August 26, 2021 – Click here to listen
Yesterday we went on an Alaskan one-day excursion on a large vessel to see the fiords of the Kenai peninsula. It was breathtaking to view the glaciers, towering mountains, deep blue ocean, whales, sea otters, seals, sea lions, colorful puffins, and other birds.
The glaciers were perhaps the highlight. Our boat went right up to within a few yards of where the glaciers entered the fiords. Large chunks of ice were floating and occasionally we would hear a loud crack and rumbling noise and see some ice slide into the bay. Though it was cold the ice was still melting.
The guide said that those glaciers were formed eons ago and once covered vast distances. He pointed out where they had carved deep valleys through the mountains and left gravel and large boulders behind. They stretched for miles through the rugged mountains. He estimated in the next 1000 years or so they would be gone.
Hmmm . . . Some consider this to be tragic; however, I was thinking that we are no longer in the ice age. Dinosaurs are gone and other species that could not adapt, and undoubtedly as our environment changes some more species will go the way they did and become extinct. So, is this a bad thing?
I read a sign that said glaciers are formed when snow falls and stays frozen. As much as seventy feet of snow will fall on top of it and the tremendous weight makes it slide and move. At risk of being attacked by an eco-terrorist tree and bunny hugger, I wonder what the fuss is about. I don’t want to live in the ice age.
I have a wing feather from a passenger pigeon that a friend who worked in a museum gave me. This bird is now extinct. The museum had one mounted in a glass case and it looked like a dove to me. Is it a tragedy that it, or the saber-toothed tiger, or the huge T-Rex is extinct? Egad! I’m good without them being around.
I have been a sportsman since a young age and throughout my life and strongly believe in conservation efforts and managing and protecting wildlife; however, some change is inevitable. People ask if I believe in climate change. I respond that yes, I believe the climate changes from time to time. I don’t believe that the weather being unusually hot in one state and/or cold in another means we need to become cave dwellers again.
It seems climate change is blamed for every bad thing that happens. I recently read where one of our illustrious members of Congress claimed that the war in Afghanistan was the result of climate change. Huh? Al Gore got exceedingly rich overnight when he espoused his theory on climate change. According to him and some of his followers, we should all be dead now from the rising ocean due to climate change.
Californians, however, were quick to respond by installing thousands of wind turbines to generate electricity. About all they accomplished was to kill hundreds of thousands of birds in the process. Regular gas prices in California are the highest in the nation ($4.39 per gallon). (When Trump was in office it was $2.25.) They have the most solar panels and the most turbines and it seems that gas would be the least expensive. In the meantime, people cannot afford to drive to work. Biden shut down the XL pipeline and put a moratorium on gas and oil leases on federal land. Now he is begging the Saudis and Russia to produce more oil.
Wat?
Humankind was given authority over the earth. As good managers, we should acknowledge that responsibility and execute it according to God’s will. We are not however, gods with the power to reduce the size or quantity of hurricanes or determine whether it should be hotter or colder in one area or another. Dominion over the earth is one thing but the Universe is another.
This entire argument reminds me of a cartoon I saw many years ago where two cavemen were looking at a bow and arrow. It was obvious that it had just been invented. They were both looking outside, and it was pouring down rain. One turned to the other and asked if he thought that perhaps the bow and arrow was causing the excessive rain.
Are we so vain as to think that God is not on the throne and in total control? The entire Universe is precise. For example, if the sun were just a tiny bit closer, we would all burn up; a little further away and we would freeze. God is the one who holds it in place, not the federal government. Likewise, He holds our hearts in his hands. It beats because of His sovereignty and stops when He ordains. Worry about it if you will, but God is on the throne, and I will admire His creation and enjoy the moment as will future generations right up until the day Jesus appears in the sky with a shout.
Gen. 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”