Creation Care

The Christian & the Business World #1: My Qualifications for the Series

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Before I start a series on Christians and the business world, I think it’s fair to let you know what my qualifications to speak on this topic are:

Zero.

Well, that’s not exactly true. What I mean is that I don’t have any unusual background that would make me an authority on the subject. That said, I’ve worked in numerous industries and ministries over the years. My list of past work experience paints me as a jack-of-all-trades, but unlike the typical jack, I have a strong tendency to become expert in what I do. Such is my personality that I can’t stand not mastering what I attempt. What this has given me is a strong eye and a discerning mind; I see what other people don’t. That has served me well over the years, but has also been a source of friction from people who don’t understand.

Over the years, I have worked for large companies like Apple Computer, small start-ups like Synchrony Communications, and contracted work within NASA, Procter & Gamble, and others. I’ve worked in every level of Christian camping ministry, from lowly counselor up to camp manager. I’ve worked in Training, Sales, Marketing, IT, the housing industry, the Christian bookstore industry, and more. I’ve seen a lot of sides of a lot of disparate organizations. If I’d been smart (and this will be the topic of one post, certainly), I would’ve been the proud owner of three or more large Rolodexes filled with a wide assortment of business contacts from all my many wanderings. Notice the “would’ve been”—very important here.

Anyway, after a number of roles that called on my writing skills, I took the plunge and went into business for myself as a freelance writer. I write everything from tech manuals to marketing copy to fiction. Again with the Jack-of-all-trades thing, even within the writing biz.

It’s my hope that this series will utilize my skills as a “j-o-a-t” to their best advantage. But most of all, I hope you all are blessed by what I have to say, even if that blessing seems discouraging at first. I’ll be the first to admit that I think that the current state of business today is at complete odds with most of the Gospel, no matter what the Christian captains of industry say. Still, the intersection of godliness and good business may be small, but it is there. Staying within that overlap in the Venn diagram is far more difficult than Christians understand, but I hope we can figure it out together and see how we Christians can weather future storms in the economy and in work, bring our salt and light to the world of business.

Next post in the series: The Christian & the Business World #2: Economic Systems

Upcoming Series: The Christian & the Business World

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Want to give you all a heads up that as soon as my writing backlog eases in the next couple days, I will be starting a series looking at the business world and Christianity. Given that I’ve written much in the last couple years on the issue, I hope to explore some ideas more thoroughly in a specific business context.

Tim Challies suggested this and I want to thank him for prodding me. He wrote an excellent piece on Greg Stielstra’s pyromarketing techniques and I started to write an epic post addressing this from another angle, but it got lost in the pile. I’m planning on dusting that off and trimming it down. Plus, I want to look at the issue of why attending a Bible study at work is easy, but living out a Christian worldview in business is astonishingly difficult. There are a few more surprises, so I’m envisioning about a half dozen posts on this topic.

If you have any kind of horror stories about the intersection of business and the cross, drop me a line via my profile or leave a comment on this post. If you have questions or would like to see a particular topic in this area addressed, let me know.

Hang in there readers! I promise to be back soon enough with truly great stuff.

Next series post: The Christian & the Business World #1: My Qualifications for the Series

Creation in the Heart of the Christian

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View from Mt. Lassen, Callifornia

When I was a child, my favorite hymn was, by far, “This Is My Father’s World.” There was something inherently organic, yet otherworldly, in the simple words that begin this hymn:

This is my Father’s world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world,
the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world:
He shines in all that’s fair;
in the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

The planets (the “spheres” as so elegantly put in the hymn) sing the praises of God. Contrary to the small-minded who believe God stopped speaking the second the canon of Scripture was closed, God continues to speak to us through His creation. The beauty of an unfolding lily attests to the artistry of God and His profound love for us that we may delight in what He delights in.

I know that God takes pleasure in what His words have wrought. I also know that I take pleasure in those things. So far this April it has averaged about 70 degrees and sunny here in SW Ohio. I cannot remember an April so auspicious in its loveliness. This kind of weather lifts everyone’s spirit.

Yesterday was the first cutting of the grass. Our property is a bit over thirteen acres, with much of it grass at this point. But as I sit up on my tractor and mow, I cannot help but feel something warm within me. The senses God gave me collect a host of data that all point to one thing: God can speak to us through the land.

I’ve blogged on this before, but I want to reiterate the thought. I believe that one of the reasons that many Christians feel impoverished in their souls is because they lack any connection to the land. Too many of us get all our food from the grocery store and never eat what we could grow ourselves if we had a tie to the land. This divorces us from God’s creation, a state I believe He never intended us to dwell in. Being able to till the soil and grow our own food puts more of our reliance back on the Creator and less on nameless and faceless multinational food production companies.

I believe God is calling Christians to get back to the land, to be better stewards of God’s world than we have been, and to outdo the pantheistic leftists (who seem to inhabit all the environmental groups out there) in our ability to care for Creation. We need to be less reliant on food distribution systems and more reliant on the Lord. I believe that Christians who are considering purchasing a new home buy one with a smaller house, but more property on which to grow food.

This year we are putting in a permaculture fruit orchard with apples, cherries, and Asian pears, plus all the supporting flora (to cut down on our use of harsh chemicals.) We want to be as organic as possible. Since my wife and I both enjoy a nice glass of wine with meals from time to time, we plan on putting in a vineyard after that—we have great soil for it. We live in the viticultural area that in the 1800s was the equivalent to what Napa is today, so we know it can be done.

And there is a blessing that comes from this that I think too many of us are missing. When we become detached from the land, we lose our ability to appreciate the bounty of God’s provision, taking for granted everything we consume. And while the Fall made growing our own food more difficult, the original call of God to be fruitful and to subdue the land has not been rescinded.

Every time I stroll through this property, I thank the Lord. I watched red-bellied woodpeckers cavort on a dying tree yesterday. The meadowlarks stroll in packs through the grass, disturbing the bugs they eat. Bats tear through the sky in random patterns, flying over the blooming pear trees, and the roses with their fresh green leaves. Warblers begin their re-acclimation to southern Ohio, their babbling songs ringing through the budding walnut, sycamore, and locust. Tadpoles swim the creek, while adult frogs croak their mating calls from the pond.

It all speaks to the majesty of God and too many people are missing it, casually ignoring Creation as they fly from one activity to another, dead to the voice of God speaking in the mulberry trees, the bluebirds, or the cirrus clouds wafting by overhead.

This year, rediscover the voice of God in Creation. Find a way to grow your food. Seek out the quiet places in the woods where God can charm you with His verdant lullabies.

In the words of another hymn:

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies;
For the love which from our birth,
Over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.