Good Monday Morning, Dear Friends,
A few years ago, National Geographic published a book called, “The Human Footprint.” I found it really fascinating. It looked at how much of every commodity we use throughout the course of an entire lifetime. I thought you might find it interesting.
For instance, do you know how many soft drink cans you will open in your lifetime? 43,371. There you go. (I failed to write down how many beers some will drink, but they had that in there, too.) Here’s another one. How many gallons of water will you use taking showers? You will use 28,330 gallons of water in the shower.
The paper use that we have? Though it has declined slightly in the last few years, we each use 700 pounds of paper in a year’s time. 700 pounds per person, per year, in America. By comparison, in China or in India, it’s 25 pounds per person. We’re 700 pounds per person in America.
We have 5% of the world’s population, and 30% of the world’s cars. If we use 10,000 miles in a year (which is probably very conservative), and drive for sixty years, how many miles will the average American drive in a lifetime? 600,000 miles. If we average 20 miles per gallon, that’s 30,000 gallons of gasoline that you’ll use in your lifetime. At Imagine Church, we average around 400 in worship attendance, and each one consumes 30,000 gallons of gas in our driving lifetime, that’s 12,000,000 gallons of gasoline that Imagine Church will consume in our driving lifetime. Just keep that in mind.
Solid waste production: The average American will produce 4.4 pounds of solid waste per day (this is the stuff that you throw in the trash) or around 1,600 pounds of solid waste that you will produce this year. Now, you’re going to live to be at least 80, right? 80 years times 1,600 pounds of solid waste — you’re going to produce 128,000 pounds of solid waste in your lifetime.
This is our Father’s world, and it is irreplaceable. I believe we are called, as those who seek to please God, to take care of His world. To savor and enjoy it. And to make sure it’s here for a long time to come. To honor God, by honoring His creation.
One person figured that out; he was a preacher named Maltbie Babcock. In 1901, he was hiking up a trail, and was looking out over Lake Ontario. He wrote down these words, and I love them. Here is what he wrote:
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 seas, of skies and seas, His hand the wonders wrought.
Let’s make sure that we take good care of what can’t be replaced.
Bruce Jones, Pastor
Imagine Church
