Come on back now, ya'll, y'hear?

I was visited by one Dan White the other day week who said to me, "hey, why haven't you updated your blog?"

I said, I don't know, I guess I wrote in it mostly so I wouldn't go completely insane at work.

He said, well, I was reading that. (Which strikes me a bit funny, 'cause seriously, who reads this thing?) So go update it.

Life is crazy-crazy for just about everyone I know, including me, so that's not really an excuse. I guess, if anything, here's my excuse:

I messed up.

I started not really caring, or backsliding, or rationalizing. And I think this happens every once in awhile to anyone who cares about planet Earth. "Well, it's all going to pot anyway, I'll just go out to Chinese and get the leftovers in that stupid little wax paper container that you can't recycle or reuse. There's no way I can change the millions of minds who are set on the inadvertent destruction of the planet -- plus, it's not like I'm polluting or something terrible like that."

But you know, God has a funny way of bringing me back. I was actually reading Romans the other day. 'Till now, I haven't done much Bible study on my own, 'cause the Bible I was using was like, I don't know, like two gears with mismatched teeth. But this one, I got at Camp Josiah last month, and it's much easier on my poor little brain.

Anyway, in there (around Romans 14) it says things like, "If you think some foods are unfit to eat, then for you they are not fit." and "Don't let your appetite destroy what God has done. All foods are fit to eat, but it is wrong to cause problems for others by what you eat."

Now, I know (think?) Paul is really just talking about unity between the different cultures who became followers of Jesus (i.e. "hey guys, quit picking on each other, Jesus said it's okay to eat whatever, but just because Sammy eats only kosher stuff doesn't mean that you get to pick on him"). But to me, it was a pretty stern reminder about how I really feel about the environment. It's pretty clear to me. Don't let your consumerism destroy creation. Don't choose products that dishonor or steal dignity from the lives of other people. Remember how you don't actually think it's okay to eat processed things? D'you know how much that's tearing you up inside under the thin sheet of numbness you've laid down in there? Gosh, Em, seriously.

So. I had to chuckle a bit to myself. Yep, I've gone astray a little here. Yep, I need to come back. Yep, I should take the extra half-hour and the ten extra bucks to shop at the co-op or the farmer's market instead of going to Safeway or Acme.

Still haven't done it yet, but at least I'm getting back to on track.

Anyway, my new goal is to update this puppy at least once a week... let's see how it turns out.