Acid rain, toxic waste, pollution...
Illustration
Acid rain, toxic waste, pollution --all are common words in today's vocabulary. We all agree something must be done.
The effects of our self-serving carelessness are seen world-wide. Canada is angry about acid rain coming from the U.S.A.; the famed and fabled Black Forests of Germany have been decimated by the same acid rain, produced by factories with virtually no pollution controls on both sides of the iron curtain. Those living around Lake Michigan are reminded regularly that it is safe to eat only a small quantity of lake trout each week because the lake (and the fish) have been badly poisoned by various chemicals. Lake Erie is slowly being restored to a decent fishing area after gaining notoriety as "the sewer of the Midwest" because it was so contaminated.
The temptation to seize power, to produce power, to exercise power, at the expense of others, confronts all of us daily as it confronted the Christ in the desert. Painful personal decisions are called for. Christ exercised a single-minded commitment to the Father's will, and in the agony of powerlessness, he was empowered to do the Father's will.
The brokenness of our world reflects our inadequate response to the power-plays of life. Personally, professionally, domestically, internationally --the fallout is tremendous. Answers are not easy. Real pain comes in seeking to know and do the Father's will. His kind of power is experience in weakness. Strange, indeed.
The effects of our self-serving carelessness are seen world-wide. Canada is angry about acid rain coming from the U.S.A.; the famed and fabled Black Forests of Germany have been decimated by the same acid rain, produced by factories with virtually no pollution controls on both sides of the iron curtain. Those living around Lake Michigan are reminded regularly that it is safe to eat only a small quantity of lake trout each week because the lake (and the fish) have been badly poisoned by various chemicals. Lake Erie is slowly being restored to a decent fishing area after gaining notoriety as "the sewer of the Midwest" because it was so contaminated.
The temptation to seize power, to produce power, to exercise power, at the expense of others, confronts all of us daily as it confronted the Christ in the desert. Painful personal decisions are called for. Christ exercised a single-minded commitment to the Father's will, and in the agony of powerlessness, he was empowered to do the Father's will.
The brokenness of our world reflects our inadequate response to the power-plays of life. Personally, professionally, domestically, internationally --the fallout is tremendous. Answers are not easy. Real pain comes in seeking to know and do the Father's will. His kind of power is experience in weakness. Strange, indeed.
