FlowerDust.net

i’ve been officially blogging since early 2004, so, a good three and a half years. i’ve met people through this medium, probably at least ten or fifteen. most recently, i met our good friend los whittaker (ragamuffin soul) back in february when i was in california (afterward, incidentally i slept on another blogging friend’s couch [one who i met in 2005 during another trip to LA] before catching an early flight to LAX.)

last month, a new feed-friend of mine, portland’s own matt singley, was in the area for a conference. upon realizing our close proximity, he brought a group of about six or eight (i think we lost some on the way) down to lake pointe church where they graciously endured an hour and a half tour of our facilities.

matt and his team were such fun people…we hit it off right away. they felt comfortable making fun of me, and in return, i probably got a few jabs in edgewise.

matt is doing something really cool, and i had to spread the word. here’s a little bit from their website, 51weeks.org:

On June 18th, about 100 people from 5 churches will be traveling to Northern Mexico to build houses for the very poor. While there, we will camp in the desert and provide all of our own food…we will not have running water or electricity available to us. Heck, we’ll barely have portable bathrooms nearby!

During the day we will drive into the colonies that surround the South side of Tijuana and we will work throughout the week to build 11′ x 22′ homes. This year we should build a handful of homes plus a double-wide. It’s hard work as we do everything by hand, including mixing the concrete and pouring the foundation.

now, it is no surprise that many of you out there have shown your generosity in the past. FlowerDust.net readers helped chris and me raise close to $1000 for our trip to scotland last fall. you’ve given to broken down cars before. to friend’s trips to africa.

so, today when i learned that matt and these 100 incredible people still need to raise $5000 for their trip, posting this on here wasn’t a hesitation.

if you wanna help them out, i know they’d appreciate it. you can give online by going to 51weeks.org. and i won’t preach what i don’t practice, so…chris and i donated some spare change. whaddya say?

stuff like this is proof positive that “church” isn’t bound by walls or zip codes or demographics…that we are all one body…doing one good work together!

[sidenote: next week, i'll be meeting a couple other bloggers face to face for the first time...stay tuned!]