Ok, so Betsy and I have stopped shopping at WalMart, I'm reading books like "Deep Economy" by Bill McKibben and "Culture Jam" by Kalle Lasn. We are really excited about the Farmer's Market starting back up, and have high expectations about growing our own veggies some day in the near future. We want to be real people who love what pleases the heart of God. We want to always have a little dirt under our nails and the stain of a freshly killed chicken on blue jeans...to know where our food comes from. Ok, so Betsy doesn't like the whole killing our own chickens thing. I want our kids to be brilliant, creative, cultured, but also dirty. I want them to be familiar with seasonal changes and what foods grow during each. I want to shut off our TV and never turn it on again...but I really want to want to do it.

I am learning that God made nature. He spent 5 days working on it. He put a lot of care into it. Then He told us to care for it. To "have dominion over it."
Now I know all this, I have known it from my youth. God is our Creator. He made the heavens and the earth. But somehow in Christian Culture I have come to believe that Nature is disconnected from my day to day life. I have come to believe that it is ok for me to go into a grocery store and purchase a banana in January ( I live in Virginia). Now you will surely say "what is wrong with that?" If you and I trace that banana back to its origin we will find that it was grown using chemical substitutes for the natural nutrients it needs, it was sprayed with pesticides (which later end up in our drinking water...increasing the possibility of cancer and other diseases), then it was shipped long distances by vehicles that get horrible gas mileage.

Ok, maybe I sound like a bristle-faced, hemp necklace, pot-smoking hippie to you at this moment, but it seems to me that something is wrong with the banana. What about gas mileage any way? Who cares? I mean if the Ozone layer depletes that just means Jesus comes back sooner, right? "Don't give me all this environmental bull-crap...we as believers have more important things to worry about, like Evangelism, etc."

I agree, Evangelism is much more important than Environmentalism. I believe that people have souls that will last for eternity. I don't think the same for trees. But its not that easy. That tree provides something very important to my life...its called oxygen. If I keep cutting them down so I can have extra paper to fulfill my sticky note needs, then someone has to stop breathing. What about the perfect Snow White looking apple we find in the grocery store? How do we get apples that don't have worm holes? We put pesticides on them.

Taking care of the environment should never be our biggest agenda. Recycling should be something we do along the way...like putting shoes on in the morning, or doing our hair, or clipping toenails. If we made the environment a huge priority through our whole lives it would never be a big deal...it would be taken care of.

I don't know how to change all of this yet, but I am learning. I have been a bad example of the heart of God on this matter, but I'm changing. Christians, stand up. Do not be the product of what is easy. Remember that God puts a huge emphasis on the environment. Let this not be a political battle to be won by the most clever politician. Make your life a sustainable one.