Friends ~
This past Sunday, church member and regular 8 o'clock attendee, Buck Beuch, handed me a magazine called The Dirt. Now, you may be thinking, is The Dirt a political magazine, a journalistic scoop kind of thing, or maybe even a gossip column sort of periodical? No, it is much more literal than that. It is a magazine for people who dig in the dirt using John Deere machinery. So, my first surprise was that there was a whole magazine for such an audience!
My second surprise came from the cover article, which is what Buck wanted me to read in the first place. It highlights a fellow named Chad Pregracke who had worked as a shell diver, barge hand and commercial fisherman on American waterways. As he worked on the rivers, he grew disheartened at seeing how much environmental pollution existed in the waters he loved. Here is Chad's quote: "I kept seeing so much garbage out there and just got sick of it. So I said, if nobody else is going to clean this up, I will." Fast-forward 18 years to where Chad is now the founder and president of Living Lands & Waters (LL&W).
His organization has motivated thousands of volunteers to do work which truly has made a di
fference in environmental restoration. Here is the dramatic list of some of the items that LL&W has removed from our nation's rivers: 73,374 tires, 22,200 sports balls, 1,218 chairs, 110 toilets, 101 mattresses, 77 messages in a bottle, 13 prosthetic limbs, 12 cars/trucks/vans, and 1 combine harvester.
It just goes to show that you don't know what you don't know. This world is large, amazing, mysterious and there's so much going on in so many different corners of it. It is important for us to learn the interesting ways that people in other places, in other walks of life --even people working a huge John Deere excavator from a floating barge -- are working towards bettering the world for us all. I enjoyed finding out about Mr. Pregracke and the work he is doing to take care of a river and, without Buck, I might never have even heard of such a thing. Sadly, I am also astounded at how so many people can thoughtlessly throw their unwanted items into the water, believing it to be out of sight, out of mind. However, it does cause a person to think about the impact he or she might be making while living on this planet, and the importance of caring about recycling, and praying for the good earth, life-sustaining water, and fresh, clean air. The world needs so many more Pregrackes, and so many fewer people who toss their tires into the river.
The lesson is to line up with the people who care; people in church, at work, and at school; people in your homes, and people working with civic or charitable organizations. Align yourselves with people who take to heart the responsibility to restore God's good creation. How we live together, and how we care for each other and our environment is one of the ways we all make a difference, indeed!
May God help us keep digging for the ways we can make a difference! See you in church!
--Pastor Josh
