The Royce Files

A trifecta of Johnny Cash on Blog Action Day and throw in a reference to Jesus, too. I was pondering how much of Jesus' ministry involved water. Let's list a few: Baptized Performed water into wine miracle Frequented boats Walked on water Claimed to be living water Spoke of springs of living water coming out of people Asks for a drink of water from a woman at a well Taught about blessing of giving a cup of water in his name Washed disciples feet with water Wouldn't it be great if Jesus performed a miracle of turning poor water into clean water? Well he is actually doing that these days through his followers. Samaritans Purse is doing just that with their water projects . I will also plug Wine To Water efforts to get clean accessible water to One Billion People. They currently are working on getting water filters to Pakistan where flood have plagued that region recently. In Israel and most of the Middle East, the main water source is precipitation which can be ...

This year I will be participating in Blog Action Day . Topic of concern this year: water. It is actually something I care about since I drink a lot of it and use it for recreation. Most of my blogging on water has been about flooding but I am not sure how to work that into this blog action day. I guess flooding has potential to contaminate clean water supplies. Water is one of those essentials for having a healthy life and sadly many places around the globe don't have access to clean water. Samaritan's Purse helps provide clean water to many communities. But I'll write more about this and have photos for water. The photo today is from the Sheyenne Grasslands at a windmill that pumps water into the large trough. Numerous troughs are located in the grasslands as it is a rather dry area. The water must be filtered or treated for human consumption. The cattle just drink it as it is. The Sheyenne River runs through the western part of the grasslands.

It has been a horrendous week in Nashville, Tennessee. Storms earlier this week inundated  the Cumberland River and flooded much of Nashville and the surrounding area. 29 and possibly more have died.  A report is here . Most assuredly our prayers go out to the citizens of Nashville and middle Tennessee. Having experienced an reported on flooding on here before, I know how dangerous and heartbreaking floodwaters can be to individuals. I think estimates are around a billion dollars in damage. Unlike the Fargo floods, there really wasn't much warning. This was real flash flood- kind of similar to my April Fool's post this year.  I am not sure how accurately the  weather system that came through that region could be predicted much less prepared for a flood of that speed. It was over twice as much rainfall as the previous record and the Cumberland River crested at 12 feet above flood stage. The Cumberland is nothing like the Red River. It...

As expected, the debate started on the topic of the economy. Both Obama and McCain reiterated the superiority of their plan. I checked out to do a little research on each candidate's stance on poverty. They both agreed combating HIV/AIDS worldwide should receive more government attention. Obama specifically wants to double annual funding of such projects. McCain supports the President's Plan for AIDS Relief program. So what's the connection of HIV/AIDS to poverty? To answer I will take a quote from an United Nations document. Globally, the highest HIV prevalence rates are found in poor countries, but within regions such as Africa, it is not necessarily the poorest countries that have the highest prevalence rates. Nevertheless, poverty increases vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and exacerbates the devastation of the epidemic. Poverty deprives individuals of the means to cope with HIV/AIDS. The poor often lack the knowledge and awareness that would enable them to protect themselves ...

T he 2nd Annual Pizza, Pack, and Pray event went off without a hitch. I think we packed nearly double the amount of boxes as we did last year. Operation Christmas Child is project which gathers shoeboxes filled with toys, candy, school supplies and then in turn distributes these boxes to children in desperate circumstances all around the world. I've been doing it for 8 years and began my church's campaign to fill boxes. There is still time to get a box filled as November 19 is the last day to bring boxes to a collection center in your area. It is very simple and certainly helps give joy and hope to children who otherwise would not experience those things. I have been challenging myself to be more generous the past few years. For me it seems, we've got too much. We've become a consumption dump. OCC is just one way I think I can help someone else and be a conduit to bless others. It is something that transcends ourselves when we take on the attitude that it is better to g...