May
31
2010
Cheez-its that taste medicinal. Metallic cornflakes. Eggo waffles that remind you of “stale straw”. Meat that calls to mind cardboard or damp dog hair.
If the recent government effort to reduce salt in processed foods is successful, this is what we will have to eat. Or so says the food industry according to an astonishing front page article in yesterday’s New York Times (free subscr reqd).
Compared to reducing fat and sugar, for which substitute ingredients have been found, eliminating salt and sodium is turning out to be a major challenge for these companies. Why is that? It turns out that without salt – lots and lots of salt – we eaters might discover that the stuff that is being sold to us as delicious, tantalizing and even healthy “food” is really nothing of the sort.
It’s a marketing problem. Without salt to hide the true nature of these products, we might not buy them. Why not? It turns out they don’t taste very good: Read more »
May
28
2010
The folks over at crosswalk.com have posted an unusually good summary of my book, Our Father’s World: Mobilizing the Church to Care for Creation. Most reviews feel as if the reviewer looked at the table of contents and the blurbs on the back cover. Not so in this case: Whitney Hopler has done such a good summary of the content that I almost wish I’d written it myself. If you haven’t got the book yet, or have it but haven’t quite got round to reading it (! I know this true of some of my own friends, so don’t feel bad!), her review/summary is below – you could almost read the summary and fake it in a conversation – not that you would, of course. [Here's how to order from the Care of Creation website., and keep in mind that this is also a very good summary of the kind of content you get in the Our Father's World seminar - booking information is here.]
Our environment — God’s creation — is in deep trouble. From the effects of climate change and the extinction of animal and plant species to the growing shortage of clean air and water, creation is in a crisis more serious than ever before.
But the good news is, there’s no better group of people to help solve the problem than Christians. It’s us — those who love God — whom He has called to take care of the environment He made. And if we’re faithful to that call, He’ll empower us to heal our suffering creation.
God is counting on you. Here’s how you can mobilize your church to care for creation: Read more »
May
17
2010
I am having a hard time believing that we have been watching the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico for four full weeks, and only this morning did we have the first bit of partially good news – an attempt to siphon some of the oil into a tanker is starting to work. No one dares to say this is even the start of a solution – it has just made the current situation a little less bad. Meanwhile, reports over the weekend suggested that one of the reasons not as much oil has reached land as originally anticipated is because the stuff is lurking underwater, in enormous “plumes” – one of which might be as large as 10 miles by 3 miles. Read more »
May
10
2010
“Old Literature” is an occasional series pointing to works of the past, sometimes well known, sometimes not, that have embedded in them a clear creation care message. [Check out previous posts in the series here.] C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books are perfect subjects for this series, and have long been on my mental list. Before I got to him, though, Dean Ohlman at Wonder of Creation blog did the job for me, with a little Isaac Watts and John Newton thrown in for good measure. Here is his meditation on Narnia – reposted by permission:
[Peter said,] “Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets (Acts 3:18-21)
Read more »
May
07
2010
No one knows.
The “official” estimate is 210,000 gallons per day (5,000 barrels). This is almost certainly way too low. Some outside experts (non-government and non-oil industry) put the rate at more like 1,050,000 gallons (25,000 barrels). BP itself has admitted that in a worst-case scenario the rate could be more than double that pessimistic amount, or 2,520,000 gallons (60,000 barrels).
Whatever the amount, it adds up fast. NPR has designed a Widget that I have installed to the right ———>>>
You can use the slider to adjust the rate and see what the current total would be if it were leaking at that rate.
Again, no one knows. But what we do know is it isn’t going away.
Lord, forgive us.
[If you are reading this post on FaceBook or on Networked Blogs, you will need to come over to http://ourfathersworld.org to see the widget.]
May
05
2010
Situations like the oil spill in the gulf tend to leave us deflated and discouraged. It’s good, therefore, to be reminded that amid the rubble that we have created in God’s world, he occasionally shows us that there is (still) beauty and wonder when we can shout “Stop!” and look. This post from our friend Donn Ring is a perfect counterpoint to the last one on praying over the oil spill. Enjoy, and spend some time pondering his fantastic photography. Then get yourself *outside* today and look for some wonders yourself!
A few weeks ago we heard rumors of wild flowers in bloom on the south side of the Superstition Mountains east-northeast of Phoenix. We hopped in Dennis’ Honda Element “Pudge” and charged up the road from Arizona City. Once spring temperatures heat up, desert flower displays can be very short lived. We must move!
Read more »
