Brooke Chao

Lately I’ve been really disconcerted and disillusioned with all the blind support for war I’ve seen in my church. All the railing against perceived enemies to America, to Christian “values” and the list goes on. I don’t mean supporting our men and women, but actually speaking of the war itself and using might and force as though this is a great and noble thing.

I’ve come to the conclusion that while I admire the bravery and conviction with which our men and women serve, and want nothing better than for them all to come home safely, I cannot support or condone war – any war – “just” or not.

The more I read Christ’s words about loving our enemies and doing good to those that persecute us, and repaying no one evil for evil. The more I read words like “If someone demands you cloak, offer your tunic, also” and “turn the other cheek”, and Christ’s rebuke of Peter drawing the sword to defend Him, the more I read words like “for we wrestle NOT against flesh and blood” the more I become convinced that we are called to model this peacemaking spirit to others – even in the face of threats to our freedom or very lives.

This is not weakness. This is not a wishy washy, namby-pamby peace, but a peace that comes from strength of knowing that our lives and our possessions are not ours to defend. All we have is given to us by God, and if God chooses to take that away, then so be it. I will not grasp the things of this life that tightly. That this life, and our property are not worth killing over, and that if we truly, TRULY believe the Gospel, then we should never raise a sword or gun to an “enemy.”

If I truly claim to be “pro-life” and value the sanctity of life, that should extend beyond the womb, to ALL lives, White, black, Christian, Muslim, and pray for the redemption and love of Christ to touch anyone who may wish me harm. THAT is how you conquer – through grace and love. Bloodshed just leads to more bloodshed.

My husband and I have gotten to the point that we really cannot understand how FEW Christians think this is important. Some actually get it. Some listen politely and some outright snicker and tease us about becoming hippies.

Too many either think it’s too big a task and therefore impossible and not worth the time, or flat out don’t think it’s important and reject any notion that involves environmental concerns and write off any warnings about how our wasteful attitudes are destroying the planet as “myths” or propaganda by “liberals”. How can this be?

We’ve even heard one friend say they saw “An Inconvenient Truth”, that they believed what it said, and it effected them….but not enough to do anything about it. Sort of, “Oh, well that’s a real shame.” and then on their merry way.

Of course “An Inconvenient Truth” was part of it for us, but this really hit home after watching a documentary called “The End of Suburbia.” We are TOTALLY dependent upon oil for EVERYTHING. So many of our goods are shipped either across the nation or from overseas. Many companies, and by default, the consumer, rely on cheap products produced and shipped from overseas – that takes petroleum, and so those lower prices are predicated upon gas and oil staying as cheap as possible. The whole “American Dream” and American way of life is predicated upon cheap, plentiful oil, which was destined to end, and by all accounts will be ending shortly.

Many of us live in suburbs and have to commute to work, sometimes great distances. That takes LOTS of oil, and even more oil if you drive a bohonkin’ gas guzzling SUV.

Many of our larger farms are using fertilizers and pesticides that are made using petroleum. Many of our manufactured goods are created using petroleum – either in the products themselves, or the machines that create the products. Petroleum is involved in energy production, even if only to lubricate and run certain machinery.

Anyway, my husband and have really decided that we’re going to at least TRY to make a difference. We’re going to sell our house in the ‘burbs and try to find a house much, MUCH closer to where my husband works, and as we replace things in the house, try to do so with the most energy efficient, environmentally conscious manner possible. We’ve already made a good number of changes, but we’re also going to look at buying locally grown produce, join a food co-op, composting, look at Solar energy and Geo-thermal heat pumps, low solvent paints, and just whatever we can. We’re going to try to support companies, candidates and programs that espouse protecting the environment and support environmentally responsible practices.

It’s not all about oil, either. It’s about the consumerism and disposable mentality many of us (ourselves included) have in general that leads to us being such poor stewards of our environment. And unfortunately it may take a situation where we HAVE to make changes for anything to really change on a larger scale.

Well, we don’t want to wait until then. We may not be able to make all the changes in the next month or even the next year, and maybe some of our friends are right and it’s impossible to really make a huge difference, but don’t we owe it to the God that gave us this planet and entrusted it to us, not to mention our children and future generations, to at least TRY? We just can’t see any justifiable reason to throw up our hands and continue to behave irresponsibly and not at least see what we can do to lessen our impact.

It was last minute, but I finally found info on entering into our local County Fair photography competition. Of course they were due that day, but I managed to pick three photos, frame and mat them and get them to the fairgrounds and checked in, on time.

The day of judging came and went, and the next day we went as a family to enjoy the fair. I went into the Exhibit hall, really not expecting much, but to my surprise and delight, two of my three photos won first prize in their category.

I can hardly wait to enter again next year.