The Challenge. June 2010.

In Africa it is said that

Water is life.

Here, in a place where such a resource is so readily available that we literally flush it down the toilet, it is hard to fathom our every minute of waking existence revolving around obtaining enough of it just to live.

But in many places, and for many people, it does.

Often times children cannot attend school because their hours of daylight are spent hauling water. Mothers cannot help bring in income or care for their home because of the strenuous and long labor that attaining water requires. And many times this water, this life that they work so hard to obtain, is tainted with death.

Here are the facts:

~One in six people on the planet do not have access to clean water. That is over one billion people.

~Every minute three children die from unsafe drinking water.

~Right now half of the people in developing countries are suffering from water related illness.

~Access to clean water can transform an entire community by cutting child death rates in half and dramatically decreasing hours of labor.

~$1 can provide clean water for one person for an entire year.

Let me say that last one again:

~$1 can provide clean water for one person for an entire year.

That is where we come.

This month's challenge is 2 weeks of sacrifice.

The idea is quite simple, really. Choose two weeks in the month of June to commit to drinking tap water only, and donate the money you save to literally save lives.

I encourage you to not only forgo those pricey sweet drinks and your morning coffee, but if you drink bottled water to give that up also. If you live in the United States it is more than likely that the water straight from your tap is not only safe, but is exactly the same thing you buy in those fancy bottles.

As you begin your 2 weeks of sacrifice, I challenge you to encourage your spouse, children, friends, and co-workers to join in. Each drink that you sacrifice could literally be saving a life.

As you face the little temptations that you will meet along the way, remember what you have to be thankful for. Praise God for those things that you so often take for granted, and pray for those who are struggling without.

For more information on how water saves lives, and how you can help, please visit Blood:Water Mission