Introducing the Solar Tree

Because real trees just are not effecient enough...

I just read an article on solar trees - see the link below. The idea is that these "trees" will use solar panels to charge batteries that will power street lights, thereby reducing power use in the city and reducing the overall carbon footprint. It does seem to beg the question, what about the real trees and their negative carbon footprint? Are we replacing CO2 processing trees with plastic trees to reduce rather then eliminate green house gasses? A single tree is a pretty efficient carbon dioxide processing plant. Maybe some combination of real trees and street lamps would be ok. I guess something just rubs me the wrong way about calling these "trees".

Check it out for yourself by reading Introducing the Solar Tree

Heart of desperation

I used to lump the people talking to the faith healers in with the rest of the world's crazies. I have learned better.

God loves a heart pure and open to Him and His power. A person at the end of their options turning to God, albeit through a faith healer, may be a person who truly believes and really sees God for who He is, not who we have made Him. I have been guilty of the thing I caution against, putting God in a box. Who is to say that He won't choose to reward the person, who by faith, trusts Him for a miracle. How many times in His ministry did He do just that?

While we do not need a "faith healer" to intervene, believing in the miraculous power of God and throwing oneself on His mercy is an expression of worship, not craziness.

Stand in Awe of God

Ecclesiastes 5
5 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. 2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. 3 As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words. 4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ec 5:1-7). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Have we lost the idea that we should be in awe of God? Reading this passage, I am thinking about what we are doing with Christianity today. I have written previously about the dangers of legalism and my personal struggles with what we / I have made Christianity, but there is a danger in making God our buddy. He is God. To loose the awsomeness of that idea is to miss a big part of who and what He is. It becomes easy to forget His majesty and His power when we stop seeing God as The one true God of the Universe, both a personal savior and a majestic being, worthy of all honor, praise and glory.

It can be a tough balance to keep this perspective sometimes. We are able to have communion with God, He destroyed the barrier between us and He gave us grace, but it did not diminish who and what He is. We are told to take seriously what we say to Him. How many of us sing our sunday morning worship songs by rote? How many of us really consider the promises we are echoing to God? I know that I do not always live true to this passage.

A time for everything

I have been giving some thought for the last several weeks to Ecclesiastes 3. The idea that there is a time for everything gives me comfort in a way I am having trouble articulating. Knowing that life is but a vapor, a transient thing to be savored and lived with purpose is a powerful idea, and binding that idea to this passage somehow gives me peace. The peace comes in the knowledge that life is not a collection of randomness, but that everything comes in it's time. Grief is not forever and we cannot expect only time to dance.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)
A Time for Everything
3 There is a time for everything,and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal,a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

I continue to meditate on this passage - what is it time for now? How can I use this idea to comfort myself and others with the certainty of purpose?