In a book I read recently, Peter Singer presents the following thought experiment…

Imagine you’re walking across the park, past a shallow, ornamental pond, and you notice that a small child has fallen in and seems to be in danger of drowning.  You look around — where are the parents? the babysitter? — but there is no one in sight except you and the child.  You realize that if you don’t rush into the pond, the child will likely drown.

What do you do?

Of course, you think, “I must rush in and save the child!”  There is no danger to you, as you’re familiar with the pond, and it’s less than waist deep.  But then you remember that you’re wearing your brand new (and quite expensive) shoes, which will get ruined if you enter the pond.

Is that a reason for not saving a child?

You probably think that question is silly, even offensive.  What are shoes compared to the life of a child?

But Singer asserts that most of us, on a regular basis, choose the shoes over the child.

The book is called The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty, and clicking the image or title will take you to the Amazon.com page for the book, where you can learn more and see a video of Peter Singer telling the above story. (I checked it out from the Valparaiso Public Library, so if you want to try before you buy, you can!)

According to Singer, this is one of the ethical dimensions to our shopping.  The money we spend on “extras” could be given to groups that are working to bring medical care, safe drinking water, and other life-saving necessities to children around the world.  The amount of money you might spend on a nice pair of shoes, or a night out at the movies, or eating dinner in a restaurant, could save the life of a child (or two).

We experienced a bit of this when our church took the H2O Challenge this past Lenten season, giving up lattes, soft drinks, etc., for two weeks and giving the money saved to Living Water International.  I wrote about it here.

I’ll write a follow-up post sharing more from the book soon.  But for now, I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Our church did something different for Lent this year. (Lent is the 40 days or so leading up to Easter.) Many Christians traditionally “give something up for Lent” as a way of identifying in some small way with the sufferings of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Some give up alcohol, or chocolate, or coffee — something that actually feels like a sacrifice.

So this year, I encouraged our folks to take the H2O Challenge presented by Living Water International.  Here’s how they describe it:

Sometime during Lent (February 25 – April 11), take the H2O Challenge. For two weeks, make water your only beverage. Save the money that you would normally spend on sodas, coffee, juice, milk, and sport drinks. At the end of the two weeks, send the money you saved to Living Water International for the drilling of wells in needy communities.

What difference can you make? If you saved just one dollar a day for two weeks, you could provide three families with clean water for a year. If you got your friends, your church, or your youth group to do it with you, you could reach a whole village. Or more. Every bit really does make a difference.

So we did it.  Some for two weeks, some for all six.  And when it was all said and done, our little group gave $1,000 to help dig and repair clean water wells in Haiti (more on the results here).

On average, $1 provides clean water for 1 person for 1 year (see onedollarwater.com).  So we helped 100 people have clean water for 10 years.  Or 200 people for 5 years.  Or however it worked out.  I’m just amazed that there are people who will be able to avoid the life-threatening diseases they would otherwise have caught from drinking dirty, infected water… all because I skipped my soft drinks for two weeks.  Wow.

Hop over to www.water.cc to learn more about how you can make a difference, too.

Many of you probably know (or maybe not) that over the winter a coalition of churches in Valparaiso worked together to provide overnight shelter and three meals a day for homeless men.  At some point in the next few days, I’ll write more about that.

What you might not know is that during that time a group of Christian business men (all from Valparaiso Mennonite Church, I think) decided to do more.  They realized that many of these guys really have no place to go during the day and that they need help if they are ever going to find jobs and escape the cycle of poverty and homelessness.  So they created the not-for-profit New Creation Men’s Business Advocates, Inc. to provide some of that help at the New Creation Men’s Center.

I’m not an official spokesman or anything, but I do volunteer there once a week, doing a quick Bible study and prayer with the guys on Monday mornings.  Also, some folks from our church are going to bring in a couple meals a month during the summer.  Together with a bunch of other folks, we’re hoping to provide one meal a day for the guys to supplement their food stamps or whatever.

Right now, New Creation Men’s Center is open Monday-Friday, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm.  They provide a lot of services for men who find themselves without a home:

• a shower
• a laundry room
• a workout room
• a computer lab with internet access
• a place to receive mail and phone calls
• storage lockers
• case management, to help them set goals, find resources, and take steps out of homelessness

In addition to these, New Creation provides a place for the men to meet with people like counselors, nurses, and pastors, who come to the center on a regular schedule and by appointment.

New Creation is also providing some work opportunities for the men, to provide short-term income as well as building some job skills and experience.  They can provide day labor for a variety of tasks (contact them to see if the work you need done fits their capabilities).  And soon they will be opening a second-hand store for large items like furniture and appliances.

You can contact New Creation at (219) 548-3548 or by emailing their executive director, Tom Isakson, at tomi@ncbai.org.  If you have time, resources, or ideas to contribute, this is a good cause and a good team worthy of your support.