I'm sorry for the delay in reporting back to
you about the final day of training. I got home Monday and was faced with a
number of things that had to be done by Tuesday at lunch. And then I had to fly
to Dallas for a 24 hour board meeting for the High Calling, a nonprofit
organization in San Antonio. I write for them and do some Internet consultation.
I'm now involved in setting up a network of blogs, as I mentioned
a few days ago.
So, what happened on the final day of water
purification training? First of all, the centerpieces were all clean, which I
thought was pretty cute. Seeing them filled with dirty water and then fresh,
clean water is an image that speaks at a gut-level.
We had a worship service on Sunday morning. A
pastor from Costa Rica preached with an interpreter. Edge Outreach is a
Christian organization, but what I like about them is that they are dedicated to
their humanitarian efforts, and not in any way involved in evangelism. As a
Christian, I think we have reached a time where the Church must prove her love
for people. We must help people with NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Then, if someone wants
to engage us with questions about our spiritual tradition, we would of course be
happy to talk. That's the kind of thing that Edge does. I am confident that an
atheist or agnostic person could have joined us this weekend and not been uncomfortable. That person could have attended the worship
service, out of respect, or not.
Afterwards, our final session involved seeing a
kind of "super purification unit" down by the lake. This system involves both
types of purification. Filtering and chlorination. There is some debate among
advocates of each system. Advocates of filtration systems point out that their
systems are extremely simple and easy to use. Chlorination advocates note that the very
specialized and high-tech filters can't be purchased by people in 3rd world
countries. The chlorination system, on the other hand, works as long as a person
can get their hands on a car battery and some salt.
The truth is, different systems work in
different settings. You have to be flexible and bring a system that best helps
the people you are serving. The system in the suitcase by the man in
blue filters the water down to a half a micron. That's a pretty serious
filtering job. The smallest bacteria are about a micron in size. A micron is
millionth of a meter. A human hair is about 100 microns in diameter. The man
in the black shirt is holding one of the ceramic filters.
After filtration, the lake water goes through
the McGuire system and comes out cleaner than any municipal water system.
CLEANER. You really don't need both of them, but this was kind of a super
system.
After that the conference was over and everyone
went home. I spent another night with Darrell and Alice Adams and went out for
fancy beers with a couple of friends of theirs. To my surprise, both of them had
read Real Live Preacher before. One man - Brent - had even sent me an email some
years ago. I was glad that I had answered it. In the last couple of years I
haven't been able to answer them all.
Then I flew home. That's it. I'll brush up on
my knowledge over Christmas and begin getting ready to go to the Dominican
Republic in January. We'll be installing a massive, 8-tank system in a hospital.
I will take photos and blog my way through that trip. I hope you'll tune in
then.
rlp
