My beautiful sister sent me a package the other day and in it was an article about evangelical environmentalists. Seems like such an oxymoron doesn't it? It seems that evangelicals and environmentalists are on different sides of a long spectrum. Oddly enough, though, I would venture to say that evangelicals should be the strongest environmentalists.

Through my life I have learned ways of caring for the environment. God has blessed me with a sister who cares so much for the creation she lives in. She is very much aware of how her actions affect the environment whether good or bad, and I have had the privalege to learn about how to care for the environment in very practical ways because of her. In elementary school I learned the slogal, "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." (I wonder though, what has the Church taught me about how to care for the environment?) I have been learning that as a good steward of what God has given me this little slogal has a hierarchy. Reduce your consumption....then Reuse what you've used....lastly Recycle all that you can. God has given us the power to rule and have authority over His creation when He placed man (humankind) in the garden, so where does that responsibility come into play?

In the article I mentioned receiving, a hard-out evangelical man named Rich Cizik, says that, "By 2015 a majority of Evangelical Christians will understand creation care - care for the environment - to be a natural part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ." I don't know how reliable his prediction is in regards to the year, but I must admit when we as Christians finally step up and take responsibility for the authority God has given us over the land it will be a great day. Sadly enough though, Christians (in America and other first-world countries from what I have seen) have forgotton our God-given responsibility to care for His creation. With that lapse in memory, instead of showing the great love of God for ALL His creations, we show the non-believing world how much value we place on the work of God's hand...doesn't seem to be a lot of value there. I do not find it hard to believe that when people who do actually care for the environment (in word and deed) tell me they can't understand Christians who worship the God of creation but treat creation so badly.

I do not mean for this to be a pessimistic entry; rather, I wish to encourage all of you to take a step back and look at how much value you place on the works of God's hand. Each day we need to ask the Lord to show each of us areas where we can show the love of God to the world. Some days He may ask you to show the love of Christ to your neighbor by spending time getting to know them; another day He may ask you to go and pick up the trash on the side of the road. Just be open to loving all God's creations.