Go Brown . . . Wait What?

This is year we’re having a huge drought in America’s Southwest.  Everything is as brown as . . . well dirt, as far as the eye can see.  It’s been dubbed the worst drought we’ve had in years, and some are afraid it’s going to be ongoing.

But don’t worry the Green Movement has a solution:  Desert Landscaping!

Rather than fret about how every living thing for miles is dying for lack of water, let’s find some creative ways to beautify/green our lawns.  If we make them look like beautiful deserts, then we’ll feel better about all the water we’re saving by not watering our lawns, and as a plus, we won’t feel so bad about importing water to fill the pool outback.  It’s a win/win situation.

Seriously though, there’s not much we can do about a drought.  That’s God’s domain not ours, but I don’t think reveling in our Green creativity is going to help much.  The Bible says, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.  Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.” (James 5:16-18)

I invite you to earnestly pray for rain for the parts of our nation that our running low on water, and even more importantly to pray for those so desperately in need of the Living Water of Jesus Christ.

Perpetually Green

I just came across a website advertising a Do It Yourself Green Energy Generator.  That’s right you can build your own Energy Generator and live completely off the grid.  Here’s a blurb from the website about how it works:

Howard Johnson / Magniwork Generator uses a scientific process called “Perpetual Motion”. Perpetual motion is when a device continues to move without stopping. A perpetual motor generator will create MORE energy than it will use.

Oh my goodness!  Perpetual motion!  I better get started on this right away.  Let’s see what do I need here?

• Magnets, check!
• Coils, check.
• Iron rod, check. 
• Brains, don’t need them.
• Money, lot’s of it.

Wait! What?  Back up a step.  Why don’t I need my brains to make my Green perpetual energy machine? 

Mostly because Perpetual Motion is a pipe dream that violates both the first and second laws of thermodynamics: the energy in the universe is constant, and is only converted to other kinds of energy, so a machine needs energy input in order to output, and entropy is the state that everything is heading toward, the machine will always convert energy into less usable kinds of energy-heat through friction.

I didn’t buy the plans from the website because they’re publically available.  They were originally developed by Howard Johnson in 1979, and he even holds a patent on his perpetual motion machine, but no one has ever been able to use them to make a working model. 

Let’s face it, there’s only one perpetual self-sustaining power in the universe and His name is Yahweh.  He has existed forever and will exist forever.  He is the creator of all that is and will ever be.  He alone deserves our praise.   So once again I say, don’t go green, go light!

The Green Lane

Have you ever seen cars with just one person in them using the carpool lanes in big cities?  How infuriating!  Especially when you’re sitting in stand-still traffic with six people in the car and a cramp forming in your right calf muscle from alternating back and forth between the gas and the brake.  And then some suit, usually in a Porsche or Maserati, has the audacity to cruise by chatting on their Bluetooth completely oblivious that they’re breaking rush-hour protocol.

If it were even possible to catch his speedy little sports car with your minivan, you would happily follow him to whatever his destination is and kindly inform them that the carpool lane is for Green people who commute to work in groups to save the planet, not for uncaring business types who probably spray aerosol cans at baby seals for kicks and giggles.

But instead you just sit and fume.

Life is a lot like the carpool lane.  We were never intended to do it alone.  When God made Adam in the garden, He said, “it is not good for man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18)  We need others to make it through life, especially the Christian life. 

Too many times I’ve seen Christians isolate themselves from church and fellowship with their brothers and sisters in Christ because of disagreements or work schedules, but it’s a lot like taking the carpool lane all alone.  You might feel like you’re getting ahead and doing just fine, but sooner or later trouble is going to catch up with you.  We need other Christians in our lives to rejoice when we rejoice, to mourn when we mourn, and most importantly to offer correction when we walk into error. 

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. (Proverbs 27:6)