frustrates me. It also gives people an excuse to tolerate overfishing of sharks even if they object to whaling or the accidental killing of dolphins or sea turtles in fishing nets. Here are a few interesting facts I’ve gathered so far:

  • Each year, humans kill 100 million sharks. Some are killed just for their fins, some for meat or skin, some for sport.
  • Each year, sharks bite about 100 humans worldwide. Yep, 100. That’s less than one every three days, somewhere in the world. Of those 100, maybe five are fatal. In other words, we kill 1 million sharks for every one that even attacks us and 20 million for every one that kills a human.
  • In terms of recorded shark attacks, Florida is the most common location, followed by southern Australia and then South Africa.
  • Experts believe that many shark attacks are preventable. Victims are often involved in high-risk activities such as spearfishing, swimming alone, or swimming at night, dawn, or dusk.

Before I die, I want to dive in a cage with great whites. You probably think that’s either awesome or crazy. Either way, I won’t be going any time soon because the trips are expensive. But how thrilled and honored I would be to see one of the most powerful and capable predators in all God’s creation in person. There are three main areas to dive with them: southern Australia, Isla Guadalupe in Mexico, and South Africa. Here are links to three dive operators that serve these areas, in case you’re interested (hint, hint):

Rodney Fox (Southern Australia)

Cage Diver (Isla Guadalupe, Mexico)

Dive South Africa – In one area of South Africa, great whites are spotted jumping out of the water like a whale during attacks on seals.

Not into great whites? You can also dive with enormous but harmless whale sharks, which eat plankton and can grow over 50 feet. Belize, where we spent our honeymoon, is a good location:

Belize Scuba

Money for Africa

I got some great news today. The Bridgeway Charitable Foundation has agreed to donate $30,000 to ALARM to fund women’s microfinance projects in Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia! ALARM will teach the women how to run a business and loan them a few hundred dollars each to get them started. Each country will have one or two groups of women who will meet periodically to share ideas and provide accountability. As the business generates revenue, the women will pay back the loan to ALARM, which can then loan the money out to other women. It’s a great system that gives self-sufficiency to vulnerable women who often can’t otherwise provide for themselves and their families. I helped with the proposal we sent to Bridgeway, so I’m very excited to see my first fruit!

I also must give props to Target for selling possibly the first ever riesling in a box. It’s about $8 for a 1.5L box, and it’s GOOD. Really good. Jenny found it in Carrollton, and I figure it might be available in most Targets. Except, of course, the ones in Irving.

The Genius of Half-Price Books

I wish I could buy stock in Half Price Books. They buy much of their inventory from the general public, suckers like me who keep bringing them used books, CDs, movies, and magazines that we don’t want anymore. The employees “appraise” them somehow and offer us money, generally a small fraction of their eventual resale price. Since we’re getting rid of the items anyway, any money in return is better than nothing, so we accept their offer. Even better, while the employees appraise our
items, we wander around the store finding new things to buy. We get a voucher for the stuff we brought in and apply that money to a new purchase. Yesterday I brought in a heavy box of old magazines and young adult books. They offered me $10, and I used it to buy a single book for $13. It’s a win-win, but they definitely got the better end of the deal: a big pile of merchandise to sell and $3 versus my single book. It might be slightly easier for them to just print Benjamins all day, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.

IBC has released the details of the Water is Basic 5K: Saturday, October 13, 8:30 am. I’m already putting together a team. So far we have myself, Jenny, Mom, Dad, Lisa, both Jenny’s parents, and Jenny’s sister Katy, so we’re up to 8. I’m hoping for both brothers-in-law and some others! It’s going to be a great event, and we want to raise tons of money to drill wells in Sudan, so spread the word!