Preserving Eden

Its that time of year again! You know the one. When special music, decorations, and good food make you smile. When good deeds are done, and cheer is in the air. Christmas, the season of giving. This is a favorite time of year for most people. Many enjoy giving and especially getting presents. Gift giving makes it easy to buy too much and then a little more. There are plenty of sales in the stores and online. A good deal is hard to pass up. But it is time to check our habits. Some facts 1 : Americans trash 25% more waste during the holiday season (Thanksgiving to New Year) than any other time of year totaling 25 million tons of garbage. The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If each family in America wrapped just 3 presents in re-used material it would safe enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. Those are some baffling numbers. It is easy to get carried away in the decorating, gift giving, and card sending. Bu...

Water is the essence of life. Imagery of water as a representation of our spiritual longing is all throughout scripture. Water is one of the most basic human necessities both physically and spiritually (John 4:14). It is necessary for nearly every aspect of life. Look around you right now. Water was used in the making of everything you see. Wood and cotton need water to grow. Water is used in the production of all plastic goods. The human body is 60% water. Water is the source of life, water is life. Yet we often treat it with disregard. Some places in the world seem to have an abundance of water and it’s easy to excuse wasting it. Only 2.5% of all the water on earth is fresh, the rest is saltwater. Of that 2.5% only 1% is easily accessible. And, most of that 1% is trapped too deep in the ground or permanently frozen. Only 0.007% of the water on earth is readily useable. Sadly, as pollution continues to contaminate our freshwater sources, filtering it becomes more expensive. As more pe...