Planet Earth

Jac, our resident 'Planet Earth' photographer, captured this breathtaking scene of Mt. Hood on his recent flight to Brazil. Unfortunately, it was dark (both ways) flying over the Amazon Rainforest.

"I lift my eyes up to the mountains--where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1,2

Happy Earth Day, 2007!

Did you know that if the earth's land were divided up equally among all of its inhabitants, we would each own 4 acres? What are you doing to preserve your part of the planet; to leave behind a place that is healthy and of some value to the next generation?

Never really thought I'd be saying that...as a conservative Christian, I guess I just usually, and probably without really thinking, distance myself from secular, humanistic agendas, and I am turned off by those who seem to 'worship' nature instead of Creator. Besides, our treasure is supposed to be in heaven, right? However, going along with our last series of teaching at church, I have been putting more thought into secular and global issues because it is exactly that closed-mindedness, of Christians like myself, which turns off so many who need to know our Savior.

Have you seen the "ground-breaking 11-part series, Planet Earth, that was 5 years in the making, 2,000 days of filming, 204 locations..."? We have been watching it on Discovery for the past few weeks. It really is amazing and has affected me...I have been seeing the world around me differently because of these amazing photographers. They captured such dramatic, mostly never-before-seen (or filmed) nature events. I couldn't believe how many things from nature I had never seen or even heard of before!...Jim heard that this project had no limitations of the budget, but only the assignment to succeed in making the best documentary on the Planet!

On another documentary I saw this weedend, "Green, the new Red, White, and Blue", there were other interesting facts--mostly ones that made you really stop and evaluate how you can save energy and reduce waste. Now, this has always been something I felt was important. I have always done the an environmental unit in the classrooms I've taught, which included a fun recycling project. The object of this project was simply to make something useful out of what we would normally throw away. The kids loved this project and it got them thinking creatively about new uses for things.

The idea to take away here is that this world exceeds anything man could ever fully understand, and every awesome aspect of nature speaks to the amazing God who made it all. The Bible even speaks of how all of nature praises Him (Psalm 148). And, yes, this God put man here to "fill the earth and subdue" it (Genesis 1:28), but He also wants us to take care of it out of respect for Him who made it.

"You made him ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet." Psalm 8:6