Cara Davis

Why I’m Drinking Only Water for 31 Days

Cara Davis — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:38:37 -0800

A lot of people start off the new year with a cleanse or fast or some sort – you know, to flush out the excess of the holidays and to start a new year refreshed and renewed physically and emotionally.

Personally, I’m not a fan.

I hate fasting (not that anyone loves it), and you won’t catch me with a colon-cleansing product on this side of the century.

With that said, I approached the new year’s fasting season with a fresh idea … at least for me. Instead of just going without, I’m going without so I can give.

As an editor, I have read a lot about social justice organizations that focus on giving access to clean water to developing countries. I’ve heard that it only takes a dollar to provide this clean water – the most basic necessity of human survival – to one person for an entire year. The problem? There are a billion people who need it, and many of those live on less than a dollar a day.

The implications for women and children are worse, as they waste 40 billion hours of labor each year carrying water – which may not even be clean – over long distances. So education and work, which could bring them out of poverty, are no longer options. Survival is the singular goal.

But the problem doesn’t stop there. Living Water International points out that no dollar amount will solve the global water crisis – only competent, responsible implementers will. The organization trains, consults and equips people all over the world to execute the most appropriate, cost-effective integrated water solutions and instructs them on how to teach others to do the same.

There are many organizations out there doing good work. As I started the new year, I thought about the commercialized, materialistic season we just left behind and I thought about man’s most basic need: water. Then I realized how much I take it for granted.

I don’t like exercise. I don’t like to drink water. I don’t like things that make me uncomfortable or that don’t taste good. It’s human nature, and worse than that, it’s the American mindset I’ve chosen to get comfortable with.

So I decided it was time for me to fast. But I chose a fast that’s a little different than most. I’m eating, for one thing, because if I didn’t eat for a month I’m pretty sure some of my bodily organs would begin to shut down. And I would probably go postal before that.

I’m simply choosing to only drink water as opposed to the usual chemicals I soak my body with: Diet Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper (seriously, can a drink with that many words in its name be any good for you?), Tall Skinny Sugar-Free Vanilla Lattes (who am I trying to fool with that one?), milkshakes (my perennial guilty pleasure) and White Grape Juicy Juice (I have a toddler, alright? Cut me some slack.)

So water it is. For a whole month. I'm on day 12 now, and frankly it's been a little harder than I thought it would be. But I'm doing it. And the point of all this? I’m taking the money I would have spent on other drinks and donating it to an organization that’s helping solve the global water crisis.

I’ve found this to be the best motivation I’ve ever had to fast. Every time I grab my Brita pitcher of filtered water, I can’t help but see the face of someone who’s got a whole lot fewer choices than I do in life. And as I pour a glass of water, I fight back any pitiful feelings of deprivation from not being able to grab that orange juice jug. As I drink the pure, clean water, I appreciate its availability in my home. And this month might be the first time I've ever done that.

Learn more about the global water crisis through these organizations and what you can do to help:

Did you do an unusual New Year’s fast? Comment below!

(article originally published on HalogenTV.com)

The Thing that Will Destroy the Evangelical Church

Cara Davis — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:55:38 -0800

“The thing that will destroy the Evangelical Church in the next 25 years, and it will, is the decision to be comfortable with our consumerist society. We are raising our children to be consumers, not people who are concerned about the will of God in this world.” – Dr. Tony Campolo from Lord, Save Us From Your Followers

Have you checked out Advent Conspiracy, an international movement restoring the scandal of Christmas by substituting compassion for consumption? http://www.adventconspiracy.org.

To Seek the Quiet

Cara Davis — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:55:18 -0700

It’s 11:09 p.m. Thursday night. Finally all is quiet, except for some gurgling from my refrigerator and the quiet whirr of the ceiling fan. After a day filled with trilling phones, competing music from three different offices, and chattering voices over the roar of air conditioning, my ears are still ringing. But now, I can slow down. I can sit in silence. I can think.

We live in a world filled with noise—and distraction. It’s a rare moment we’re allowed to steal away to somewhere quiet where our minds can rest and be refreshed. In fact, our bodies even fight it. Since constant stimulation is as close as a flip of a radio knob or buttons on a remote or cell phone, many of us give in to the temptation to keep our minds buzzing and our thoughts tightly-wound.

It’s not uncommon to look to your left and right at an intersection and see your neighbors with cell phones glued to their ears. As soon as they step into their cars, the silence compels them to grab the phone and “make use” of the time—although the calls are actually used to “pass the time.” I’m so guilty of this too.

We’re a people who avoid silence. Consequently, many of us do not think anymore. We react, worry or fantasize, but rarely do we think and process the way our minds were designed to.

Maybe that’s why we have a hard time getting quiet before the Lord and learning to seek after His presence. And maybe the reason we can’t remember Scripture well is because we breeze through one chapter on our way to the bed (like I do) instead of sitting and analyzing and thinking about what we just read. It takes discipline and denying the flesh, but learning to seek the quiet is key to growing in God.

Five times it’s recorded in the book of Mark that Jesus took His disciples away from the crowds to some place quiet. It was a time of rejuvenation, of personal reflection, and growth. The Bible also details other benefits of quiet times: to overcome temptation (Mark 14:32 -38); for strength (Ephesians 6:10 -20); and for a sense of peace (Philippians 4:6-9).

The stillness of the quiet is exactly where we will feel the gentle tug of God’s presence calling us to commune with Him, to grow in Him, to be refreshed by Him. That time of communion is more satisfying than any counterfeit we distract our brains with.

In The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence we learn how make a habit of thinking on God and talking to him in your mind – instead of letting it wander aimlessly. Brother Lawrence disciplined his mind to do this whenever he could – whether he was washing the dishes or in a concentrated prayer time.

I once edited an article written by a man whose dad was dying of cancer in a hospital. He talked about how it was too difficult to pray formally during those times – but that prayer became breath to him. Prayer was constant and always overturning in his mind – it became as second nature as breathing to him. I think this is what Brother Lawrence had in mind. May we seek to discipline our minds this way in the absence of tragedy with intentional times of quiet so when less than ideal times come, we have a rich well from which to draw.

First Reactions to Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Cara Davis — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:23:53 -0700

The quote I have posted on my Conversant Life profile reads: "[True happiness] is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." (Helen Keller) ... I thought it was just a nice quote to post on my profile, until I read Donald Miller's new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Now I know it's painfully true.

Let me preface this short musing about Don's new book by saying I never read Blue Like Jazz. I'll admit it. So many other people had (or it seemed like it) that book become part of the cultural consciousness for Christians. Whether you had read it or not, you knew what it was about, and how it articulated an entire worldview for an entire generation. I tried to read one of his other books after that, but couldn't get into it.

Miller himself says his life (and writing) stalled after writing Blue Like Jazz. A Million Miles ... is about the journey he took to restart it. I finished the book in one sitting tonight. At first I thought it was a poor man's "Adaptation" (the movie) -- yet another example of a Christian taking something that exists in culture and putting a religious spin on it. I kept reading and got proven wrong, way wrong. And I'm glad I was.

While the writing is about writing (a screenplay based on Blue Like Jazz), it's just a technique that serves as a springboard into the telling of Miller's story itself. Miller masterfully teaches about the concept of story while moving you along his own. This account of living more intentionally – living on purpose and for a purpose – is powerfully convicting. And the dozens of smaller stories his contains supports the idea that we were made for so much more.

I dog-eared dozens of pages starting with 115 to nearly the last one. I twittered that the book is remarkably inspiring, and that I wanted to "enter my story" after having read it. But I think it would be more appropriate to say I want to start living a better story than I have heretofore.

I realize that my own journey of finding focus has been all about this. My life has lacked essential elements of a compelling story because I too often seek pleasure, comfort and self-gratification, when sacrifice and pain are the essential dark shades needed in every work of art. As Miller writes, "It wasn't necessary to win for the story to be great, it was only necessary to sacrifice everything."

It makes me think of others who are telling similar stories, weaving similar textures into their own narratives. I think of singer/songwriter Sara Groves, who values the "long defeat," the defiance of hope in the face of insurmountable odds. “I can't just fight when I think I'll win,” she says. Or John Evans, a lay minister in my church who visits the local jail each week, teaching and preaching to inmates, and praying with them. And Charysse, a friend of mine's sister, who has been fighting a brain tumor for years with courage and hope, for the sake of her little boys – a woman who's been through hell and says she wouldn't have it any other way.

There's something to this concept of conflict being essential to our stories. If you want to know more about it, Miller's book is a great place to start. As for me, I've got some writing (and living) to do ...

Pocket Guide to the Hilarious

Cara Davis — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:14:21 -0700

Jason Boyett is hilarious. If you met him in person, you'd never know it; he's quiet and unassuming, which I assume is rare for a Texan. But his pen packs a punch. I first met Jason over email as he was one of the original writers who contributed to RELEVANT magazine. When I worked there, RELEVANT launched a line of books, and we knew we needed Jason on our roster. Thankfully, he took us up on our offer and has been writing books ever since.

His newest endeavor is a trinity of titles packaged by Jossey-Bass: Pocket Guide to the Bible, Pocket Guide to the Afterlife and Pocket Guide to Sainthood. If you're a fan of religious humor at all, you'll appreciate Jason's witty insights into a variety of topics like near-death experiences, saintly fashion and old-fashioned smitings.

And you'll learn a thing or two as well. So much for my college Old and New Testament classes. These should be required reading for students of the Bible – at least those with a sense of humor.

In Pocket Guide to the Afterlife, Jason tackles historical and contemporary beliefs about what happens after we die. Like each of the pocket guides, the book is structured in bite-sized chapters that make reading fun. Instead of straight narrative, we read through glossaries, timelines, geographical tours and fun lists like "Eleven Highly Attractive Synonyms for Heaven" or "Twelve Activities That May Be Signs of an Impending Death Should They Occur in Your Dreams, According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead."

In Pocket Guide to the Bible, we meet a holy cast of characters, get a history of scripture's events at breakneck speed and learn about smitings and translations of the Bible (otherwise known as perversions). Fun facts are sprinkled throughout including random biblical phrases taken out of context: "Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces" (Mal. 2:3, KJV).

Pocket Guide to Sainthood introduces those of us who are less familiar with Catholicism to the myriad and many saints in that tradition. It includes a glossary of terms, an alphabetized list of saints and who they were and a run-down of patron saints and their causes. Learn how a saint is canonized (it's as painful as it sounds) and catalog trivial information through lists like "Six Superhero-Like Abilities Claimed by Saints but Not Related to Levitation."

With pop culture references a-plenty, Jason marries today's worldview to yesterday's tradition to create a match made in heaven.

Leaving a Legacy

Cara Davis — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:53:36 -0700

Cory was my first crush. Given the circumstances under which we were introduced, it was somewhat inevitable. I was nine years old and just discovering that boys existed. My oldest cousin was marrying the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen and they had asked me to be a junior bridesmaid in their wedding. It was the first wedding I had ever been asked to be part of, and I met Cory, who was just months older than me, the weekend of the wedding. We were being paired to walk down the aisle together.

The women gathered in the fellowship hall to make final preparations for the wedding. Careful not to catch my curls, Mom zipped up my teal green satin bridesmaid’s dress. It had puffy sleeves, a full skirt, a heart-shaped neckline and matching satin roses on the sides of the neckline that were still being sewed on just minutes before the wedding began. At the time, it was the single most glamorous stitch of fabric ever to grace my chunky, underdeveloped adolescent body.

That wedding was my first exposure to the fantastical world of weddings and all of their tulle bows, romantic couples and towering white cakes. And Cory was my groom, although I would have never admitted it. I had yet to make a public proclamation that I thought boys were anything but parasite-ridden cootie-mongers. I remember how awkward it felt to have the adults intermingle our arms just before we were to walk down the aisle.

I actually don’t remember much after that, except for being horrified when I saw the wedding photos because the hosiery I wore was opaque, causing me to stick out like a sore thumb next to all the real women who wore sheer hosiery that accentuated their shapely tanned legs.

But my childhood crush on Cory remained, and as our families were now joined, I’d see him regularly, when I visited or went to church camps and conferences.

I think I was 14 when we kissed. It was morbidly innocent, and I’m sure it was painfully awkward although I didn’t have much to compare it to at the time. Our romance lasted one weekend, at the end of which he muttered something like, “I just don’t know what I want,” which was code for “This is weird and I think we should just be friends.”

In time I got over it. His older brother married another one of my cousins and at that point, he was very nearly legally my cousin. Since I spent quite a bit of time with my cousin, I saw Cory and his brother a lot over the years. We had some good memories. There were times when I had never laughed harder. It was the type of friendship that sticks with you even when adulthood tears you apart.

I always knew no matter how long it had been since I had seen Cory that he’d always have a big smile and hug for me. He was that way with everyone. I’d never seen Cory treat someone differently than another. And Cory was a popular guy. Being in a ministerial family, he traveled a lot. I have no doubt girls swooned for him in every port. After all, he looked like a teenage Pierce Brosnan.

I visited Cory in the hospital when I was in town earlier this month. I knew that he wasn’t well, but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. Cory had been given nine months to live following a diagnosis of colon cancer and resulting surgery earlier this year. When I entered the room, Cory was sleeping from the morphine he'd been given. The scene was eerily familiar. He had the same emaciated look my dad had just a year and a month before, as he lay dying of cancer.

I remember looking at his mother who sat in the darkened room reading a book. She must have spent hours in that room, looking at and praying for her baby boy. No parent should ever have to endure that pain, and yet I know they do.

My heart goes out to those who were closest to Cory as he passed away last week including his beautiful wife and their adorable children. His family and friends celebrated Cory's life in two incredible services this weekend where they accentuated how purpose-filled his life was, and the lasting legacy he leaves behind.

“For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face.”

See you on the other side, friend.

What do you pray for?

Cara Davis — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:54:13 -0700

“It’s easy for us to pray for safety, comfort, health and wealth. But are we willing to pray for anything that will bring us closer to Christ? Even if it includes suffering?” –David Wenzel, cancer patient

Know someone facing cancer? Check out John Piper's "Don't Waste Your Cancer."

Why I Won’t Watch John & Kate Plus Eight

Cara Davis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:09:50 -0700

Shortly after my daughter Madilyn was born I heard about the wildly popular “John & Kate Plus Eight” Show. I loved watching and catching up on episodes as I played with my own baby and watched her grow. It seemed really cool to me that their twins Cara and Madelyn, were also close to our names (even Cara’s middle name is the same as mine: Nicole). I even thought about writing in to tell them about it. I got their Zondervan book for Christmas as a gift from my mom, and I shared it with my sister-in-law, who had watched the show. I liked their subtle Christian witness, and most of all, I just enjoyed watching those beautiful kids and seeing how their parents juggled the chaos.

Now, along with the rest of America, I’m aware of the controversy surrounding the show and its players. I’m saddened for what it’s become, and I’ve made a decision not to watch the show anymore. And it’s not because I’m too good, or that I think they’re bad. The fact is simply that the show is no longer what it once was. And it didn’t get that way overnight. I remember watching last season and feeling of uncomfortable. I should have been discerning enough to realize things were going downhill fast. My personality tends to avoid conflict, and as this family deals with their demons in front of all of America, I’m content with sticking to taped episodes of “Ace of Cakes” and cartoons on Noggin. I just don’t want to be part of the problem. Some of my friends are praying for this family, and I commend them for that.

But I am interested in reading some analysis of the show, as we can all learn from what’s happening there. As this ChristianityToday.com editorial by Christian ethics professor Julie Vermeer Elliott outlines, many Christians have much to learn about their blind acceptance of the couple and their hypocrisy-filled disdain now that their marriage is in shambles. Here’s an excerpt:

“It was not until the recent allegations of sexual impropriety arose that a significant number of Christians began to question whether Jon and Kate were indeed the examples of faithful living that we had imagined. Somehow most of us missed the long trajectory that was, day by day, moving them farther from a life of Christian virtue. Sexual immorality—whether actual or merely suspected—caught our attention, but the materialism, narcissism, and exploitation of children that preceded it was largely overlooked.”

The editorial starts at the beginning – with the couple going against nature to conceive – to the more recent estrangement of Jon and Kate’s family and friends (most notably Aunt Jodi and Beth) and outlines the family’s seemingly misplaced priorities. But most notably, this editorial deals with “the shortcomings of evangelical piety”: how many in Christian community make idols out of inspirations and rarely stop to ask the most important questions.

Proving God

Cara Davis — Sat, 16 May 2009 19:02:40 -0700

ChristianityToday.com writers Gregory Fung and Christopher Fung explore results from a prayer study released a couple of years ago and their implications as it deals with faith and prayer. The study, along with others like them, attempt to measure differing results from a group of heart patients who receive prayer and a control group which doesn’t.

The study found that the prayed-for group actually fared worse than the control group. The CT article, “What Do Prayer Studies Prove?,” draws some positive analysis from the study’s findings, including:

The study actually supports the Christian worldview, the writers say. “The real scandal of the study is not that the prayed-for group did worse, but that the not-prayed-for group received just as much, if not more, of God's blessings. In other words, God seems to have granted favor without regard to either the quantity or even the quality of the prayers.”
God appears inclined to heal and bless as many as possible and supernaturally intervenes and disrupts the nature of the universe to do it, whether they acknowledge it or not.
Our obsession with whether prayer works is the wrong question. “We know prayer works,” the writers say. “The real question is, are we prepared for God's answer?”
God is eager to answer our prayers, and it has little to do with how correctly we say them or how fine-tuned our orthodoxy is. “This ought to give us confidence to act, believe, and work alongside the good and generous King, who calls us to advance his kingdom, bring healing to the world, and pray.”

Read the article here.

7 Ways to Expand Your Perspective

Cara Davis — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:28:35 -0700

Part of pursuing a focused life of purpose may include an expansion of your perspective. Expanding your worldview may help you find your niche. Here are some ways to make your world a little larger.

Host a foreign exchange student. Not only will you help make someone’s dream come true, you and your family will learn just as much as your host student, as you learn to communicate with each other and learn about his/her country’s customs.

Eat local. Eat at a restaurant that offers locally grown food, or start to grow your own. The average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles, according to CleanOurAir.com. Eating locally not only has health benefits, but will also take you one step closer to understanding the affect our choices have on the world around us.

Visit a different church. It’s hard to grow in your own faith without discovering it for yourself. Part of that journey is to discover what others believe and how they practice it. Visiting another’s place of worship might shed light not only on what you believe, but how it feels to be a visitor. Are you aware of visitors to your own congregation? How are they treated?

Volunteer. Nothing puts your problems in perspective faster than helping another with his/her problems. Volunteering is on the rise since the recession, and with the mounting economic needs, opportunities abound to make a difference in the life of someone else.

Read the BBC. While it doesn’t have to be the BBC, reading a non-American source of news can help put our own news in context. Make sure the news you consume doesn’t only deal with what’s happening on our home turf, but the world around us.

Hang out with people who don’t look like you. Many of us find it more comfortable to talk with and hang out with people who are like us – and look like us. If you don’t have a regular opportunity to befriend or at least have conversations with others who are from different ethnic backgrounds than yours, put yourself in situations that will. Take a free class from the library or visit a lecture or community event.

Read a book or magazine you don’t think you’d be interested in. A mentor once recommended buying a subscription to a certain news magazine and reading it from cover to cover – even the articles that didn’t interest me. This allowed me to widen my perspective on the world and introduced and educated me on topics I normally would seek information about.

When your mind expands, your circle of influence grows – allowing you to better affect change around you. Go for it!