Winter 2005
Download Winter 2005 issue (PDF, 785 KB)Table of Contents
From the Publisher's DeskA plea for Tropical Forests by Ghillean T. Prance
The faith of a American forester by Jim Furnish
Living on the edge in Kavanac by Scott Sabin
A call to evangelicals to join the debate by Larry Schweiger
The call of wilderness by William H. Meadows
To the woods by Gary K. Fawver
Experiencing Christ by Don Wallace & Angela Kantola
From the Publisher's Desk
Dear Friends,
The first issue of our magazine in fall of 1994 was focused on forests and wild places. So a little over 10 years later we thought it was time for another one which you will discover to be an embarrassment of riches. Inside you will find articles from a Christian perspective by: the Presidents of two of the major conser vation organizations in the U. S.; a world-renowned botanist and rain forest expert; the former No. 2 at the U.S. Forest Service; and the head of the only Christian organization focused exclusively on deforestation and the poor. As an added bonus, there are two excellent devotional reflections.
As Scott Sabin helps us understand, deforestation helps create and maintain poverty, and conversely that "forests are key to three of the most pressing problems of the poor: food, water and health."
Sir Ghillean Prance, world-famous botanist, reports that "many people are actively trying to do something about the environmental crisis facing today's world, yet, as I travel, I observe that things are getting no better, especially in tropical forests." For Sir Ghillean, "This is a moral and an ethical battle and that is why the involvement of Christians is so important. For as Christians we are not just talking about the destruction of the environment, but rather of God's creation."
In reflecting on his years at the Forest Service, Jim Furnish concludes with a note of hope: "Far from being extreme, I believe wedding Christianity with environmentalism is biblical and just plain right. I spent a career learning that this is possible." Bill Meadows, President of The Wilderness Society, reminds us that in September 2004 we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act. He shares that "My Christian faith has been inseparably linked with my calling to work to protect our environment, and most recently in my work to protect the wildest, most unspoiled places on the planet." He points out that the principle author of the Wilderness Act, Howard Zahniser, was an evangelical Christian committed to stewardship.
What I find truly inspirational is how the Lord is working in the lives of our authors. They are wonderful examples of fellow Christians working to protect God's creation.
But let me close with something even more inspirational. I've been reading the Psalms lately during my devotion time. The Psalm I've sort of gotten stuck on lately is Ps. 145. You could spend the rest of your life reflecting upon this Psalm, it is so beautiful and deep. Here are a few verses to whet your appetite: "The LORD is good to all; He has compassion on all he has made. All you have made will praise you, O LORD …You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing …Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever (vv. 9-10; 16; 21; NIV). Did you catch that last part? "…for ever and ever." Isn't that incredible? Now let me make a suggestion: think about this when you read the articles inside.
Your brother in Christ, Jim Ball
A plea for Tropical Forests
Ghillean T. Prance Around the world the rhetoric continues about the conservation of tropical forests, apparently good legislation is being passed both nationally in many countries and internationally. We have the Convention on Biological Diversity and many people are actively trying to do something about the environmental crisis facing today's world, yet, as I travel, I observe that things are getting no better, especially in tropical forests.Despair
Last year I made a flight from Belém at the mouth of the Amazon River to Brasília in the centre of the country. I was horrified by the change since the last time I made that journey a few years ago. Almost all of the savannas of the central Brazilian plateau have been destroyed and converted into soybean fields. Such is the demand for soya from China, the USA and Japan that the Brazilian savannas and the southern part of the Amazon rainforest are being devastated. Deforestation of rainforest in Brazil last year (2003) was the second highest ever recorded mainly because the soybean fields are slowly creeping into what was Amazonian rainforest. Things are not improving despite all the efforts of Brazilian conservationists and of an active Minster of the Environment. All I could think of was the number of species of plants and animals that are becoming extinct or are now under serious threat of extinction.
In March of last year I visited the territory of the Achuar Indians in Amazonian Ecuador. My Achuar guide and a shaman that I visited pleaded with me to help them retain the integrity of their territory because it is under threat for the exploration of oil. The Achuar land appears on a map of the already allocated oil concessions. The Achuar are fully aware how much the land of other Ecuadorian tribes such as the Waorani has been destroyed by the oil companies and how these people have lost their right to maintain their traditional way of life in the rainforest. All Achuar villages have decided that they want to continue with their traditional life. They are gradually taking over the running of the tourist lodge where I stayed which is much less harmful to their life than would be an oil field.
Something also seems wrong with the weather worldwide. Everywhere I travel the locals complain about the unusual weather. This year alone I have personally encountered freak storms and floods in Brazil, Japan and more recently at home in southern England. This is exactly what climate change models predict and so it confirms that indeed we are seriously altering world climate both through the fossil fuels we burn and the trees we fell in the rainforest and elsewhere. There is something seriously wrong and humanity is not willing to take the drastic steps needed to reverse the situation. I have to conclude that creation is indeed groaning (Rom. 8:22).
Hope
I am not really a prophet of doom, and in my travels I also come across many positive things that demonstrate the efforts that are being made to protect the environment. In Brazil in late July I attended the conference of their botanic gardens network where representatives of the 24 botanic gardens of Brazil were present. The overriding theme of the conference was how to conserve the flora and how to run education programmes that get the conservation and environmental protection message over to the general public. There is no doubt that the central mission of the Brazilian botanical gardens is now environmental protection. Present at the conference were two former ministers of the environment who obviously took their responsibilities seriously. I am also heartened to see how many people are flocking into the Eden Project in Cornwall this summer because here is a project that seeks to demonstrate the importance of plants to people and to promote sustainable use of natural resources. I just hope that its visitors listen to the message of Eden.
I am writing this article while on a field trip to the Province of Misiones in Argentina. Here is somewhere where I see some rays of hope. The original subtropical Atlantic forest (Selva Paranense) covered a large area of Southern Brazil, northern Argentina and Paraguay. This forest, dominated by the majestic Paraná pine (Auracaria angustifolia), has virtually disappeared from Brazil and Paraguay, yet it is full of interesting and endemic species of plants and animals. In Misiones, Argentina the situation is different. A great deal of the forest still remains, and that is why I am here at present to collaborate with the provincial government about how to preserve and sustainably use the remaining forest and how to integrate the local Guaraní Indian populations into the management of the forests. Forty percent of the forests of Misiones are in reserves and another thirty percent are in areas that have been designated as forest corridors to connect the various reserves and make them more viable. There are still many problems here such as over-exploitation of timber and poaching of game. But there is also hope, and that is why I am spending time here to help the Provincial Ministry of Ecology to pursue their goals of better conservation of these important forests. On this trip I have seen a jaugarundi and two tayras and many species of forest birds. This is a forest where jaguars, pumas and other wild cats still roam and the majestic harpy eagle still overflies. So it is not too late to preserve it for future generations to enjoy and use. The Guaraní people, who have lived here for many generations, use so many of the forest plants in fascinating ways. Yet they have not destroyed the forest because their way of life is not as predatory as ours. They have many taboos and spiritual beliefs that protect the forest and its biodiversity. Each time I am with indigenous peoples like the Guaraní it challenges me to look for the teachings in the Bible that should lead Christians to be stewards of the forest rather than destroyers.
I have just completed a review of an international programme called People and Plants for WWF-UK. I learned about efforts to introduce woods that can be sustainably managed for the wood carvers of Kenya, instead of using native species until they are extinct. I learned also of efforts to introduce energy efficient stoves to villages of Pakistan to reduce pressure on their forests and of work in Nepal to cultivate some of their medicinal plants to avoid harvesting these species to extinction. There is a lot of good work being done in many places, but it is mostly on a relatively small scale. It is often the most useful species that are threatened by overexploitation, as happened with the dodo in Mauritius, the great auk of the Atlantic and the passenger pigeon in north America. All were eaten to extinction. It is also happening with the best woods of the tropical rainforest. It is good to find programmes that are trying to prevent the extinction of useful woods, medicinal plants and other useful species.
Each small action makes a difference, but despite the many positive things that are being done around the world we still seem to be losing the environmental battle. Species are going extinct at an alarming rate, over-fishing is closing fisheries, climate change is accelerating and we are failing to address the needs of the poor.
A Call for Christian Action
The interests of big business, human selfishness and the materialistic society in which we live are powerful enemies to combat. I have the feeling that there is still not the political will to make the radical changes that the environment requires. This is a moral and an ethical battle and that is why the involvement of Christians is so important. For as Christians we are not just talking about the destruction of the environment, but rather of God's creation. If we believe that "The earth is the Lord's" then we should be at the forefront of the battle to release creation from the bondage that it is under at present. My hope is that we can honour God both by our personal care for creation and by our corporate care through the churches to which we belong. The forests of the world, a vital part of creation, are especially crying out for help at this time.
Editor's Note: Professor Sir Ghillean Prance, a world-renowned botanist, was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1988-99. He has spent over eight years on field work and botanical exploration in Amazonian Brazil. He currently serves as Scientific Director of the Eden Project in Cornwall. Prof. Prance adapted this article from a recent one published in the Church Times.
The faith of a American forester
Jim Furnish"The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord " Psalm 33:5
It was July 4, 1976, our nation's bicentennial, and I was backpacking in the Never Summer Mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park. But despite the park's name summer was here and the last vestiges of alpine lake ice heralded its arrival. As I approached the shore, I could swear I heard the faint tinkling of chimes. Closer inspection revealed that the gently lapping waves were causing the edge of the ice sheet to break into long crystals, perhaps 1518" long, causing the crystals to "rub elbows", creating a beautiful, haunting symphony that to this day chills me. It was as if God was taking pleasure in His creation and allowing me to secretly listen, too. I have never again witnessed this. The beauty of the moment was a poignant testimony to God's blessing us richly with this world.
A Gathering Storm
This was an impressionable time in my life. At 31, I had been employed by the U. S. Forest Service for nearly ten years. I was entertaining doubts about an agency that seemed to show too little appreciation and respect for the splendid natural resources entrusted to it. I believed in God, but I was not yet a Christian, and had many questions and concerns about who Christ really was. As one who had a deepening affection for nature, it bothered me that I seldom heard Christians speak passionately about caring for God's creation. God was, inevitably, to gently meet my deepest longings.
God saved me about 25 years ago, and I feel so blessed by His unmerited grace. The road of progressive sanctification has been a long and sobering one, although filled with joy. I departed the Forest Service in 2002, resigning after 34 years, as a "critical lover," no longer able to abide policies that I believed to be both professionally and spiritually bankr upt and objectionable. It seemed the Forest Service an agency assigned the enviable and weighty stewardship responsibility for a spectacular 8 percent of America — was stuck on a logging treadmill, when the public we ser ved seemed to be screaming for greater sensitivity and focus on clean water, abundant wildlife, naturalness, and "re-creation."
I remain a fervent advocate of using natural resources, but doing so with a tender, humble, and careful approach — and with an abiding appreciation for God's inscrutable creation. I've witnessed far too much excess, greed, and arrogance resulting in exploitation and environmental degradation.
It seems only natural to me that as my heart wakens to the depth of God's gift to me in Christ, that I also see the natural world through new eyes and seek to care for the Earth wisely. I think of it this way love the Creator, love His creation. The cross of Christ rightly belongs at the center of my faith experience, but I yearn to hear preaching and earnest discussion on our fundamental obligation to know, appreciate, and steward the Earth in God-glorifying ways. I seldom do.
My Christian faith and environmental advocacy came about over time, but I did not begin there. I'd like to describe elements of the odyssey. This is my story of how faith and environmentalism developed and intertwined.
How I Evolved Within the Forest Service
I became a Christian while living in Wyoming in the late 1970's. I'd been in a comfortable seat on the "Good People Go To Heaven" train, until I had a pivotal encounter that led me to under stand my profoundly sinful nature and my desperate need for a savior. This awakened an awareness of my own sin and caused me to reassess what I was doing with my life and chosen profession.
The Forest Service has a wonderful mission caring for some of our country's most beautiful and valued lands. Following World War II, the agency had begun an aggressive logging and road building campaign to help meet demand for the housing boom. The campaign was predicated on a concept of "regulation" wild, natural forests could be tamed through management to provide wood products on a predictable and reliable basis. The favored logging technique was "clearcutting," the removal of all trees from a site. It is an efficient technique, but research has shown that the resulting tree plantations bear little resemblance to a forest. It is also esthetically shocking and offensive to sensibility.
The Forest Service is involved in many other activities that make use of the land, such as grazing, mining, and recreation (like ski areas, many of which for example Vail, CO —are on public land). In almost every case, sharp battle lines have been drawn as to how much is enough. There are inevitable concer ns about the role of commerce and suggestions of improper alliances with industr ies involved in profiting from access to public resources. Thus, working for the Forest Service involves balancing resource stewardship with consumption.
It is apparent to the most casual observer that this world we live in is based on consumption. Consumption is essential for survival. God has made it so. Yet, the amount we consume and the manner in which we consume distinguish between greed and conservation, gluttony and sufficiency.
Clearcutting trees smacked of greed and gluttony. Dare I say it, it seemed sinful to me. And I was questioning my role and par ticipation in further clearcutting. Increasingly, I became convicted of the notion that there must be better ways to meet our needs for wood products, ways to carefully select a few trees for harvest while retaining a wellfunctioning "forest." And I was provoked by loud public voices expressing disgust and distrust of the Forest Ser vice. I was provoked and challenged by the passion of the environmental movement. It seemed they cared more about national forests than I did. I was confronting an ideological struggle that was gripping the entire agency.
This conflict reached its zenith in the Pacific Northwest because of legal challenges that the Forest Service was causing the demise of the spotted owl. Speaking broadly, the Forest Service was accurately portrayed as clearcutting old-growth forests that were home to spotted owls. Unless interrupted, this course of action seemed to have a cer tain outcome: no more owls, as well as the loss of countless other species uniquely associated with oldgrowth forests. In 1991, a courageous federal judge, William Dwyer of Seattle, intervened and timber harvesting of national forests plummeted.
Christianity and the Environmental Ethic
Largely lost amid all the legal battles was an emerging voice from the religious community that asserted the spiritual values of forests and their associated life forms most notably the salmon that returned to the rivers to spawn. The rivers could be thought of as the life blood of the land. As both owl and salmon populations dropped precipitously, surely this was telling us something about a lack of wisdom in traditional forestry practice. Might God be seeking to arouse the faithful to fight for His creation?
Although it was seldom discussed openly, the spiritual component of the controversy seemed the deepest and most compelling to me. Were traditional forestry practices "wise"? Were they respectful of basic soil and water resources that support all life? Was collateral damage to owls and salmon acceptable as long as the timber economy didn't have to count those "costs"? There seemed to be mounting evidence that old dogma about how to manage forests was, for all practicable purposes, bankrupt. Traditional thinking had created a morass and was unlikely to solve anything.
The parallel here with Christ challenging the relig ious traditions of his day was striking to me. Christ sought to have the church adapt to a new truth, thus saving itself in the process. But the religious leaders of his society responded to the threat by rejecting the messenger, the Messiah.
Organizations commonly struggle with change, and I felt I was witnessing the age-old truth that people tend to get attached to comfortable methods and will ride them all the way to the bottom. Even when necessary, people don't let go of the past easily. Regrettably, the dialogue among agency leaders focused on how to reduce negative environmental consequences while retaining as much of the timber industry as possible, thus minimizing job losses. How ironic that even foresters can't see the forest for the trees at times.
Largely neglected was probing the deeper question as to whether policies based on activities redolent of greed needed to be replaced wholesale, rather than just "tweaked" a little here and there. I believed the only way to clean up the train wreck was to lay a new track. This new track would require radically different approaches to managing forests. I actually set out to build such a "new track" and am pleased to report that, 10 years later, the train is traveling at a nice clip to its new destination. I am even more grateful that environmental groups in Oregon (and beyond) now point to the Siuslaw National Forest, where I was Forest Super visor, as a place where true reform worked. They ask why more national forests aren't willing to undertake similar reforms.
Bedrock Principles
I believe that God has seen fit in his love to provide a natural abundance so long as we care for his Earth properly. Simply put — you can have golden eggs, but you can't kill the goose! Whereas many environmentalists I know seem to worship the creation itself, we Christians are called to worship the Creator, and, as is fitting, lovingly care for and respect his creation.
The term "sustainability" has taken on a new cache, but the principle it speaks to in stewarding God's creation is an ancient one. Whether it's in forestry, agriculture, water supply, or power generation, there is a constant tension between the forces of greed and gluttony on the one hand, and humility and conservation on the other. When God gave man dominion over His creation, the responsibility was not to be abused.
I believe the Christian community has a responsibility to advocate for sustainability and sound stewardship. At present, the "Christian Right" is most often characterized as being probusiness and anti-environment, as if the biblical admonition to exercise dominion over the Earth was equated with taking whatever we want no matter the consequences.
Seen more biblically, however, basic pr inciples of humble stewardship include:
- remembering always that we are the beneficiaries of God's grace and appreciating His provision for us;
- behaving as if one is not an owner but rather a respectful tenant;
- caring more about the welfare of future generations than wanton consumption;
- conservation of what we already have as a priority over new development;
- and caution in the face of uncertainty.
Far from being extreme, I believe wedding Christianity with environmentalism is biblical and just plain right. I spent a career learning that this is possible. I am pleased to join my voice with other Christians to proclaim this.
Editor's Note: Jim Furnish is the former Deputy Chief of the U. S. Forest Service and currently serves as a consultant.
Living on the edge in Kavanac
Scott SabinSweat soaked my shirt and filled my eyes in the hot afternoon sun, making it hard to see. The village was about a two-hour walk from the parish guesthouse where we were staying. The distance was only a couple of miles, but they were mostly vertical, and the tiny foot path wound up and down over a landscape that looked like it had been dumped from a gravel quarry. Except, improbably, there was corn growing from between the rocks on even the steepest hills.
Like most of Haiti, this area had once been covered with tropical forest. Now it was vir tually barren, and when you saw small stands of trees, you knew there was a tiny home- stead somewhere in their midst. These were usually painted light blue, pink, or lime green and surrounded by crumbling concrete crypts and a bleating goat or two.
As we scrambled over boulders in a particularly steep section of the path that ran between two rock walls, I had to rest. I had been sick the day before and was still recovering, or at least that was my excuse. As we sat, elderly women with five-gallon buckets of water on their heads trundled up the hill towards us from the direction of the small spring we had passed nearly an hour earlier.
"Bonsoua, blan," they greeted us in Kreyol, as they approached. They asked where we were going, and Dezo, the Floresta Haiti director, explained that we were on our way to a community meeting in Kavanac."Oh," one of them replied, a wry smile creasing her weather-beaten face, "so are we. We'll tell them that you'll be along in a little while."
And they continued on up the hill with their water.
A short time later we arrived at the tin-roofed shelter which served as the community meeting center for Kavanac. The setting was spectacular: perched on the spine of the peninsula, we could look south to the Caribbean and north to the island of La Gonāve; to the east was the Massif de la Selle the highest mountain in Haiti. The ocean glittered in the sun.
But the view closer at hand was more sobering: hills of barren rock and stone with onions, corn and beans, planted in a continuous patchwork of fields, delineated by rock walls. Most of them were planted on slopes so steep that walking on them was a challenge. And it was from these fields of rocks that the several hundred residents of Kavanac extracted their entire living. There was no other option—no job oppor tunities in the city, no chance of fur ther education, no possibility of immigrating to the United States. No matter how talented an individual might be, they were utterly dependent on their environment—on these exhausted hills—for survival.
As the villagers gathered in the meeting hall, we encountered a community that was very discouraged, and remarkably cognizant of their situation. Far from being unaware of the consequences of severe deforestation, they told us about it. They told us what their land had looked like, and why they cleared the trees. They also told us that they saw no other choice. Strong Christians, they concluded the meeting with prayer and bravely sang several motivational songs, which one of the villagers accompanied on a beat-up trumpet.
The people of Kavanac have always been poor, but once upon a time rich topsoil covered these rocks. There was a nearby stream and the rains were more abundant and predictable. Now all of that has changed, primarily as a result of deforestation. Sadly, that deforestation has come as a result of Kavanac's increasing desperation, creating an insidious, vicious cycle.
Kavanac's growing population long ago cleared all of the land suitable for agriculture, and then expanded into more marginal and ecologically fragile lands. Without trees the topsoil washed away, impoverishing the land and causing farmers to clear still more.
In the meantime, when people couldn't make ends meet from farming, making and selling charcoal became a last resort. Made from trees, charcoal provides more than 70 percent of the energy used in Haiti. It is easy for Americans to miss the importance of this, accustomed as we are to using charcoal only on rare occasions in outdoor barbecues. But in many parts of the world, charcoal is more important than oil. In fact, wars have been fought over charcoal.
Locally, though, most of Kavanac's homes use firewood, collected from the few trees that remain on nearby hills. Women cook over smoky open fires in tiny kitchens situated behind the main houses, using wood they have spent hours gathering. Thus Kavanac's trees get rarer every year and Haiti's brown lifeblood, the soil, runs down the mountainsides in torrents, becoming a shroud for her reefs and fisheries and, sometimes, her people.
This spells a slow death for both the community and the island, as preventing erosion is just one of the benefits that forests should be providing.
Trees are also vital to maintaining the health of the local water resources. They dramatically enhance the process of infiltrationas a layman I have often heard the analogy of a sponge. Trees, through their leaves, litter and roots help the soil to retain the rain that falls, allowing it to soak in, nurture plants and replenish the aquifers. It is easy for me to visualize water falling on an inclined sponge and contrast that with what water would do if it fell on a tabletop tilted at the same angle. Without trees one would expect flash floods and landslides.
Indeed research has borne this out. In a study conducted over a multi-year period in the Philippines, comparing several tributaries of the Manupali River, scientists found a dramatic correlation between deforestation and an increase in dangerous flooding and drought cycles. The flow in tributaries that were still forested remained remarkably constant through a wide variation in rainfall, whereas the more gently sloping but deforested tributary alternately ran dry and flooded, even though it received almost the same rainfall.
The inconsistency of water resources can mean the difference between life and death for a village like Kavanac which has no access to irrigation or wells.
More dramatically, the catastrophic results of flooding were tragically evident in Haiti this past year, as over 4,000 people died in flooding and landslides related to deforestation. This gets headlines, but the tragedy of deforestation is usually more subtle. Kavanac experienced no floods, just the gradual loss of their soil and water— very nearly their only assets, and all they have to create a life for their families.
I often think of my friend Erik For vil, a handsome young farmer with a ready smile. I had the privilege of staying with his family on one of my visits to Kavanac. I also once spent an afternoon in the fields planting beans with Erik and his father. After less than an hour, stooped over with a shorthandled sickle, working among the stones, my hands were bloody and my back was screaming. Erik and his wife are among the brightest, hardest working people that I know, and true leaders within the community. Yet their entire future is tied up in the future of these hills. It will not take a landslide to destroy their family.
In a country where diarrhea and waterborne disease is rampant, forests should be playing another important role. Forests act as a filter, helping to purify water supplies. In the Philippine study, the streams with the highest level of deforestation also had a very high incidence of E. coli, independent of population density. It is an effect so well recognized that in 1997 the city of New York found it more cost effective to purchase and preserve the forests in the watershed upstream, rather than building additional water purification plants.
Finally there is a host of infectious diseases that are abetted and health issues that are exacerbated by deforestation. Not the least of these is the fact that as firewood gets scarcer and hence more expensive, families are likely to spend less time cooking their food or boiling their drinking water. Deforestation, poverty and declining health become a downward spiral.
Thus forests are key to three of the most pressing problems of the poor: food, water and health.
The late Dr. Paul Brand, one of the most respected physicians and medical missionaries of all time, had this to say: "I would gladly give up medicine tomorrow if by so doing I could have some influence on policy with regard to mud and soil. The world will die from lack of pure water and soil long before it will die from a lack of antibiotics or surgical skill and knowledge."
Poverty and deforestation form a vicious cycle and need to be addressed simultaneously. As Christians, charged both with the stewardship of God's creation and with caring for the poor, we have to take this cycle seriously. Creatively responding to deforestation is of vital importance as we reach out to the world with Christ's love and message of reconciliation.
Editor's Note: Scott Sabin is Executive Director of Floresta, an EEN Partner organization. Floresta reverses deforestation and poverty in the world, by transforming the lives of the rural poor. For more information go to www. floresta. org.
A call to evangelicals to join the debate
Larry SchweigerEditor's Note: Larry Schweiger is President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. This is the second of a two-part article that is an adaptation from the transcript of a keynote presentation Larry gave at the CT-NAE-EEN Creation Care conference June 28-30, 2004. Part I appeared in the Fall 04 issue.
One of the things that happened to me a few years back was getting a phone call from this fellow who I just met one time."Larry, would you ever move to Western Pennsylvania?"
His name was Dan Sherman. And I said, "Dan, I grew up in Western Pennsylvania." He said, "We have a CEO of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy position open. Would you consider applying for it?"
I did, and had just a wonderful time for 8 years in my home town. I spent some really important times with my family. It was like God taking me home for a time, a season, to be with my family at a time when my younger brother burnt to death in a fire and when my stepfather died and my mom had two strokes. It was a really important time for me to be there.
So last year (my mom is in a nursing home at this point) I started getting phone calls from former employees at the National Wildlife Federation. I counted a total of fifteen former employees that called me up and said that National Wildlife Federation really needs to have you back.
We would really love to have you 10 come back, and would you consider putting your name in for this position. Frankly, I hadn't even entertained it. In fact, one fellow had flown from Colorado and come out the Pittsburgh to talk to me about the possibility of coming back.
So I made it a matter of prayer and I was really concerned for my mom. She had had two strokes and was having a really tough time. My brother George has been a real saint to take care of her day in and day out when I'm not around. I was really struggling because I didn't want to leave my mom behind. And there were several other issues that were at play.
I was really asking the Lord, "Lord if this is your will, I want you to really help me to understand that it is your will. I don't want to do this, I mean it is a nice ego stroke but it's not what I want to do. I will stay where I am unless it is made clear to me that is where you want me to go." I prayed about this. It started last October (2003) and went into January.
During this time, and even before, I had been terribly concerned about this nation's failure to address climate change. So I thought that if I ever go back to the National Wildlife Federation, the number one priority I would have would be climate change, because I think this nation needs to be responsible. We are international scofflaws. We're producing 25 percent of the carbon dioxide and we have an obligation to the world to address that. And I'm angry that we're not addressing it.
So I prayed about it, and thought about, and prayed about it. I'll never forget this one day. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has a lot of real deep Christians on their board, really solid people.
One of my most favorite board members, was Dr. Coke Blakesely. Coke is 82 years old and just retired as a medical doctor. Coke had a tragic situation in his life. His young son had schizophrenia and committed suicide and also killed Coke's wife in a tragic double shooting.
Coke was a deep Christian man at the time that it happened…Coke just spent his time in prayer, and really became an enormous force in his community, because people expected Coke to be absolutely broken and instead he was absolutely walking with the Lord, as he had always done.
He changed a lot of medical community people in his hometown of Dubois, Pennsylvania, and he is just a wonderful influence on others. So here is a man who has spent a lot of time in prayer. I've know him for years, and he's always been a real blessing to me…
Well, I get a phone call from Coke one night, and he says, "Larry, I know how busy you are…I really hate to bother you, but I really need to talk to you. I'm not sure what you can do about this." I'm wondering "What did I do wrong?"…
I met Coke for dinner. Coke is sitting there with a stack of three books and he's got some notes in front of him. Of course this is the same time that I'm praying to the Lord about this climate change issue and where I need to be in all this. Coke says, "Larry, I really apologize for having this meeting with you tonight. I don't even know why I'm doing it, but I just feel compelled to talk to you about something. I've been reading these books on climate change. I am so upset about what we're not doing in this country…I don't know why I'm telling you this. But I just feel the Lord has told me to come talk to you." [Pause] I said, "Coke, I'll tell you about this in a few days."
So I sent my resume off to National Wildlife Federation and I remember talking to my mother about this. When I first told my mom I was applying for this job, she was sort of uneasy. The night before I went down for an interview, I was still struggling about this with my mom. I called my mom and I said, "Mom, [Pause] I'm going to Washington tomor row." She said, "I hope you get the job. She said, "We need you." [Pause] My mom's blind. [Voice cracks] She loves nature. She still gets the magazine. Can you believe that? She still subscribes to National Wildlife. She can't read it, she can't see it. She can't see me when I come in but she gets the magazine every month.
So I get down to the interview and I say to the folks, "You know, I need to be honest with you all here today. You're not just getting Larry Schweiger if you hire me. I want you to know I have an agenda. And if you don't like my agenda I would urge you today to tell me you don't want my agenda and I'll go home and I'll be really happy…I'll tell you what brings me to this more than any else, the thing that finally turned the corner." I told them about Coke and told them about my concern we've talked about for many years. The thing that finally woke me up was that my oldest daughter, Della …I said "Della's going to have a baby in August."
I told this story: A number of years ago when Della and her two sisters were young kids I was working on the Ancient Forest effort in the Northwest with the National Wildlife Federation. It's was better known as the Spotted Owl fight but it was really protecting an entire ecosystem and the Spotted Owls were just a part of that ecosystem…So I flew my family out there and I wanted to see first hand and ancient forest before it was destroyed. So we parked our car and we hiked into this place. The girls had a great time and we collected sugar pine cones and did all sorts of fun things. We came out of the woods and we were driving along, and at that time I was taking some photographs of the damage that was being done to our forests in this country. We were going along the roadway, the sun was about where it is at now and it was shining on this hillside, and every tree as far as you could see was clear-cut.
There were these stumps that were a foot or two from the ground and each one of them cast a dark shadow next to it. I'm sitting there with my tripod taking photographs of this area, and my youngest daughter, Lauren…came up to me to watch me take pictures…And the whole time I was photographing, I noticed she was looking up at me.
When I finished photographing, I looked over to her and I said, "What do you think, Lauren?"
She said, "Dad," looking at the forest that was totally whacked over, "Why are you letting them do this?" I star ted to stumbled around for an answer, and here my pre-teen daughter still has hopes that Dad can do big things. That sort of disappears when they hit the teen years. But she hadn't gotten to that point yet.
She couldn't understand why I, as senior vice-president of a national environmental organization let this kind of stuff go on. I started to stammer around for answers and I didn't really have an answer. So we got back in the car and we're driving along; it was very quiet in the car because I was struggling with that question. That question haunts me to this day.
Well, as I thought about climate change and I thought about Della's baby, it occurred to me that the question I never ever want to hear my grandchild ask is this question, "Grandpa, where were you when they wrecked my planet?" I don't ever want to hear that. I told that search committee that.
The search committee recommended me to the full board. I went to the full board and I shared similar stories…I was fortunate to be hired that day this March in St. Louis, and to star t with the National Wildlife Federation as its President and CEO. Which takes me to where we are today, and that is I am compelled to this matter of climate change. We absolutely need to address this.
When I look at climate change, it's so big, it's so daunting, I can't imagine having an impact on this thing. I can sense that feeling…
When I was a youngster, one of those people I met in 1964 was a guy by the name of Ralph Auble. Ralph was an interesting character because he landed on the beaches of Normandy with his landing craft…Ralph was the only one in that landing craft to live. I can tell you as a teenager studying under a Scout leader who had that kind of life experience, this guy had more courage in his pig toes that I had in my whole body. He understood the notion of tenacity and the notion of persistence because he had experienced it as a young man, and he was inspiring to me.
In 1971 Ralph got a job heading up the Pennsylvania Fish Commission…Ralph [told] me this story, "You know, I got out this Fish Code. I'm head of the Fish Commission so what do I want to do first? I want to read the law that starts the Fish Commission." He read the law and it said that in 1870 they created the Fish Commission for the purpose of restoring the American Shad and the other Shad from the Chesapeake Bay to the Susquehanna drainage. That was the sole purpose of the creation of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission.
So Ralph was sitting there and he said, "You know, it's been over a hundred years, and we haven't gotten that job done yet. I'm going to do that." I said, "How are you going to do that Ralph?" He said, "Well we're just going to have to figure that out. I'm going to bring the American Shad back to the Susquehanna River." The Shad hadn't been bumping their noses against the Conowingo Dam for years. They were gone…
Ralph fought a lawsuit to block the re-licensing of the Conowingo Dam…They were looking for there 50 year renewal license and here comes Ralph Auble saying you can't relicense this dam unless they put in fish passage ways for the American Shad and the other anadromous fish that once ran this river.
All these experts come in and say the Shad are gone. There is no reason to put in fish ladders when the fish aren't there…Well this fight went on for almost 20 years. And Ralph never gave up on it. So he went out and created a little fish hatchery on the Juniata River which is a tributary of the Susquehanna River and a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. He started bringing American Shad from other eastern rivers where they still ran.
He started breeding these American Shad and everybody said, "You can't breed American Shad, they won't make it, they had too much mortality and they won't make it back."
He started doing this over a ten year period and sure enough, American Shad started bumping their noses against the Conowingo dam…He went back to court and got the courts to agree…not let them relicense those dams unless they accommodated the fish who were bumping their noses against the dam on the river.
I tell that story because the first day that I went to work for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation I was driving down the highway and I heard on the radio these words, "Over 460,000 American Shad have shown up at the Conowingo dam and have been successfully transported across the four dams to Harrisburg and are well on their way into New York State."
I started to cry. I did, drove down the road crying. I'm thinking if Ralph had only seen this moment, if only he had been there…Ralph Auble said, "Be careful what you're stubborn about, because you just might make it happen."
And you know something, I have to tell you tonight, that we have an obligation to our children and their children, and I think it is a Biblical obligation, to address this matter of climate change.
I don't care if it takes the rest of my time on this planet to do it, I want to be stubborn, I want to follow in Ralph's words to be careful what we're stubbor n about, and this for me, is the place to stake my ground.
And I'm here to tell you something else. The environmentalists, the National Wildlife Federations and the Sierra Clubs and all the other groups out there will not win this battle — [pause] — hear this, will not win this battle without evangelical Christians.
Because the U. S. Congress is made up of a lot of Conservative Republicans and the Conservative Republicans consider their bedrock constituency evangelical Christians. If evangelical Christians come to the table and say that caring for the planet is a part of Christianity and a part of our message, evangelical Christians can turn this struggle.
In fact, I will predict that until evangelical Christians weigh in in a serious way in this matter, we will not win it, and I mean that sincerely.
So I'm here as a brother in Christ to urge you…who are not in this fight to get in this fight for the benefit of our children's children.
Together we can turn this if we work together and find ways to make this happen.
The call of wilderness
William H. MeadowsAs I was preparing to write this article, I found myself on my way into the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The spectacular peaks of the Tetons were illuminated by a light of startling clarity, so that it seemed that I could see every rock and tree and snowdrift on rugged slopes and summits that were 20 and 30 miles away. On such a day I invariably find myself filled with awe at the splendor of the Earth, and I truly feel the presence of God in His creation.
At the same time I cannot look at the magnificent landscapes of this country without being reminded of our enormous responsibility to care for and protect God's creation. Places like the Tetons, or Yellowstone, or Denali or the Great Smoky Mountains or the Redwood National Park are here today to inspire us because others in years gone by have understood our calling to stewardship and have taken action to fulfill that responsibility.
This past September we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act the landmark conservation law that has protected more than 106 million acres of unspoiled natural landscapes across the United States since its enactment in 1964. In Washington, DC, and across the country, countless activists and conservationists of every strip marked the occasion, and here in Washington, DC, close to 300 people carried the message of wilderness protection to Capitol Hill.
At a "citizens' hearing" within sight of the Capitol building, many of the conser vation activists who had traveled to Washington stood up and testified to the importance of wilderness in their lives. For many of them, wild places have had a transformative power, helping them through troubled periods in their lives, or providing the environment in which to help others find peace.
One young woman spoke of the young people from troubled inner-city neighborhoods that she led on trips in the Sierras, and described the empowerment, self-confidence, and maturity they gained from a few weeks in an unspoiled forest.
Others told more personal stories of wild, natural places as havens from the stresses and conflicts and pressures of the modern world. Not all of these people spoke of their connection to wilderness in explicitly religious terms. Yet I recognized in every one of them the same sense of humility before God and sense of responsibility to creation that I experience myself.
Wilderness plays a special and prominent role in the Bible. Time after time, God leads people into the wilderness to confront temptation, to be tested, to be purified and redeemed. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness, and many of the Old Testament prophets experienced their important transfor mation and revelations in the wilderness. And of course, the Spirit twice led Jesus to the wilderness to face temptation by the Devil. (Matthew 4). Clearly, wild, untamed places have a tremendous transformative power. Wilder ness is a proving ground for faith, a place where a person comes face to face with what is really important, and emerges the better for the experience.
My Christian faith has been inseparably linked with my calling to work to protect our environment, and most recently in my work to protect the wildest, most unspoiled places on the planet. God demands stewardship, not just of part of creation, but all of creation (Psalm 24:1 "The Earth is the Lord's and everything in it."). And that duty is an active one it is not enough to sit passively by (1 John 3:18 "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.").
In the church I have found the grounding and guidance to understand the Gospel of Jesus and His commandment to care for each other and for the natural world. For me, working with wilderness has provided a venue for putting the social aspects of Jesus' gospel message into action. In the broadest sense, an environmental ethic is a natural extension of Jesus' admonition to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31). We cannot profess to be living up to that calling if we do not understand "neighbors" to include not only our human neighbors but our natural and wild neighbors as well.
The founders and early leaders of the Wilderness Society understood this calling some of them instinctively, others through the lens of their faith. Howard Zahniser, who would eventually become the principal author of the Wilder ness Act, was an evangelical Christian himself, and I have to believe that his devotion to wilderness preservation was an embodiment of his own calling to stewardship. [Editors Note: The Zahniser Institute at Greenville College is an EEN Partner organization. ]
The Wilderness Act explicitly seeks to protect those places "where the earth and the community of life are untrampeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." To my mind, if a place is untrammeled by human beings, then by definition, it is the closest thing on this Earth to creation as God Himself intended it to be. It is inescapable that humankind has had, and will continue to have, enormous impact both positive and negative on the Earth. But our duty to God and to our fellow inhabitants of the planet is to protect and preserve some small part of our natural inheritance untouched, unspoiled, in the condition to which it was given to us.
I was in Teton National Park because I was headed to a meeting at the Murie Center an organization dedicated to continuing the legacy of wilder ness activists Mardy and Olaus Mur ie. The Center's mission is to inspire mindful action on behalf of the human spirit and wild nature. What better definition of "stewardship" could there be?
The Wilderness Act gives us the means by which we can put our sacred responsibilities into practice. By working to protect our remaining wilder ness, by striving to help others under stand its values ecological, economic, scientific, and yes, spiritual and by pressing Congress to pass the wilder ness protection bills that are before it, we are ensuring that those values will be there for future generations.
Editors Note: Bill Meadows is President of The Wilderness Society, www. wilderness. org.
To the woods
Gary K. FawverTwo couples stand in awe among the towering redwoods of northern California.
Thousands of tourists flock to Washington, D. C. each spring to marvel at the cherry blossoms.
Searchers find the eight-year-old girl sitting under a large maple tree. When she had wandered away from her family's campsite at dusk the night before she remembered what her dad had told her. He said if she ever got lost to find a big friendly tree, hug it, sit down under it, and wait for someone to find her.
A group of seniors take an outing in New Hampshire to experience the
brilliant reds and yellows of the fall leaves.
Neighborhood kids spend most of the summer building and playing in their tree house.Residents of the Midwest town are noticeably shaken when their diseased elm trees lining Main Street are cut down.
High school campers are instructed to find a tree they like and each morning sit by that tree for their time with God.
Cross-country skiers wordlessly "swoosh" past the snow-laden pine trees.
Why do individuals respond to nature the way they do? Stephen and Rachel Kaplan, who have spent more than twenty years studying how experiences in nature affect us, believe nature can play a huge role in reducing family, work, and substance-abuse stress. In study after study the Kaplans found that nature works its specific restorative 14 mag ic by easing a condition psychologists call "mental fatigue." When we immerse our weary brains in soothing patter ns of natural input (as opposed to high-tech tasks), such as sighing branches, rippling water, or drifting clouds, fewer things compete for our attention and drain our energy, and we start to feel refreshed. Even in the big city we can enjoy this most obvious benefit simply by stepping from a busy street into the nearest tree-filled park. (See Rachel Kaplan and Stephen Kaplan, The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 1989. )
Scholars who have studied the way Americans respond to being in the outdoor environment differ with each other. Some say our response is innately dr iven—tied to our evolutionary past (or I would call it our God-created past). Others believe our response is lear ned, that a child is strongly influenced by adults and the child's environment. Many hold that it is a fusion of both processes.
Virtually all researchers of the outdoor environment agree that nature is a useful resource for people. Perhaps the most emphatic assertion is that natural environments offer respite from overly complex, chaotic stimulation in everyday life situations. The earliest advocates for urban parks in America believed that natural parks were sources of tranquility—havens to escape the hectic pace, material orientation, and environmental degradation of daily settings.
Consider two examples, one West Coast and one East Coast. Portland, Ore. , my hometown, has 148 parks. Forest Park, a hilly, 6,000-acre wilderness, ranks as the largest woodland area within a U. S. city. New York City has more parks, playgrounds, beaches, and other recreational areas than any other city in the United States. Central Park, in the middle of Manhattan, is the best known of the city's more than 100 parks.
Forests, large areas of land blanketed by trees, cover about 30 percent of the landmass of the United States and Canada. More than 1,000 kinds of trees grow in the United States, 20,000 throughout the world. Human activities have had tremendous impact on moder n forests. Large forest areas have been cleared for farms and cities. Beginning in the 1800s, great expanses of forest have also been eliminated because of logging.
Historically, in our Western societies, people have tended to operate as if natural environments needed to be controlled and subjected to their use. At some points in history, natural environments were the personification of evil harboring the temptations, the physical dangers, and the uncontrollable forces that victimized humankind. Cities were revered as sanctuaries for the full pursuit of human development. At other points in history, the opposite held true. In cities evil and problems existed, whereas natural environments became the havens for insight, integration, and spiritual and physical restoration.
I believe that creation, including trees and forests, reveals the nature of God and offers many spiritual lessons. Long ago Elihu, one of Job's "friends," made a profound request: "Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God's wonders" (Job 37:14). For the Christian, attention to nature is more than a pleasant exercise. Virginia Stem Owens in her book A Taste of Creation points out that: "By and large our society no longer learns from organic metaphors. Our images are machines that do not grow but only accrete…. Can we know what the kingdom of heaven is like when we no longer experience the metaphors that manifested it? If we've never harvested a crop or fished do we miss something essential about the great ingathering of souls?" Therefore the significance of the Job passage—we must stop (slow down, put on the brakes, pause) and consider (think about, meditate on, deliberately focus on) God's creation. Walking a trail in the forest, head down, concentrating on getting to the next stop doesn't do it. To be thoughtful and observant gives the most benefit to a forest walk.
As I anticipated a weekend with friends in the forests of southern Oregon and knowing I was to write this article, I did a bit of preparation. I spent several hours looking at biblical teachings about trees and thought about how my life parallels the yearly cycle of a tree. Then I set out with my digital camera and good walking companions. Our forest journey included viewing yellow maple leaves, giving us sensory joy as their life ended. We felt very small as we stood beside the largest Douglas fir tree in Oregon, and we reverently walked through a grove of giant redwood trees reminding us of a grand cathedral. We saw trees that, years after they died, were providing nourishment for young growing trees. Some trees that had fallen in their prime exposed their shallow roots. I was reminded that as a Christian I should be equally concerned about the depth of my spiritual roots as I am about the spiritual fruit I produce.
Each fall Susan and I take an outing to Hood River, Oregon, bringing back boxes of fresh-picked apples we will enjoy all winter. Those trees are cared for year-round so the harvest will be productive. The Bible speaks about good fr uit, bad fruit, deep roots, the importance of water, nonproductive trees being cut down, good trees being pruned, and even the importance of the grafting process. Many of us have read books or articles about the spiritual teachings from trees. Yet it is impor tant every so often to "stop and consider" the lessons as we walk among and observe the trees.
Often at retreats through the years I have asked participants to join in an enjoyable and affirming activity. Each person picks a tree that describes him or her and/or a tree they would like to be. They then share the character istics of the tree that bring joy to them, to God, and to others.
Occasionally on a Sunday afternoon several of my grandchildren, ages 3-10, will take me for a walk through the neighborhood. We pick up fir cones, colored leaves, acor ns, gall fly nests and bits of sticks to bring home. On many Sunday afternoons we read from my collection of books—many of them about animals, trees, and children in the outdoors. As Rachel Carson said so many years ago, I deeply desire that I can be an adult who helps children keep alive their sense of wonder. And as they grow up I pray that they will often stop and consider God's wonders.
Editor's Note: Gary K. Fawver is Professor Emeritus of Outdoor Ministries, George Fox University, and Contributing Editor to Creation Care. Contact him at gfawver@georgefox. edu.
Experiencing Christ
Don Wallace & Angela KantolaThrough history, the Bible and church leaders speak of knowing God in and through His creation. As proclaimed by King David and the apostle Paul:
"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech …There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard…For since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made…For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on ear th, visible and invisible, whether thrones or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever!" (Ps. 19:1-3; Rom. 1:20; Col. 1:16-17; Rom. 11:36).
Creation is a word of God. As Martin Luther wrote, "God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars."
Children seem to have instinctive wonder at God's presence and witness in all creation, but sadly, most modern adult Christians have lost this consciousness. Our materialistic worldview and tec hnologically-intense lifestyle have blurred our vision until often we no longer connect our relationship with Christ to His presence in creation.
Historically, however, many Christians intentionally sought to know and hear Christ in wild and less developed places. The Desert Fathers, early Celtic believers and the Eastern Orthodox Church practiced this discipline. Esteemed German theologian Jurgen Moltmann says we need to recover their methods: "…in the community of creation `everything that has breath' praises the Lord, and `the heavens declare the glory of God' even without human beings indeed as the representatives of human beings too, in their own way. The monastic traditions of the Orthodox church …have preserved these splendid concepts. Today they must be recovered and translated into the practical dealings of human beings with [the rest of creation]. They are well suited to overcome the one-sided and impoverished attitudes of people living in the modern industrial world."
Seeking God's lessons in creation was taught from the beginning of church history. In the fourth century, Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea wrote, "I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that everywhere, wherever you may be, the least plant may bring to you clear remembrance of the Creator." Augustine of Hippo called creation a book of God:
"Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Note it. Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?" These words echo Job's: "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea infor m you" (Job 12:7-8).
During the Reformation, John Calvin added: "As Augustine expresses it, since we are unable to comprehend Him, and are, as it were, overpowered by His greatness, our proper course is to contemplate His works, and so refresh ourselves with His goodness. By the knowledge thus acquired, we ought not only to be stimulated to worship God, but also…elevated to the hope of future life."
Francis Schaeffer spoke similarly: "[The universe] speaks of a good and reasonable God, and it speaks of a personal God."
By God's grace, Christians today can recover the ability to recognize the whole earth full of His glory (Isa. 6:3)."All life is to be lived in the presence of the Father, seen and experienced in and through Creation. A biblical lifestyle is to know the immanence of our transcendent God" says Jim Wallace, a Presbyterian pastor in New Zealand.
But how can we do this? In the latter part of the 1990's, we encountered a program designed to help Christians rediscover God's presence and lessons in creation. This discipline has become a vital part of our own spiritual for mation and we're privileged to facilitate retreats to help others recover this practice. The Scriptures and quotes cited above are typical of those we share at the beginning of these outdoor retreats, often held in forested, mountain settings. Participants personally confir m the authenticity of what they've heard as they quietly and prayerfully reflect on the trees, rocks, clouds, and creatures. After an hour or so, the group reconvenes and each person shares his or her experiences. This process is repeated a few more times, and as we're guided by the Holy Spirit and learn from one another, a consensus subtly forms about how we can begin to consciously know the Lord through creation.
We rejoice as God changes hearts through this discipline. We've both experienced renewed purpose and a fresh wholeness. Angela is a professional biologist who works with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Re-discovering God's voice in creation gave her joyful reconnection to her original mission, which had become somewhat clouded by the administrative, bureaucratic and political struggles inherent to the world of endangered species recovery. Don came from a commercial background and was drawn to hear the Lord's voice in a new way. Through this ongoing practice, he has grown closer to God, and consequently come to value and celebrate creation as a gift glorifying Jehovah, instead of regarding it as a resource to be selfishly taken and manipulated.
We've seen others changed in similar ways. Many Christians have never realized that Jesus desires to relate to them in the very midst of His creation. Fortunately, we don't need to be environmentalists or outdoor enthusiasts. Background doesn't matter. Christians who drive gas-guzzling SUV's and never recycle are welcome right alongside those who compost garbage and eat organic, free-range chicken. The goal of experiencing Christ in creation is spiritual, intended to enable believers to more fully know God. It is the Holy Spirit who primarily transforms the lives of the participants and leads them to value creation and to care for it. Jesus wants us all to learn through creation, not just those who have "environmental" leanings.
Wendell Berry says, "outdoors we are confronted everywhere with wonders; we see that the miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread." When we tune into these wonders, the programming on television comes up strikingly short. Sorry NBC and ESPN, God has better channels! As George Washington Carver put it, "I love to think of nature as unlimited broadcasting stations, through which God speaks to us every day, every hour and every moment of our lives, if we will only tune in and remain so."
Many evangelicals are unfamiliar with the practice of knowing God in and through creation because neither they nor their church leadership has been taught. Western Christianity has been heavily influenced by Platonic dualism, falsely separating sacred and secular, physical and spiritual. And the rationalistic "scientific" philosophies of Francis Bacon and Renee Descartes and their disciples have permeated both society and the church. The resulting scientism has influenced how we apprehend truth. Is truth circumscribed by three-point sermons and twelve-step programs? The Scripture speaks of hear ing the "still small voice," but is it limited to the context of a church sanctuary or home Bible study? Why not "ask the animals…or the birds of the air…or speak to the earth…or let the fish of the sea inform you?" Especially since "from Him and through Him and to Him are all things."
One of our greatest delights is discerning the Lord's love for plants, animals and insects. He celebrates each species, the individuals of each species, and the vast complex of relationships between us all. Last year on a beach in Puer to Rico, Don had an opportunity watch sand crabs burrow. As he watched, he found himself stirred with an affectionate caring for these tiny fellow creatures. We have feelings for people and family pets, but crabs as well? Yes. If an "insignificant" sand crab dies (or lives), our heavenly Father does not merely know it, He feels it.
When Jesus was on a mountainside teaching His disciples, He urged them to "look at the birds of the air" and "see how the lilies of the field grow" (Mt. 6:26, 28). Those obser vations were dependent on being in an outdoor setting. Sometimes following Jesus means going into the mountains and fields. As we obey, we are rewarded by being with Him and lear ning unique lessons.
Editor's Note: Don Wallace and his wife, Angela Kantola, facilitate retreats to help Christians rediscover God's presence in creation. Angela is also the assistant director of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. Don's work has involved missions with Wycliffe Bible Translators, professional trading, and landscape architecture. For more information, contact ps24_1@yahoo. com.