following the little blue van.

we have some very lovely friends called brian and whitney who live in the states. they are an inspirational family - brian for single handedly converting the world to homebrew, and whitney for being a beautiful woman of great depths of love and insight. i popped onto their blog today and saw the following youtube video.



i have commented a couple of things on brian and whitney's blog but i have lots of other thoughts about this issue of us a species having the power to determine the future of virtually all other species. that is a profound and serious responsibility - one that God gives us at the very beginning of all things. God says to adam, "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth." (the message)
The Cambridge dictionary defines the phrase'responsible for as "to have control and authority over something or someone and the duty of taking care of it or them"

So we don't only have control and authority over creation (which is the part that humans seem to have no problem exerting, sadly to creation's demise. we also have the duty to take care of creation - of the plants and animals and birds and fish etc etc. definition for 'duty' by the way is "something that you have to do because it is part of your job, or something that you feel is the right thing to do".

so if you stand under the authority of God then looking after creation is part of our job even if we're not in a place of feeling it's the right thing to do. i know a few christians who still think that there are more important things in life than considering your consumer choices, such as food, clothes, oil, and more or the way you live your life with the little things such as only boiling enough water for the amount of coffee you're making, drinking tap water not bottled, using energy saving lightbulbs, recycling.

but then there are many many people who don't knowingly stand under the authority of God and yet are responding to being made in the image of God by taking on their duty to take care of creation because they feel it is the right thing to do. we have an awesome friend called treehouse claire. ok, so really she is called claire, but she lives in a treehouse on a protest site so we call her treehouse claire. well, claire is the only christian on that protest site and yet it would seem to me that her site-mates are stepping up to God's blessing of responsibility for taking care of creation and trying to protect it in radical ways.

i am in the middle. very radical when you put me next to some people but next to others i have a long way to go! although, raising children does seem to me a phenomenal opportunity to model and pass on the values of taking responsibility for creation. my journey though has been one of taking little steps and i think that's the only way it can happen. so many people feel defeated by the sheer enormity of the task at hand when they look at the state we have gotten ourselves into. but when you take one little step of change and it becomes part of your daily life you can then take on another small change. so examples of small steps might be:
1. start buying eco cleaners and washing detergents.
2. buy organic food.
3. buy food from local businesses not supermarkets as much as possible.
4. recycle.
5. turn lights off and switch to eco bulbs.
6. only boil as much water as you need.
7. put a lid on your pan and make sure the flame the pan sits on isn't creeping up round the sides of the pan where it is ineffective.
8. drive less (this is my big challenge)
9. give money regularly by direct debit to organisations working for change.
10. buy the good shopping guide and use it!

ok. lots of stuff there. hope it isn't too full of hot air! i'll try and find some interesting links that will say things with reliability and hopefully be more inspiring.

one last reflection on the blessing God speaks over adam and eve. i think the order of his commands is interesting and spot on for where we are today. we have prospered, but in a way that has led to extreme inequality of wealth distribution, thus poverty is one of the most significant issues facing the majority of the world. we have reproduced. we have filled the earth, not only with people but with large amounts of disgarded waste, toxins and greenhouse gases. we have taken charge but in way that is gradually killing the planet and already killing people around the world due to famine, drought, changing climate and abusing people due to consumer demand for cheaper food, cheaper clothes, more oil, exciting holiday destinations. so the next command God gives is to take responsibility and with that i would challenge myself and the world to take on board God's words in 2 chronicles 7:14 " Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land." new living translation).

phew... time for a cup of tea!

we're sooo proud!

just want to show you this fab video.

the drummer is ben - jos' godfather and one of our dearest friends. this band are amazing live and recorded and they look pretty delicious too!

if you like it tell poeple about it - nothing bad will happen to you if you don't tell and nothing good will happen to you if you do - this isn't one of those cahin mail spam things!!

along a similar line to the post below...

yesterday robin and i were in London. we had a great day. met with shannon and did big lick ice-creams and saw big ben. also went to the southbank centre where i bought a book for andy. it is such a great book that i am directing you to it on amazon

a story about a dinosaur, written by robin and mummy

The dinosaur was rustling. There was rustling in the dinosaur's tummy.
It was a beetle and a ladybird and a grasshopper.

I wonder how they got there...

The dinosaur stretched eight bits and ate them up in his mouth.
He said "yuk, these taste yucky!" so he spat them out into his potty.

I wonder what happened next...

The dinosaur did a poo on them.



ps. the only bits mummy added to the story were the 'i wonder' questions. i love robin's imagination - it is always so colourful!!

if you love the poor you can name them.

the title of this post is a quote by shane claiborne from the simple way community in philadelphia. i have heard shane speak several times and he is always challenging, provocative and oozing grace. but i have never heard him say this quote about the poor.

and it really hits home. it is uncomfortable because for me i think i do love the poor and feel i stand strong against injustice but then i think to myself, "who are the poor in my life?" and i start to struggle. i can remember the poor from my past who i used to hang out with and even gave a roof over the head to but not now. and it's easy to think nice thoughts that comfort me in my happy middle class existence such as, 'but i'm loving those i'm in community with', or 'i'm focusing my energy on fighting for justice for local farmers and local businesses', or 'God has me fighting a massive battle of justice right now and i don't have time for anything else'. these things are all true but, as shane points out, when jesus tells the story about the beggar lazarus sitting outside the rich man's gates, only the beggar is given a name and it is lazarus, the poor beggar, who God saves. just like God saves the widows and the orphans and those in slavery or excluded from society.

i don't know where to move on to from this point. just know that i am challenged by it. what does it mean to love the poor if not to be in relationship with them and know their name? to know their lives and troubles and sadness but also their joy and celebration.