I just need to vent

Lately, I have been thinking quite a bit about the environment and this world. With the oil still gushing into the Gulf, this has been on my mind. I am 3,000 miles from this tragedy that is unfolding in the area I call home and it is crushing my heart. I feel so helpless as I watch birds wallow in the tar, dolphins wash up dead on the shore, and fishermen out of work. I morn when I see the beautiful Gulf coast blackened by our human greed and materialism. I begin to feel guilty every time I crank up my moto, knowing that the gasoline I put in it began as oil drilled somewhere.

I think of the creation story. After God created the heavens and everything on the Earth, He looked at it and saw it was good (see Genesis 1:31.) Then, in the second part of the creation story, the part about Adam and Eve, God put man in charge of the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:15 says, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (NIV) Before the fall, the job of taking care of the Garden was given to man! After the fall, Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden and sent into the world. God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.” (Genesis 3:17b-18, NIV) It is because of sin that the Earth is not in the perfect state that it was created. Sin entered the world and the Earth has to suffer the consequences, as well. Now, I’m not trying to be like the televangelists, stating that this disaster is because of the things that go on along the coast and in New Orleans. That area of the country is no less sinful than the rest of the world. If that were true, then what about New York or Los Angeles? What about London or Paris? Sin is sin and God does not state that any sin is worse than another. What I am saying is that the Earth is not what it was originally created to be because sin entered the world.

God originally put Adam and Eve in charge of taking care of the Garden. I believe that command stands true for us today. Psalm 104 talks about the glory of creation. The Psalmist is praising God for His beautiful creation. He states in verse 24, “How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” (NIV) Taking care of this Earth is a form of worship before God. Yes, I fully believe that God created things in this world for us to use. He created meat for us to eat, fuels for us to power our lives, and materials for us to build our homes. But we should not exhaust the supply that God has entrusted us with. Neither should we be careless in our use of these gifts. I truly believe that this oil spill is a portrayal of human carelessness and greed. Proper safety regulations were not followed. Also, the clean-up plans for BP made a provision for walruses! (http://docs.house.gov/energycommerce/Docs_06152010/BP.Oil.Spill.Response.Plan.pdf - page 249) That makes me wonder how much research and care went into these plans. (Check out this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/15/AR2010061505288.html ). Now, eleven men are dead, hundreds of animals have lost their lives, and thousands more are in danger.

As Christians, we should be praying daily for this. We need to pray for the clean-up effort. We need to be educated on what is going on and pray that things will change. This is not a time for pointing fingers or name-calling. This is a time to be concerned about stricter safety regulations on these oil rigs. We need to be concerned about where we drill. We need to make sure that we have the proper technology before drilling that deep again. We need to invest in cleaner forms of energy. We need to make sure that this never happens again. I firmly believe that 20 years from now, we will still be dealing with the repercussions of this disaster.