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Category: the natural world

stoney

stoney

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puppyThe latest addition to my life … not anticipated, but many of life’s greatest joys are unanticipated. He found us, or rather he was found for us by our daughter! He came home with us ten days ago, and life hasn’t been the same since! Earlier to bed, earlier to rise, always needing to be attentive to the needs of this new member of the family … and much, much love and affection in return.

It has been a long time since we have had a dog — seventeen years. The interim has been spent raising creatures of the human sort! But we are glad to have him with us now, to be able to share our lives with him, and to discover new things and new places and new experiences along with him.

The energy and exuberance and eagerness of a puppy is an unmistakable reminder of the goodness of this life. God is most generous, providing for our enjoyment, entrusting to our stewardship, a world of such wonder and beauty. Run and jump, breathe and smell, taste and see how good it is! Let’s go!

wackos?

wackos?

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Environmentalists are just a bunch of wackos …

  • They believe that every human being is entitled to breathe clean air and to drink clean water.
  • They believe that a healthy planet is essential to the welfare of all living things, including human beings.
  • They believe in leaving the world a better place for future generations.
  • They believe in the virtue of making small sacrifices now to preserve the bounty of the earth’s resources for later.
  • They want their children and their children’s children and their children’s children’s children to experience the same awe and wonder they experience in encountering the astounding variety and complexity and beauty of the natural world, of all that human beings have not made for themselves and barely understand.
  • They believe that the divine mandate to be good stewards of this earth means to take care of it, not to exploit it.
  • They believe that a horned owl or a piping plover or a topeka shiner or an eastern prairie fringed orchid have as much right to exist as they do, and that plants and animals and matter itself have value in and of themselves, not just in their usefulness to the human economy.
  • They believe in respecting life, in appreciating life, in enjoying life, in all its forms.
  • They love this earth and show that love by being zealously protective of its well-being.
New River Gorge

Just loony, isn’t it?

If it is crazy to harbor such beliefs … I pray that there may there be a worldwide epidemic of such insanity!

a road in the wilderness

a road in the wilderness

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Prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord!
Clear the way in the desert for our God!

The Lord comes from the wilderness. God comes to us out of the desert … not from the midst of our cities and towns. God is not domesticated, but wild! The Lord is not confined to or defined by our religious edifices and symbols.

We would do well to get ourselves into the desert, to follow a road into the wilderness, to meet the Lord there. It is not that God is not present in our cities, in our houses, in our schools, in our offices, in our theaters, in our churches. It is just that surrounded by everything that we have fashioned with our own hands, our imaginations may fail to recognize the God whom we did not make.

It is a good thing to make retreat from familiar and comfortable places, to clarify our vision, to clear our minds, to open our hearts to the God who comes to us!

save the arctic national wildlife refuge!

save the arctic national wildlife refuge!

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Read the article posted by Matthew Gilbert, a Gwich’in himself. (NRDC Action Fund Blog: Why is drilling the Arctic Refuge wrong?) Here’s an excerpt:

The fact that it’s even a question whether we should drill in a pristine place like the refuge, the breeding grounds of Polar Bears, Porcupine Caribou Herd, and many bird species, is an ethical travesty of our time …

The Arctic Refuge should not only be protected for its natural value, but also for its value to the Gwich’in. The Porcupine Caribou Herd calves in the Arctic Refuge and is very sensitive to humans. Establishing oil rigs, roads, drill pads, and other industrial additions will drive animals out, change their migration routes, and harm the land.

Gwich’in who hunt the Porcupine Caribou Herd will be affected in more ways than one. We implement products of the Porcupine Caribou Herd in every area of our lives; warm skin clothes, ivory-tools, arrowheads, and traditional dresses. Gwich’in are extremely efficient with every animal we kill; we use a dead animal in the utmost efficient way. So when we harvest even one caribou, it provides us with a host of things used to survive and flourish.

If the Gwich’in lose the refuge they lose their identity. Without the caribou the Gwich’in will have a harder time making ends meet or move into the cities. So it is not only environmental doom that industry would bring to the Gwich’in Nation but also social doom. The refuge needs to be protected! Please join the Gwich’in in our fight to protect a way of life older than all the monumental wonders of the world. Protect a critical relationship that the Gwich’in have maintained with the caribou for nearly 20,000 years.

For thirty years and more, the American people have said “No” to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. How many times do we have to say “No”?

This choice will be a test of our national character. Will we choose a one-time short term energy “fix” at the cost of an irreplaceable natural wonder and a whole way of life? Or will we take a longer and saner and humbler point of view, recognizing that the value of this land rests not merely in what it can produce, but in what it is?

We need to keep the oil companies out of the Refuge for the sake of the Gwich’in, for the sake of the caribou … and for our own sake. For the sake of our own spiritual well-being we need to set limits on our gluttony, our greed, our hubris, and leave some things alone!

i’m back

i’m back

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I’m back … after twenty-six days of vacation, 5300 miles on the road, passing through eighteen states and two provinces, time shared with many, many friends and dear family members, time in boats on Lake Superior, on Lake Huron, and on the Atlantic Ocean. It was glorious! I am filled up once more with deep wonder at the grandeur of what God has fashioned and the extraordinary blessing of being allowed to enjoy it.

And my question today is this: which is more “real” — home and work, or vacation?!

Of course, both are real. Human life is about being productive, about “making a living” and about “making a difference.” It is about providing and contributing and about doing something worthwhile with the heart and brain and limbs God has given you. We are in some sense measured by what we have done … for the sake of those who depend on us, for the sake of humanity, for the sake of the kingdom.

But I am convinced that much of what God intends for us is pure joy! … that we are given life and breath not merely to be productive, but to see and hear and taste and feel and smell some small part of all the wonders and delights and surprises to be found in the world God made and called good … that life is being as well as doing, being alive in the world and being alive to the world, breathing deeply of all that is around us and giving God thanks.

I have breathed deeply … and today I give God thanks!

as a mighty ocean

as a mighty ocean

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O the deep, deep love of Jesus
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free,
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me.

Standing on a boat thirty miles offshore, with no land in sight in any direction, the imagery of this favorite hymn comes to life.

vast, unmeasured …

All there is is ocean — underneath me, all around me. There is seemingly no end to these waters, as far as both eye and imagination can see. This is what Jesus’ love is like! Without limit and without end! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me …

boundless, free …

From this vantage point it is clear: the land does not put boundaries on the sea; the sea puts boundaries on the land. The sea is everything — foundation, source, sustainer — from which all else rises to life.

And the sea is itself a living thing, not made heavy or slow or inflexible by its great size. It is lithe and dancing and free! Always in motion, always changing, unpredictable, uncontrollable. You don’t tell Jesus what to do or where to go … but Jesus’ love is there, boundless and free, of its own choice, of his own will.

Today, from this happy vantage point, the wonder of the love of Jesus is impressed on me … It is like this! Like this ocean! Rolling in its fullness over me!

May the eyes of your heart, the eyes of your imagination, allow you too to fathom the breadth and depth of the love of Jesus for you …

on the water

on the water

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I am not quite amphibious … but I do love the water. I love being in the water and on the water, watching the water move, listening to the water. Many of my most memorable life experiences have been associated with bodies of water — Huron, Superior, Prentiss Bay, Dog Lake, Dead River, Kennebec River, Big Sandy River, Cascapedia River, St. John River, Beck’s Pond, Bear Creek.

Water is essential to life, certainly in a physical sense, but — at least for me — also in a spiritual sense. Water refreshes, revives, soothes, excites. Water engulfs, uplifts, expands the mind, settles the heart. When I am on the water, I feel most myself and most connected — to the natural world and to the One who made it.