RBWords - Volume 23 - Number 4: April 2010
Something to Think About
As I write this, millions of people are watching the news about the oil slick approaching the gulf coast regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The possible consequences of the disastrous explosion that destroyed a highly sophisticated drilling platform are enormous. The loss of human life in the explosion is terrifying enough to the families and friends of those who died, but the environmental consequences to the already threatened wetlands and wildlife of the Louisiana gulf coast and the economic consequences to those who make their living in the seafood and tourist industries along the gulf coast are beyond calculation at the moment! Those are just the most prominent possible effects. Consider that the clean-up from the Exxon Valez disaster on the Alaska coast in 1989 is still going on! One ship or drilling platform can do a lot of lasting damage.
The problem, of course, is our dependence on oil! Will this latest disaster be a big enough wake-up call to inspire our nation and states to become more interested in saving lives and the planet than in filling automobile and truck gas tanks? Will British Petroleum (the company using the platform)and other oil companies willingly refrain from drilling for more oil? I don’t think that is likely! Furthermore I am aware just how dependent the cities and towns of South Louisiana are on the oil and gas industry. Drilling for natural gas is now a huge new thing in North Louisiana near my hometown!
One of the Psalms begins: “The Lord’s is the earth and all its fullness…” [Psalm 24:1]. But we are fast gobbling it up! Our appetite for oil is matched by our appetite for other resources. Our appetites spawn vast industries which pay us to create more things to gobble up! I fear the next great flood will not be one the Lord creates but will come from our own irrational destruction of the planet! Is there an ark strong enough to protect us from our own foolishness? IT’S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!
It Has Been Said
My faith in God, who is eternally loving and constant even as my understanding grows and changes, makes life not only worth living, but gives me the courage to dare to disturb the universe when that is what [God] calls me to do. Sometimes simply being open, refusing to settle for finite answers, disturbs the universe. Questions are disturbing, especially those which may threaten our traditions, our institutions, our security. But questions never threaten the living God, who is constantly calling us, and who affirms for us that live is stronger than hate, blessing stronger than cursing.
From: A STONE FOR A PILLOW: JOURNEYS WITH JACOB by Madeleine L’Engle