By now most of you know I have committed to run the Chicago Marathon again in October. Once again, I will be running with World Vision to raise awareness and support for their work in bringing clean water to those that are desperately in need in the developing world. 

If you are reading this you probably fall into one of the two categories below. 

1. You are the type of person that cares deeply about others. You value equity and justice. You believe all people, no matter who they are, where they live, their economic status... deserves the right to the certain basic necessities of life such as, shelter, food, and of course, clean water. You don’t need to play silly games to donate to causes you care about. If this is you, you should probably just stop reading now. Go to the bottom of this page and make your donation to World Vision to help provide clean water to those that are desperately in need. You are indeed a beautiful person. 
2. Then there are the rest of you. Of course, you care about others but that is not why you continued reading this. You want to see how far I will go to get your attention and bring awareness to you about the world's water crisis. You want to find out if there is anything I can do to top the 13 mile baker's dozen donut run or the 13 mile Slider run. Well, if this is you, you are in luck. Keep reading. I want to get an early start on this challenge to give you plenty of time to get your donations in since there is one very large variable that is entirely controlled by you and how much you give between now and our 13 mile training run on July 29, 2023 

The Plan 

13 Mile Run 

12 Buffalo Wild Wings, 1 per mile for the first 12 miles. 

1 Nashville Hot Chicken Strip from Fry The Coop, the grand finale after completing mile 13. 

The Variable 

The intensity of the heat is determined by the amount given to World Vision’s clean water projects. At the time I am writing this your generous donations have brought in $2,790. The Hot Chicken Challenge run will be confirmed and activated when we reach $4,000. Then, with each additional $1,000 the intensity of the spice will move up on the Scoville Scale. I should probably add that all of the wings will be bone in. As we all know, a boneless buffalo wing is really just a nugget. 

1. $4,000 - $5,000 - 6 "Sweet BBQ" wings; 6 "Teriyaki" wings; 1 "Mild-Taste the Flavor" chicken strip 
2. $5,001 - $6,000 - 6 "Medium" wings; 6 "Honey BBQ" wings; 1 "Medium - Feel the Heat" chicken strip 
3. $6,001 - $7,000 - 6 "Asian Zing" wings; 6 "Caribbean Jerk" wings; 1 "Hot - Feel the Burn" chicken strip 
4. $7,001 - $8,000 - 6 "Hot BBQ" wings; 6 "Hot" wings; 1 "Crazy - Call 911" chicken strip 
5. $8,000+ - 6 "Wild" wings; 6 "Mango Habanero" wings; 1 "Insanity - (R.I.P.)" chicken strip 

But wait, there’s more! 

$10,000+ - 13 mile run, 12 ridiculously hot chicken wings, 1 painful Nashville Hot chicken strip… All while wearing a chicken costume and listening to the “The Chicken Dance” song on repeat the entire time. And, if we do hit $10,000 with enough time before July 29, 2023, I can certainly add to the challenge to see what else we can bring in. 

There you have it. Over the top? Maybe, but that is what I do. Some people can sing, sell something, or offer you some sort of needed service in exchange for donations. We all have various talents and are gifted in different ways. Since I can’t sing and I have nothing of value to sell you are left with what I do have, the ability to something absolutely ridiculous to help encourage you to give to this worthwhile cause. 

Has it worked yet? If so, click on the link below to make that donation. If you are not convinced yet, ask me why I run and I would love to tell you more.

https://www.teamworldvision.org/participant/georgeroach2023 

If you are not able to give at this time I am grateful for your encouragement and support in other ways. Plus, there will be plenty of more opportunities throughout the summer.

Logo Design by Mulkstudio on Canva

Starting at the beginning of the year our Life Group at church will be doing a study of the book "Generous Justice" by Tim Keller. Just read the introduction but it looks like it is going to be a good study. At our Life Group Christmas party we were playing the game "Loaded Questions". In the game, one person will ask a question and everybody else writes down their answer. Then the asker tries to guess who gave which answer and they get a point for every correct guess. One of the questions to the group was something to the effect of, "What racial stereotype do you regret believing in?" There were some interesting answers. The problem was not that we didn't have answers. The problem was that there were so many answers and nobody wanted to admit some of the stereotypes that they held to be be true. In the introduction to the book, Keller is talking about a time when a Black friend of his called him out for being a racist. He says, "We began to see how, in so many ways, we made our cultural biases into moral principles and then judged people of other races as being inferior." Looking forward to where the discussion of this book will go and how we will apply the principles to practice in life.

Lap Counter

When I'm swimming I have a hard time keeping track of laps. When asked how far I swam I would answer, "Somewhere between... and..." Call it short attention span, call it ADD. Whatever it is it I would rather be thinking things other than what lap I'm on. I saw this lap counter in a triathlon magazine and my wife was kind enough to buy it for me. Now I know exactly how many laps I did. They have fancy ones that keep track of splits and fastest laps but I only needed one to keep track of laps. Check it out at www.sportcount.com

Cletus the Fetus

Introducing Cletus the Fetus. I guess it is about 13 weeks along now. For some reason, God, in His infinite wisdom, decided that the world is currently incomplete with my offspring walking the earth. So... here it comes. Watch out world.

Dawnielle is not yet convinced of the quality of the name Cletus. I'm thinking that it will grow on her. I mean really. How could anyone go wrong in life with a name like that?

THX 1138

I just saw the movie THX 1138. Unless you are a nerd, like me, let me explain. This was one of George Lucas' first movies. Based off of a movie he made while in film school. It was released in 1971 and stars a very young Robert Duvall (Not sure why, but the whole time I pictured him telling Tom Cruise, "There is only so much I can do with a race car.")

Strange movie. Bears a striking resemblance to the movie "The Island". Just another proof that nobody has any original ideas anymore. THX is based in this stale all white underground building where the people are constantly monitored and given medications that keep them from feeling or thinking for themselves in order to be controlled and forced to build a robot police force. The Robert Duvall character stops taking the medication, realizes there is more to life than this, and tries to escape. He ends up being thrown into a prison with no walls, just an endless sea of whiteness. The rest of the move is him running through this world of whiteness looking for a way out.

Not exactly sure what George Lucas was trying to say with this movie. Maybe it was just that we have become a non-feeling, emotionless, blank society that needs to find a way to escape. Maybe it represents a deeper search for meaning or even for God, which is represented by a vague video of a picture of Christ with some prerecorded comforting sayings.

If you are looking for an interesting yet very slow movie with some thought provoking social commentary then check it out.