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.
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!
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)
As I was looking for a topic for today’s post, I was plowing through the rich and vibrant Green fields on the Internet. Awash in all the crazy commercialism and doomsday rhetoric of the movement, I realized something profound. These Internet hippies are all a bunch of hypocrites.
They sit around blogging about conservation, meanwhile using tons of electricity to power their computers and Internet connections. In fact the Green machine is probably the most tech savvy group out there. So not only are they using lots of energy to harp about too much waste, most of them are using the latest and greatest tech to do it.
What happened to last year’s models they used to have? If they are as conscience as they say, they probably took it to a recycling hub, which then promptly shipped it overseas. “The Government Accountability Office, in a 2008 report, declared that U.S. electronic waste was often disposed of unsafely in such countries as China and India. There, workers reclaim gold, silver and copper from the waste, often in open-air acid baths that leave a toxic sludge.” (USAToday)
That’s right; recycling is killing people. Don’t we all feel better about ourselves?
Note: If you’re going to recycle old electronics, make sure to find a hub certified by the Basel Action Network, which is working to make recycling safer.
Christians often bare the brunt of that word: hypocrite, which is funny because it was Christ who coined the term in its current usage. It used to mean “actor” back in Jesus’ days, and he was basically telling the religious leaders that they were just pretending to be holy, but when the show was over, they were really terrible people.
There are a lot of folks out there claiming to be Christians, but they’re just pretending. How do you know who is telling the truth about following Christ? Matthew 7:16-20 tells us: "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
What is the fruit? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:22-26)
Don’t be a hypocritical hippie; be a recycled follower; bear good fruit and reproduce other followers for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the world of green tech, the smart money’s on improving solar power. What other natural resource can you think of with the sun’s kind of untapped energy? There are all kinds of solar powered gadgets making the rounds these days: phone chargers, holiday lights, yard lights, fans, watches, freezers, generators, and even kids toys.
One of my favorite solar powered items is the wind turbine. It’s a wind turbine that’s powered not by the wind, but by the sun. Really? What’s next? A hydroelectric generator powered by geothermal energy?
Seriously though, I like the idea of solar-powered gadgets as much as the next guy, especially when it comes to lowering my electricity bills.
There’s just one problem with relying on the sun. As that great old hymn Amazing Grace reminds us, “The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine,” and the eternal city will have no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God will illumine it, and its lamp will be the Lamb. (Revelation 21:23)
So, buy your solar-powered gizmos if you like, but make your real investment in the infinite power source, Jesus Christ.
Apparently the average shoe takes 1,000 years to biodegrade in a landfill. Imagine the horrible consequences that will have on future generations. Picture the massive piles of shoes people in the future will be wading through. They’ll be in shoes up to their noses. And I don’t know when the last time you held an old shoe up to your nose was, but I for one am not envisioning, or dare I say smelling, good times in this dystopian shoe-filled future.
Rest easy though, there’s at least one company trying to save us from this nasty Nike filled post-apocalyptic fate, and I’m not talking about Dr. Scholl’s.
Oat Shoes is a shoe company based in the Netherlands and Belgium, and they have come up with biodegradable shoes with flower seeds in them. That’s right when your pair of shoes die, you can give them a little shoe funeral, bury them in your backyard, and a few day later they’ll sprout flowers. I think the future’s odor problem is taken care of on this one. Whew!
In a lot of ways, Oat shoes remind me of Paul quoting Isaiah, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:15), and Jesus comparing the good news to seeds that are spread out upon various kinds of soil. (Luke 8:5-15) Just like those non-degradable shoes, if there is no seed in us, we’ll just hang around stinkin’ up the place, but if we are biodegradable with seed in us, we need to die to ourselves and be buried in Christ in order to bring forth fruit.
So don’t bother trying to make your feet beautiful by buying some super expensive, biodegradable flower shoes to bury in the backyard, make your feet beautiful by dying to self and taking the good news out into the world for the sake of Jesus Christ.
I studied in Mexico for a semester as an undergraduate, and one of the rules that was drilled into us by our professors was “if a policeman asks you for $50, you better give it to them. Mexican jails are horrible.” Another equally important rule was “Don’t Drink the Water”. We couldn’t even eat uncooked vegetables in case they had been washed in the water. What were the consequences for drinking the water?
Montezuma’s Revenge!
If you don’t know what Montezuma’s Revenge is, there are really only two ways to figure it out: you could go get a drink of water in Mexico or any other third world country for that matter. You’ll want to get a padded seat for your toilet for this experiment; trust me on this one. Alternatively, you could look up the term online. Though in Christian terminology you’re only going to get “head knowledge” of what Montezuma’s Revenge is; without actually drinking the water, you’re never going to get “heart knowledge” of what it is.
I for one have heart knowledge of Montezuma’s Revenge (I got it from the Taco Bell at the Dallas Airport, not from drinking the water in Mexico), and I know how debilitating it was for just that short time even with all the remedies here in the U.S. Many people around the world have no alternatives other than to drink polluted water, and their lives are shortened accordingly.
All that said, potable water is one of the most important things a human being needs in this life to survive. And this is one of the few areas that I could be passionate about in the Green Movement.
But there is water that is more important than potable water. It’s called Living Water. Everyone who drinks of potable water will thirst again; but whoever drinks living water shall never thirst; but the water will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14).
Living Water comes from the greatest purifier the world has ever known, and His name is Jesus Christ. It’s a free gift for anyone who repents and follows Him.
I live in south Texas: the natural habitat of the oilrig and the giant SUV. Everyone here drives a truck bigger than they, their extended family, and their neighborhood need. Global warming is just teaching everyone else in the world what our weather is like all the time.
And yet, even in this great conservatist sanctuary of a state, I have been asked on several occasions if I recycle.
No, I don’t. Nor do I pay extra to get stuff made out of recycled goods. I paid for it once, and I’m not very well going to pay to give it back, so I can pay to buy it again now am I? Rather than recycling, we try to buy reusable items, like a water filter with glass water bottles, so we don’t have to buy lots of plastic bottles. It saves the environment and money. Win, Win!
But on this note, what does God think about recycling? Well, I think the Bible shows that He’s pretty into it. So much so, He sent His Son to die on the cross to get His recycling program started.
You see, as broken sinners we have a negative impact on the Earth. Nothing we do is good for our planet or the people who live in it. But just like the plastic company view on that empty Coke bottle sitting in your recycling bin, God doesn’t see us as garbage to be tossed out. He sees a greater value in us. By Jesus’ blood shed on Calvary, He takes our broken lives and recycles them into shiny, new creations that will last forever. All we have to do is submit to the Recycler’s hand and follow His directions.
I have a confession to make. I flush the toilet every time I use it. Yep that’s right, every single time. To be sure there are moments when I think about saving the planet and letting my yellow mellow until the next go round, but then my sanity returns, and I jettison that nasty stuff right out.
I don’t recycle. I don’t have a mulch bin. My car runs on straight up gasoline. I drive everywhere I go, even to the gym, so I can walk on an electric treadmill. I run my air-conditioning until it snows indoors. I get all my bills delivered as paper copies. I think organic, pesticide-free food tastes funny. I love me some animal flesh. And I wear a size-fifteen shoe that leaves one big, ole carbon footprint.
I did donate $10 to Wind Powering America once, so don’t judge me.
Honestly though, I have a hard time getting behind the green movement. As a Christian, I definitely believe that God created us to tend and care for the planet, but He also created us to tend and care for one another: an issue that takes priority over the planet. Jesus didn’t come to Earth to save the planet; He came to save the people on it. In fact, God’s big plan for the planet according to 2 Peter 3 is to incinerate it and start over.
The point of this site is really two-fold: to poke fun at the green movement but more importantly to invite the reader to join the movement of light and follow Christ. Put others above yourself. Spend your time, money, and energy affecting people’s eternity instead of worrying about this temporal planet.
Forget Going Green! Go Light!
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14
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.
