work commute and home cooked meals

"And God saw everything thing he had made, and behold, it was very good." Genesis 1:31

So Kristin inspired me to share with others what I've been learning and challenged with in my pursuit of what it means to be a follower of Christ and a steward of our world.

I have been so convicted recently about this, a lot of it comes from my job being very environmentally conscious and realizing that I have never heard the church preach on being a steward of our environment. So I thought I would begin sharing what I learn and my quest in this matter.

There is also a bit of a motivation to begin to overturn the sterotype that Christians have no concern with the environment (although God created our world to be 'good' and we have not been the best to seek to maintain it's goodness). Let's challenge the world's sterotype. Let's change the sterotype. In Austin, I think that this would impact so many people to see a church begin to take steps to take responsibilty of what God has given us. To move beyond the selfishness of serving ourselves and begin to serve the environment and our future. Let's be relevant to our culture and make changes that will benefit generations far beyond our own. I like this quote: "The earth was designed to sustain every generation’s needs, not to be plundered in an attempt to meet one generation’s wants." It inspires me to change.

So today, Jason and I carpooled to work. Now, this is not something revolutionary. Not by any means. But not driving for 2 days that you were planning to drive reduces 1590 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. OK. So that puts it into a bit of perspective. How easy is it for Jason to drop me off on his way to work and pick me up on his way back. It saves us money on gas, lets us spend more times together in the morning, talking and praying. To me, that's an all around good deal. Why haven't we done this before? Granted, it won't work everyday, but maybe 3-4 days a week we can ride together, reduce our carbon footprint (check this out: http://www.myfootprint.org/, it's humbling; it said if everyone lived like me, we would need 4 earths, oh God, please change me) and begin to live a life that is concerned with our environment. Imagine how much could be reduced if more people began to do this. Not only environmentally benefited, but taking cars off the road, and we all know that Austin's traffic sucks. Let's make the traffic better by carpooling!

Another thing I have been challenged by yesterday: if we were to eat one home grown meal a week, we could save 800 millions barrels of oil (on average our food travels 1200 miles from pasture to plate). Austin Farmer's Market anyone? We have lost touch with the real cost of things. Did you know your food caused that much environmental damage? What about that tomato in February? Where did that come from, and at who's expense do we eat at tomato at? What else are we unaware of because we are out of touch?

Let's give God glory and pleasure by taking care of His creation. I think that we can do this, and I think it starts with little steps and awareness. I desperately want to do this for Him.

"Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for though hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Relevation 4:11