So I did finish “Velvet Elvis,” and it was a fantastic read. I encourage you to check it out. Talk about someone who just seems to get it! Rob Bell has this insight about and love of Jesus’ teachings that just excites me. And he has a way of just laying it out there that challenges you to explore it for yourself. Sure, you can blindly accept what he says, but it would be a great disservice to yourself in doing so.
And, then he has those moments where he explores a Jesus experience. Something that only those who’ve experienced can truly appreciate. Many can fathom, but only the experienced will truly just get it.
As I read the final pages last night, there was another of those that grabbed me.
“Pollution and littering are Spiritual issues.”
He goes on to discuss Adam and Eve and God’s original intent and mandate to man. How man’s purpose was to care for and assist the earth. But I’m not here to discuss or support that – as true as the quote is to me.
What happened when I read that was the revelation of a Jesus experience. The floodgates opened and in a very cinema-hip way, memories flashed in my mind’s eye. I’m talking years of moments in my life. All pertaining to one thing. Litter.
I can honestly say, I was never much one to give a hoot. I even went as far in justifying littering by saying it gave the inmates or grounds keepers something to do. I wouldn’t think twice about throwing my empty beer bottle out of the car window. Yes, you read that correctly.
I was a litter bug.
Strangely, without conscious effort, now I am not.
I saw memories of throwing bottles at road signs. Tossing gum wrappers on the ground. Leaving bags of fast food trash beside my car as I drove away.
And I saw memories of recent times when for some reason I put the gum wrapper in my pocket. Instead of tossing the water bottle out of the car window, I just leave it in the car – I have proof. :lol:
At no point in time did I ever say to myself, “Let’s not litter any longer.” It just happened.
Reading that passage and having that flood of memories come to me was like God saying, “Now you see that I’m always working in you. You may not notice, but it’s happening.”
I was WOW’ed!
I literally was a litterer of felonious proportions, yet since I’ve been a follower of Jesus, I’ve just stopped.
I think Rob Bell has it right when he says that God created us to be environmentalists, and these issues are Spiritual. God gave us this world and we should desire to protect it. Even in the smallest of matters. It’s down right selfish not to be. We should be concerned for what we leave for future generations.
If we don’t care, who will?
Those of you laughing as you read this just have never experienced on any level what God has envisioned for you. I don’t push this belief on you. But I will say this. You have no clue what you’re missing.
As you exit, please place your opinions in the proper recepticles provided for you.
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