Yooouuu... Bible Thumpin, Tree Huggin, Baptist!

(I took this picture while enjoying the beauty of God's creation up in the Swiss Alps in the summer of 2005.)

Russ suggested that I move a comment that I made on his previous post to the main page as a post of its own, so here it is.... enjoy!

An Associated Press story appeared in my local paper this morning (9/14/06). The story reported that an estimated 100,000 acres of private forest is destroyed in North Carolina each year. According to a Raleigh based environmental group, the annual loss is roughly the size of the city of Durham.

The story reports that North Carolina’s cities are in the middle of a “great crescent” that connects Atlanta to Washington DC making the area in between one great suburb. The growth of this great suburb is creating a great amount of urban sprawl. A debate is erupting in North Carolina between conservationists and county governments. Conservationists are urging local governments to lower the property tax rate for property owners who own large tracts of hardwoods and are committed to conservation of forests. If taxes are lower on large tracts of forests, property owners could afford to keep their property rather than selling it to a developer. Unfortunately, county managers aren’t willing to adjust their budgets to accommodate such lower tax rates (You know... that whole serving “mammon” thing that’s found in the uuhh... yeah! That’s right! The Bible!).

I bring this news story to the attention of the discerning reader because the main article mentions conservation. After all, I don’t think God had in mind the destruction of 100,000 acres of timber per year in an area the size of North Carolina when he commanded the human race to have dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28). With dominion comes stewardship and responsibility. Destroying timber at such enormous rates and covering the land with concrete and asphalt is neither good management nor responsible. Turning a forest into a shopping mall turns the “good” that God created (Genesis 1:31) into something that is extremely ugly. It all boils down to much of the human race serving mammon rather than God (Matthew 6:24).

Thus, I am an environmentalist of the highest order. In fact, I’m almost a radical environmentalist. However, my environmentalism is informed by the Bible alone because it is the Bible that reveals to us who the Creator is and how creation speaks to His glory. Without the Scriptures, my environmentalism would have no philosophical underpinning. Thus, as far as I’m concerned, you can’t be a philosophically consistent environmentalist without a Bible tucked under your arm.

BB

For The Beauty of a Crocodile

Early one morning last week (OK, early for me), I wiped the crust from my eyelids after a night of restless sleep, and turned on the TV before getting out of bed. I always do this to hear the top news and weather of the day. As I squinted to read the scrolling text at the bottom of the screen, I thought I caught something about Steve Irwin, AKA "The Crocodile Hunter", was dead. My reaction was somewhat unexpected. I jumped up, said aloud, "Crocodile Hunter died?" Then I went into the living room to watch the full details on a bigger screen in a brighter room (nearer to the coffee maker). There was (I am embarrassed to say) a deep sense of sadness in my heart as I listened to the story unfold.

Now, understand, I am not a frequent viewer of his show. I could not tell you the day nor the hour in which it airs. But occasionally, as I was channel surfing, I would come across this beloved Aussie as he was entwining himself in a python or something equally dangerous, saying, "What a beauty, mate!" I would chuckle at what his bravery, his enthusiasm, and the all-out passion he had for the animals in our world. Sometimes, I even said, "What an idiot!" But I just couldn't change the channel.

A couple of days after his death, I began to wonder, "Why is America and the world still going on about the death of a crocodile-hunter?" Several answers came to mind --

1. He is Australian, and for some reason, Americans love Australians. Enter Crocodile Dundee (who should have stopped before the first sequel), the Wiggles, the Crocodile Hunter, the Sydney Olympics, etc.

2. He was extremely entertaining. His combination of humor and bravery drew viewers by the millions.

3. He was happily married and a proud daddy. Many questioned Irwin's judgment when he was videotaped with his baby in his arms while feeding a crocodile, but I always thought it was kind of neat that he involved his family in his work.

4. He died doing what he loved. If Steve Irwin had died of cancer or a heart attack, we would have had a two-minute piece on the tail end of nightly news, and an all-day tribute on Animal Planet, and casting call for his replacement. But Steve Irwin died as only Steve Irwin could. A poisonous barb of a sting-ray punctured his heart. And whether or not any of us have ever desired to swim with stingrays or not, we have to admire a guy who does what he loves, even when its dangerous, and dies in the process.

Let me dwell on this for just a moment. The Lord Jesus Christ promised this to the church at Smyrna in Revelation 2:10 -- Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life (NIV). The three of us here at Sacred/Secular all had a professor in Bible College who told us that this until, unto, even to the point of death (depending on your English translation) does not necessarily mean that our faithfulness should endure until we die, but it may also include the idea that our faithfulness would be the cause of our death. Now, with that in mind, think about Croc-Hunter. Do what you love, embrace the danger, and be willing to die for it. I remember John Piper saying something like, "You don't have to know alot of things. Know one all-important thing, and be willing to die for it." Now, here's the point: Do I love Jesus Christ as much as Steve Irwin loved stingrays? That is a barbed question that I hope will puncture my heart every time I see a crocodile, a stingray, or anything else that reminds me of Irwin's commitment to animals and nature.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the beauty of the earth and all that is in it. I guess it is because every Friday for the last several weeks, I have been assuming my new responsibility as homeschool science teacher. We've been studying biology -- the science of life. And we are talking about animals using age-appropriate reference works that have big colorful pictures of all these amazing animals. Do you know how many colors of kangaroos there are? Did you ever realize how many different varieties of weasels there are? Do you know that God did not have to give us beauty. He did not have to give us color or variety in nature. He could have put us in a mundane monochrome world. There is much more variety in nature than necessary for the survival of species. So why did God grant such excessive variety? For the beauty of the earth. He created man and gave him a job -- to be stewards of a beautiful world full of wonderful plant and animal life. But it is a heartbreaking indicator of the depravity of man that we have by-and-large understood our God-given dominion only as permission to drain the world of its natural resources for the enhancement of our own standards of living. But every now and then someone comes along like an unlikely prophet to point us to the beauty of the world. They are intriguing. They take us places our luxury cars won't travel, far outside the life of the suburbs. They show us animals we can't keep on leash and plants we can't grow in a pot. And we learn from them. And we envy them. And we change the channel and return to the self-inflicted mundane monochromatic existence rather than enjoying the technicolor world God has given us.

But what if, just what if, we loved life as much as Irwin? What if we loved nature as much as Irwin? No, not loving nature INSTEAD of loving Jesus, but loving nature BECAUSE we love Jesus, and He has created us to have dominion over this beautiful world. And that is irony of Steve Irwin. There is no external indicator that he knew Christ. The article in Kairos Journal that I read today (which sparked this article in my imagination) indicated that, "he and his wife welcomed their children into the world with Buddhist ceremonies." Why is it that those who do not know the Creator have more regard for His creation than those who do know Him? And so the Kairos article concluded: "[Irwin's] life is one long rebuke to Christians who take little delight in their Father’s world. If a man could love the creation this much and not know the Creator—how much more should those who love God take delight in the work of His hands?"

Folliott Pieroint penned one of my favorite hymns in 1864. If the words were written today, they would be ill-appreciated by evangelicals. But because they are 142 years old, we tolerate them for tradition's sake (but rarely sing them). Shame on us. For Folliot Pierpoint understood the gratitude that we ought to daily bring to the Creator "For the Beauty of the Earth."

The refrain is familiar: "Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise." The verses enumerate the reasons for this praise:

1. For the beauty of the earth.
2. For the glory of the skies.
3. For the love which from our birth over and around us lies
4. For the beauty of each hour of the day
5. ... and of the night
6. ... hill
7. ... and vale
8. ... and tree
9. ... and flower
10. ... sun
11. ... moon
12. ... and stars of light
13. For the joy of ear
14. ... and eye
15. For the heart ...
    
16. ... and mind's delight
17. For the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight
18. For the joy of human love
19. ... brother
20. ... sister
21. ... parent
    
22. ... child
23. ... friends on earth
24. ... friends above
25. For all gentle thoughts
26. ... and mild
    
27. For each perfect gift of Thine to our race so freely given
28. ... graces human
29. ... and divine
30. ... flowers or earth
31. ... and buds of heaven.
    

Lord of all to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. And this prayer, that Thou wouldst stir up in us a song of praise to Thee when we behold the beauty of a crocodile. It is a beauty, mate! And may we sing it even tomorrow as we journey to the Zoo!

P.S. If you want to watch a good movie that will make you laugh and stir up in you a love of God's creation -- see Life Aquatic. Beware of strong language and brief nudity, but see it anyway. I have been wanting to post an article about it here, but I can't seem to find the words to describe how much I loved the film.

Not-So-Amusing Amusements

My sister invited me and my family to join her and her family for a day at Carowinds over the Labor Day weekend. For those of you not familiar with the term, Carowinds, it is a theme/amusement park that straddles the NC/SC state-line just south of Charlotte off Interstate 77. In fact, one rollercoaster called, Thunder-Road, allows passengers to crisscross the state-line during the ride.

I am very grateful for my sister’s hospitality as she paid our way into the park as a birthday gift to me, and I certainly would not want her to misinterpret what I write as being anything closely resembling ungratefulness. In fact, let me say up-front that I had a great time especially watching my three-year-old, Matthew, have the time of his life. Matthew is my little fearless fire-ball, and he was ready to ride anything that the park would allow him to ride. Unfortunately, being only three years of age, he couldn’t ride just anything which was a great disappointment to him. Honestly, he would’ve gotten on the fastest, scariest rides in the park had he been allowed to do so.

Now, with all that said, let me share with you the spiritual lesson that I learned from my five-year-old, Jonathan. As I’ve mentioned on this blogsite before, Jonathan had been diagnosed as being mildly autistic a few years ago. As a result, he has experienced some developmental delays, and his personality and characteristics are a little different than most children his age.

In the days leading up to our trip, Jonathan (5), Matthew (3), and to some degree my baby boy Stephen (1) were all excited about going to Carowinds (or as they called it: "the carnival"). Their enthusiasm even led to a measure of disciplinary problems as their excitement overshadowed their ability to behave. All Jonathan could talk about was riding the Merry-Go-Round. In fact, he told everybody who would listen that when he got to the “carnival” he was going to ride the Merry-Go-Round. For days, all that could be heard in my household was: “Merry-Go-Round, Merry-Go-Round, Merry-Go-Round” on and on and on and on......

Unfortunately, children who battle even mild forms of autism can become over-stimulated. When we arrived at Carowinds, the only parking spaces left were the ones located at the back entrance. When you enter the park from that side, you have to walk under a rather large, fast, and intimidating rollercoaster called Top-Gun. That experience along with extremely loud music being played through the loud-speakers on that end of the park was more than Jonathan could handle. As a result, he “freaked out.” By the time we made our way to the Merry-Go-Round (which was all that Jonathan had talked about in the days leading up to our trip), he was terrified of even the pleasant ride of a Merry-Go-Round, and I had to take him off the ride before the other passengers could proceed.

I really felt bad for Jonathan because he was genuinely excited about the prospect of riding a Merry-Go-Round only to have genuine excitement turn to genuine terror. So, what’s the moral of this story? Perhaps it’s the reality that the amusements of this world never really deliver what they promise.

May I never forget the lesson from my five-year-old... real contentment will not be found in the things of this world but will be found only in the presence of God.

BB