We finished our booth set-up and the guys from the bands finished sound-checks and other responsibilities with plenty of time to enjoy the game with the crowd. Despite never being to a minor league hockey game before, the energy was awesome--I guess the game had major playoff implications for both teams, and it was a cross-town rivalry between the Peoria Rivermen (home) and the Chicago Wolves (away).

The Rivermen ended up winning to the great enjoyment of the thousands in attendance after a 3-3 overtime draw lead to a shootout, which was decided on the final shot: Rivermen winning by a final score of 3-2.

After the game I realized that I'm always kind of amazed how easy it is to get sucked into the emotion of a sporting event if you let yourself go. Even though none of us on the tour had ever really heard of the teams (and I am not really a hockey fan either), by the end of the game we were all cheering as loud as anyone in the venue.

There is something amazing about seeing athletes play with such emotion, and such a visceral and intense display of hope and joy, disappointment and glory in the cheers and noises of the crowd. There is so much passion in our culture around the idea of sport.

It was actually quite humbling following the game because despite the size of the crowd hardly anyone seemed interested in visiting our booth and hearing about Blood:Water Mission. I can't say I really blame them, though: People were there for a hockey game, and most were probably wondering why a Non-Profit Organization for Wells in Africa was there--it certainly seems a bit out of context!

Out of context. Yes.

I'm reading a book right now that I've been looking forward to for quite a while. It is called 'Good News About Injustice' by Gary Haugen, and really delves into the difficulties of confronting the reality (not the truth, but the reality) of global issues like AIDS, poverty and genocide.

Who has time for considering these things with all of the other demands of life in America? With work deadlines, important relationships, catching up on news, having hobbies and many other things competing for our time and resources, why, or maybe HOW should we care about people in these situations? I mean, what can we really do to make a difference?

After no small amount of soul-searching on this issue, I've realized something about the way we view things. It is not difficult to accept the fact that people in Africa are dying from AIDS, are suffering from poverty and are oppressed to the point of genocide in some countries. But from a rational viewpoint, this only seems to create a problem--something else to make us feel inadequate and hopeless, something that speaks more deeply of our own inability to meet other people's needs (let alone our own) than of our opportunity to do something meaningful for them.

I want to challenge that sentiment right now in this blog. It is certainly difficult to view the people in those countries as real persons--made in God's image, deserving of justice and dignity--because to do so implicates us into some sense of responsibility for them. It is hard to accept into our hearts that every one of the 400,000+ persons in the mass graves in Darfur was brought about into this world by a mother who cared deeply for her child with tears and aspirations for them. Its hard to internalize that as we go about our day-to-day routine of working, sleeping, relating to people in the peace and freedom of America that there are still millions of people on earth who live in terror of rape, murder, persecution and other kinds of oppression.

How can we even begin to start making decisions that reflect our existence in a world of such inequity between the haves and the have-nots? The good news is that there are a ton of organizations out there who are already active in trying to dignify the suffering and deaths of so many people, and that they have created avenues for us to join them in this effort.

If I haven't asked you personally, I'm doing it now: Give $1 to a charitable organization who is affiliated with these efforts. Make it a starting point and an investment of faith and goodwill for all of the people who are already working on these kinds of issues, but more importantly as a first step in acknowledging both the injustice of the world and of rebuking our own insecurities about not knowing how to do something or feeling inadequate.

The truth is that we are all extremely able to do something significant and it breaks my heart to see a community so willing to drop tens of thousands of dollars on concessions at a hockey game, but so afraid to give a dollar or even start a conversation about Africa--not because I feel people are stingy or I feel above this behavior (because I am certainly equally implicated!) but because we have such little faith in our ability to make a difference, or even in the need to care.

Caring takes courage, but it also recognizes that this is our time to do something and we should consider the opportunity seriously--how will we answer ourselves to the coming generations when they ask us what we did for the world's poor?

I hope that when that day comes, we can all remember the moment we learned of the genocide in Darfur--the night commute of the children of Uganda--the thirsty and dying of sub-saharan Africa--the hostage child-prostitutes of many southeast Asian countries--with as much clarity as we remember sporting events.  I hope that our generation in America will be remembered for having a passion for the world's poor and against injustice equalling that of our passion for sports.  I hope that we can answer to our families in the future when they ask about how we responded to this suffering:

"I heard the knocking at the door of my heart with the dignity and humility of a genuine hope for and love of their freedom."

-Joe