Those who know me, know that I am a bit of a weather nerd. I watch the weather online, read weather blogs, look at forecasting maps like the NAM & GFS, and get depressed when a snow storm misses our area. Honestly most of this is in the winter, trying to sniff out when we might have snow which I love so much. How did a guy who grew up in South Texas get such a love of and hunger for snow??
Well the winter here in PA has been a terrible year so far for snow which always brings the global warming debates to mind! And recently we at the Moore house have been increasing our “green” awareness and thinking about how we can reduce our carbon footprint more. This past summer we listened to a great sermon series with Matt Krick and Rob Bell from Mars Hill Bible Church called “God is Green”.
I am a bit ashamed to say that when I was younger my attitude was “it’s all going to burn anyway, so why worry about it!” But this goes contrary to everything that I love. I grew up spending a lot of time camping, hiking, and loving the outdoors. I realized that this is something that I treasure and want to pass along to my kids too and that if we don’t make a priority to care for the creation, they won’t be able to enjoy it as I have.
Additionally, listening to Rob Bell, he pointed out that this is a sanctity of life issue! How long will life be able to be sustained on this earth if we continue treating it with neglect. So I am seeking to be more Pro-Life, for the unborn and the born!
Of course WHAT to do is a much more complicated issue. We do things like recycle aluminum, plastic, etc. We are hoping to gradually get some better gas mileage vehicles (although I don’t know that we can afford the new flexfuel Suburban!). There is much debate going on about global warming or global atmospheric cycles and some seems to be just politics as usual. I was excited about the recent rise in ethanol production and use, flex fuel cars, and other carbon reducing measures. But changing one thing causes a ripple effect to other things in the world economy.
Check out the video below to hear an alternate perspective on what we should be doing about global warming. And then share what you do to lessen your carbon footprint.
Yesterday I had the privilege of teaching in the Junior High Sunday School class and it was great fun! I have always enjoyed this age group. Calvary’s Student Ministries had been going through a super series (meaning that all three age groups (Jr. High, Sr High and College/young adults) were studying the same thing as well as the small groups). And the series was a look at how to study your Bible titled “Hungry”. The idea was that as Christians we need to learn how to study the Bible on our own in order to be able to “eat” and fill our own hunger. This is not to say that we do not need the church!! It is just to say you need to be involved in the filling of Scripture in your lives and not just relying on others to teach you. We used material from Howard Hendricks’ book How To Study Your Bible as inspiration and direction. Our approach was to motivate students to observe, interpret and apply the Bible to their lives.
Applying the truths of the Bible is the milk and cookies in life! Just think about it for a minute. If I got out a recipe, measuring cups, flour, butter… and had it all out on the counter and then just stared at it I would not be enjoying the cookies! The same is true with Bible study – if I observe the passage and dig into all these tools to understand it better but I never apply it to my life I am missing out on the oooie gooie goodness! There is not much yummier to eat than warm cookies right out of the oven. And you dip them in some milk and it is a little bit of heaven right there in your kitchen. When you read the Word, contemplate it and then allow it to change your life in thought and action – well that is just a little bit of heaven right here on earth.
