We've moved!

On January 1st, we made a move from blogspot to our own new site.
Visit us at www.h2obags.com!

3 days!

Just a reminder...our new site is being launched in 3 days on January 1st. For more information on what it is and why we're doing this see my earlier post.

Mark you calendars and go see our new site on January 1, 2009 at www.h2obags.com!

Giving hope...one cup of hot chocolate at a time.

Enough water was coming down to create a dreary and annoying drizzle. There was enough water on the roads to slosh inside my shoes. The temperature was low enough to send shivers and to create red noses and numb fingers.

Normally, my first reaction to such circumstances, especially on Christmas afternoon, is to groan and wish I was snug at home or at least in the car. But then I thought about the person sitting in front of me.

James had no home. no family to spend the holidays with. Instead, he got spend Christmas in his old raddy sleeping bag, with a mud smeared garbage bag beside him, and random junk strewn around his living room under the bridge. He got to spend it with these giant gray clouds and this monotonous rain.

On Christmas afternoon Leslie and I trudged under bridges and across streets with my Aunt, Uncle, brother, and cousins in downtown Eugene, Oregon. With hot chocolate and Christmas cookies in arm, we spent two hours with eyes out for panhandlers and homeless people. We also got to give away a few H2O bags as presents for their Christmas.



moral of the story...what in this life is so precious that it's too valuable to give away. Would you give James your family while you took his place under the bridge? Would you give James you whole turkey dinner while taking his granola bar instead? How about your job? your home? your very life?

Jesus told one rich man to sell everything he had and to give it to the poor (Mark 10:21). According to statistics, if you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the people in the world, and if you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. I don't believe Jesus was just speaking to that one rich man in the Bible.
He says that those who lose so great a thing as their life have actually found it (Matthew 10:49). He says that any of us who does not give up everything we have cannot be His disciple (Luke 14:33).

James had so little...nothing of value. We have so much. Can we not even spare a couple hours to sing Christmas carols for him or give him our grandma's specially home-baked Christmas cookies?

Give a cup of hot chocolate.
Give a smile.
Give hope. just give.

It always encourages us to hear of H2O bags reaching panhandlers through people like you. Hearing stories of how God has used you to bless someone in need makes us so excited! Here is a story from a lady in Portland, who regularly gives out bags, but enjoys a different experience each time.

"I just wanted to share what happened this morning!

On my way to work I found a lady along side the off ramp near Mall 205. She was holding a sign asking for donations. I held out the H2O bag and a hand made stocking cap. Because I was the 2nd car in line, she had to walk a bit to get to me. It was a struggle for her but she made it and smiled a big smile when she saw the bag & cap. She thanked me over and over saying how sweet and thoughtful it was. We exchanged ‘Merry Christmas’ & God bless you’s’. When she got back to her spot she started opening the bag but I had to move before she got into the contents. Again, I prayed for her as I drove away. Oh, and she was wearing a red felt hat with reindeer antlers on it!!!

I look forward to the chances to hand out the H2O bags because I love the responses and the looks in the eyes of the receivers. Thank you for preparing the way to bless others with God’s love."

-Louise

Whether you are just beginning H2O, handing out bags on a regular bases, or have just given out your first one, we'd love to hear your story. Even the smallest testimony of how God is using you makes a big difference.

Send us your story at hope2others@gmail.com or leave a comment on our guestbook of your experience handing out an H2O bag.

Upcoming Site Launch!

JustforHim Design has been creating a new website for H2O, which is being launched January 1st of the new year.

The site will still have a blog feature to enable us to keep you updated, but will expand our capabilities with a better system of distributing starter kits and bracelets and other functions that will improve our ability to communicate clearly what H2O is and what people can do to be involved.

That said, the countdown has started, so mark your calendars and come visit the new site on January 1st, 2009.

Advocates for H2O

If you would like to start H2O, email us at hope2others@gmail.com. We will send you the information you need to get started and will pray for you as you begin.

Hidden Beauty

I couldn't help but take it in...a baby sat in her stroller wailing while her mom dug through a pile of blankets and clothes. Barbecue smoke billowed from behind several rows of hanging jackets. Hundreds of people pushed and shoved to get first pick at the hats and scarves. As they swarmed past and bumped into me, my nose resisted to wrinkle under the odor that emanated from their stained tattered coats.

Although my surroundings appeared gray and dirty, hidden beauty somehow attracted me to it.

Earlier that morning my sister and I joined a small group of teenagers in leading games for Portland's homeless. Our assigned games consisted of a peculiar ring toss and dart throw at balloons. We received no directions but were told, "Just make it fun." Clueless in where to start making rules and organizing prizes, we feared that no one would care for the "homemade" games.

As the first players trickled in, we were surprised with how they responded. Their pleasure wasn't in the game itself but in the simple competition with each other. One short young man dressed in slacks and a tie stepped forward with a giant grin on his face. Leaning over to his friend, he jokingly boasted, "How much do you want to bet that I can pop a balloon on the first try?" He closed one eye and carefully aimed the dart. Then with a step and a windup he sent the dart whizzing toward the pink targets. With a thud, the dart missed and fell.

At the failed attempt, he and his friend erupted into laughter. "I bet I could do better," the latter challenged. The two of them took several turns challenging each other back and forth. Their joy in competing and winning reminded me of how real these people are. Unfortunately, I often fail to see the men and women on the street corners as individuals with friends and feelings, desires and dreams. But watching these men smile and laugh as if they were kings encouraged me to treat them like they really were the richest men on earth.

Meanwhile, a married couple was trying on different hats, debating over the best ones to choose. The wife pulled out a rainbow beanie and slid it over her blond hair. She then walked up to the widows of the building to see her reflection. She turned as if she was a model in front of a crowd. After observing herself, she then returned to her husband saying she'd keep it.

To prepare for the cold weather, every homeless person made a stop by the table of blankets. Each of them spent considerable time choosing their favorite print. Most of them were outdated, ones we'd get rid of right away. Others were faded. I overheard a lady telling her friend, "Look at this blanket I got! Don't you like the pattern?" She lifted up a faded blue comforter with a flowered print covering it.

A rainbow beanie and outdated quilt are two things I probably would never buy. But even the used, unpopular items of our culture were valuable to them.

Spending a morning with the poor is more eyeopening then I ever imagined. I got a taste for their life but also a new perspective of my own.

"Yesterday i handed out H2O bag in Portland. The veteran that took it was already talking when he was walking up to the car. He was saying how much he appreciated 'you guys!' He said that 'you are all doing a great thing. I really appreciate your church!'"

-Louise

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Send us your story at hope2others@gmail.com or leave a comment on our guestbook of your experience handing out an H2O bag.

C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity (part 2)

"Some people nowadays say that charity ought to be unnecessary and that instead of giving to the poor we ought to be producing a society in which there were no poor to give to. They may be quite right in saying that we ought to produce this kind of society. But if anyone thinks that, as a consequence, you can stop giving in the meantime, then he has parted company with all Christian morality.

I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words,' if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small.

For many of us the great obstacle to charity lies not in our luxurious living or desire for more money, but in our fear--fear of insecurity. This must often be recognized as a temptation.

Sometimes our pride also hinders our charity; we are tempted to spend more than we ought on the showy forms of generosity (tipping, hospitality) and less than we ought on those who really need our help."

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity (part 1)

I've been reading through C.S. Lewis' book "Mere Christianity", and have been struck by several points he makes on how we, as Christians, look on others.

"That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the results which a
man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the
raw material at all, but on what he has done with it. Most of the man's
psychological make-up is probably due to his body: when his body dies all that
will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that chose, that made the
best or the worst out of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of nice
things which we thought our own, but which were really due to a good digestion,
will fall off some of us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes
or bad health will fall off others. We shall then, for the first time, see every
one as he really was. There will be surprises."

If you didn't read it slowly...I encourage you, go back and read it again. Lewis makes such a crucial point in this paragraph, one that is a valuable lesson for all of us.

Often times, we look at the outer appearance of someone like a panhandler or homeless man and shun because of his poor health habits or his apparent laziness. One day, all that will be stripped away and we will see that man on the curb for who he really was. Who knows? Maybe he has a heart of joy and love for the Lord disguised under the scrawny appearance. What C.S. Lewis points out is that the ones driving the cars wear disguises too. One day, all that will be stripped away and we will see you for who you really are.

In other words, we don't have reason to judge others because we can't see their heart.

This past summer I got to watch a homeless man sit down with one of my friends and tell her all the things he's learning in scripture...the prophesies of Jesus and how each was fulfilled, etc. Yet I know church-goers who haven't cared any more about the Bible than this homeless man.

Save the judging for the Lord, the One who sees all our hearts plainly and before whom we'll all have to give an account one day.