Serve God, Save the Planet

When I told someone that I was reading Serve God, Save the Planet, they responded by asking why I would be reading that "wacked out hippie garbage". It may be wacked out - but only in the sense that Christians are meant to be wacked out. We should not be normal, we are a peculiar people. Too often, we look just like the rest of our neighbors. Serve God, Save the Planet is exactly what the sub-title says - A Christian Call to Action. J. Matthew Sleeth, a former ER doctor & hospital chief-of staff, writes about parenting, eating, home-maintenance, TV, possessions, and many other topics, from a conservationists stand point.
I must say that this is going to be one of my top books of the year. I found this book informational, challenging, and inspiring. A few things that I learned (which I probably should have known)

• Do not eat fast food
• the lint trap in the dryer is what is taken from your clothes & therefore the dryer wears them out more quickly as well as uses a lot of energy
• kids spend more time watching TV than in school a year
  
• I am owned by my possessions

I am an avid fan of the show 24. However, I told my wife about a month ago that this past season was the last one I will watch. I do not want that violence in my mind and spirit. Dr. Sleeth speaks a bit to this invasion of the spirit. He writes, "wasting time and wasting energy are two reasons to curtail TV viewing. The three hundred million TV sets in the United States consume a lot of energy - five times more than is produced by all the geothermal, biomass, solar, and wind sources in the United States. They take energy and materials to manufacture. They are difficult to get rid of and to recycle. They convince us to buy things we don't need, which cost energy to produce, transport, and dispose of. But the real reason tp worry about watching TV has to do with the part of us we can't see or measure: or spirit. Television separates us from our Creator while killing his creation."

This book is a great read and one I would strongly encourage people to read. There is so much we can do to sustain God's creation. This book gives simple (and difficult) suggestions to do this. In the back of the book is a wealth of resources - energy audits, simple suggestions to reduce your energy usage, an earth-care to-do list, and a workbook.

For more information, visit servegodsavetheplanet.org