Mr. Squire and I love our friends. We loooove them. God has seen fit to bless us abundantly with various groups of friends:
...friends who are fun and fill our lives with laughter
...friends who care, and lift us up in prayer faithfully
...friends within our workplaces, who journey with us as we stumble through our jobs
...friends whom we can serve, and meet their needs as they travel through tough roads, and show us what real faith looks like in the midst of trials
...friends who have walked the roads of marriage and children before us, and give us advice
...friends within our families, whom we don't call because we have to, but because we want to
...friends who remain close even though they are far, flung across the country and the world
...friends who inspire us to think bigger, and do more, and with the right heart.
I want to spend some time talking about this last category of friends. This year, ten of our friends began a campaign to raise $100,000 during the 40 days of Lent, to build 10 wells in Tigray, Ethiopia, the poorest region in one of the poorest countries in the world. Each well would provide lasting clean water for 5,000 people daily. Our friends agreed to match every dollar donated, up to $50,000 -- for a total of $100,000. And guess what: partway through Lent, they reached the $100,000 goal, and made a new goal of raising $150,000. Ultimately, they were able to raise enough to build 16 wells in Ethiopia, through donations from more than 240 people. They did this through posting on their Facebook pages, maintaining a blog to share about why they created this campaign, and running an NCAA brackets pool to raise more money. And in the end, they have 16 wells to show for it.
Mr. Squire and I jumped at the opportunity to participate in the campaign. We would never have thought of something like this ourselves (or...maybe I should just speak for myself. Now that I think of it, Mr. Squire created his own matching program--matching his friends' dollars, then using his company match to match the match, basically quadrupling each dollar donated--to raise $20,000 in aid relief following the cyclone disaster in Myanmar), but presented with the opportunity, of course we wanted to participate. It seemed so fitting, to not only reflect on the cross during Lent, but also attempt to do even a bit of what our Lord would have done: provide water for the thirsty, rescue the downtrodden, give to those for whom His heart aches. I am learning that loving Jesus means loving those whom He loves.
I could feel my heart slipping at times, though... slipping away from the true heart vision behind this project, and merely getting excited about the fact of raising so much money for a good cause. It wasn't even my project, but our donation made me feel invested...so I loved the fact that the wells were being built, but I couldn't at all times keep the focus on why they were being built. And this, I see, is maybe why (and I realize I'm speaking very, very broadly and generally here) Protestants that I grew up with and know shy so much away from engaging in social justice: because they are afraid of appearing too Catholic--doing deeds to curry favor with Christ, and lacking the heart of surrender and recognition that we are powerless to save ourselves. I get it. I totally get it. At the same time...I wonder if we should struggle more to do both: save the soul and the body--while realizing in our human weakness that it will be a struggle to maintain the correct heart-perspective as we seek to do this. It would be worth it, I think.
So Lent has finished, and it's time for our friends to turn over all the cash they have raised and commence the building of the wells. Mr. Squire and I were given the honor of drafting the text to be added to a sign or plaque on one of the 16 wells. With my own struggle in mind, and with a view towards helping the well-drinkers to know why these wells were built, we decided upon the following:
With love, Project 1040
John 4:13-14
We were limited to 50 characters, so we couldn't spell out the whole passage, but hopefully someone will look it up. John 4:13-14 reads:
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
Jesus is beautiful in His power, His humility, and His great love for all people. May I always remember that I should view any good deed only as a mirror--not to reflect my own goodness, which does not exist in itself, but to reflect the goodness and love of Jesus.
Thanks be to God for friends who inspire us to think bigger and to do more...and to God for being patient in teaching me continually (I'm still learning! still struggling) to do it with the right heart.
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