I saw a post on Facebook the other day that mentioned just because summer started 2 months late doesn't mean it has to hang on for 2 extra months. I hate to say it but give me the cold weather. I'll take it over the skin melting heat any day! But, maybe that's just the Minnesotan in me speaking.
I have to admit that with a title like the one on this blog and the heat outside I was tempted to do something along the lines of a hell fire and brimstone blog..."you think it's hot here wait until you feel hell!" or something along those lines, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I want to talk about me today so I hope you're okay with that.
I don't know if you've heard about or seen this little thing called the ice bucket challenge going around. If you haven't then I have to ask, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! In all seriousness if you haven't heard about the ice bucket challenge visit the ALS website and read about all the money that's been raised for ALS research. I have to admit I've taken part in the challenge and yes my family has donated to ALS. But before last night I was very much a cynic when it came to this challenge.
I would watch the ice buckets being dropped on people's heads and then hear the challenges and I kept wondering if people even truly understood what they were doing. Did they even know what ALS was? Did they even donate to the cause or did they simply relish the chance to put a video of themselves on the internet? Let's just say I wasn't a fan and my cynical side was growing stronger with every video I witnessed. There are so many other good causes....why do you need water dumped on your head before you'll donate to a charity...why are you wasting perfectly good water? Could I increase the donations to my church by 1000% if I started a cold pop challange? Guzzle 12 ounces of your favorite soda pop and then burp out the next three people you challenge and donate to Minden UCC. Hey, don't steal that idea! Back from the aside, all good questions and all good reasons for me to keep being cynical...or so I thought.
Well yesterday afternoon my fantastic brother-in-law and his boys challenged me and my boys to do the challenge. Alex was immediately excited and Isaac needed some time to come around to the idea of getting water dumped on his head. Of course I was against the whole thing in the very beginning. I don't like being peer pressured into doing anything, and besides if I want to donate to ALS research I'll do it while I'm perfectly dry thank you. But, as the boys' excitement grew I saw a chance for a teaching moment. Before we risked pneumonia I asked the boys why we were doing this? And then took the time to explain to them that we were raising funds for a terrible disease that science hasn't been able to find a cure or even treatment for. I told them that we'd do the challenge, and then we'd decide how much they wanted to give to help fund research for the disease. I actually saw a light come on in their heads when we talked about the devastating nature of ALS and how fortunate we are not to be touched by the disease yet. Of course they had all kinds of questions as to how you catch it and stuff and it proved to be a great chance to help out a good cause and to remind me and my family how truly blessed we are.
So, my cynical side took a hit yesterday. I still think the ice bucket challenge is a little hokey, but it is doing great things for ALS research and it helped me bond a little more with the family and remind them, and me, just how much God has blessed us. So I suppose in the end it was a good thing...just don't tell my cynical side! No, let's begin the Soda Guzzle challenge and help out a small church in SW Iowa!
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