When it was just God
One Saturday a few months ago, I attended the funeral of Tony DeRooy. I've known the DeRooy family since I was in high school, and I'm pleased to count several members of the family as good friends. Tony was eighty five years old. Besides being an accomplished singer and musician, Tony was a master gardener, and was well known for several of his large landscaping projects and his expertise with dahlias.
At the funeral, Tony's brother, Henry, mentioned Tony's first job after serving in the military during World War II. The National Parks were closed for the duration of the war, and after 4 years of no maintenance, Glacier Park Lodge was overrun with weeds. It was Tony's job to get the landscaping ready for the reopening of the park.
When the park reopened, a visitor remarked to Tony what a fine job he and God had done with the park. Tony responded, “You should have seen it last year when it was just God!”
God had continued to provide the rain and the sunshine, and to make the plants grow, but without someone there to pull the weeds and prune the shrubs, the Lodge landscaping was a mess. God had done his job, but man had fallen down on his part of the job during the war. The landscaping mess Tony had to deal with is what you get when it's “just God.”
A lot of things work like that. People sometimes ask, why does God allow all the poverty and hunger in the world? Well, God has done his part to feed us all. He's provided the earth with abundant resources, and he's provided the plants and animals we eat and the sun and rain to make them grow. It's not God's fault if we fail to distribute the food to the people who need it. That's our fault. People go hungry when it's “just God.”
And poverty? Same thing there: God provided us with the resources to make just about anything we might want. It's not God's fault that some people decided it was more important for them to have a new car, or a bigger TV, or a new iPod – or the world's most powerful military - than for others in the world to have basic necessities of life. As Gandhi said, “The earth provides for every man's needs but not for every man's greed.” It's not that there isn't enough “stuff” to go around. God has created the Earth to provide enough to meet the needs of all human beings; it is up to mankind to spread the wealth around as God intended. When those of us who have everything we need demand still more, we take it from those who are doing without the basic necessities of life. When I demand a two hundred dollar pair of running shoes, or a new cell phone with a better camera, or any of the other luxuries we take for granted, I'm taking from the impoverished people of the world, from the half of the world's population who lives on two dollars or less per day. Poverty? That's what you get when it's “just God.”
War? There's another example of what happens when it's “just God.” God's been clear on what he wants: “Thou shalt not kill.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.” He's even given us some pretty good advice on how to be peacemakers: “Love your neighbor.” “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” But instead, we go about the business of killing each other, and at any given moment, there are several wars going on in the world. That's what it looks like when we don't do our part, when it's “just God.”
Look around you. What other situations do you see where it's “just God”; where man is failing to do his part? What action can you take to work with God? How can you encourage others to work with God?
At the funeral, Tony's brother, Henry, mentioned Tony's first job after serving in the military during World War II. The National Parks were closed for the duration of the war, and after 4 years of no maintenance, Glacier Park Lodge was overrun with weeds. It was Tony's job to get the landscaping ready for the reopening of the park.
When the park reopened, a visitor remarked to Tony what a fine job he and God had done with the park. Tony responded, “You should have seen it last year when it was just God!”
God had continued to provide the rain and the sunshine, and to make the plants grow, but without someone there to pull the weeds and prune the shrubs, the Lodge landscaping was a mess. God had done his job, but man had fallen down on his part of the job during the war. The landscaping mess Tony had to deal with is what you get when it's “just God.”
A lot of things work like that. People sometimes ask, why does God allow all the poverty and hunger in the world? Well, God has done his part to feed us all. He's provided the earth with abundant resources, and he's provided the plants and animals we eat and the sun and rain to make them grow. It's not God's fault if we fail to distribute the food to the people who need it. That's our fault. People go hungry when it's “just God.”
And poverty? Same thing there: God provided us with the resources to make just about anything we might want. It's not God's fault that some people decided it was more important for them to have a new car, or a bigger TV, or a new iPod – or the world's most powerful military - than for others in the world to have basic necessities of life. As Gandhi said, “The earth provides for every man's needs but not for every man's greed.” It's not that there isn't enough “stuff” to go around. God has created the Earth to provide enough to meet the needs of all human beings; it is up to mankind to spread the wealth around as God intended. When those of us who have everything we need demand still more, we take it from those who are doing without the basic necessities of life. When I demand a two hundred dollar pair of running shoes, or a new cell phone with a better camera, or any of the other luxuries we take for granted, I'm taking from the impoverished people of the world, from the half of the world's population who lives on two dollars or less per day. Poverty? That's what you get when it's “just God.”
War? There's another example of what happens when it's “just God.” God's been clear on what he wants: “Thou shalt not kill.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.” He's even given us some pretty good advice on how to be peacemakers: “Love your neighbor.” “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” But instead, we go about the business of killing each other, and at any given moment, there are several wars going on in the world. That's what it looks like when we don't do our part, when it's “just God.”
Look around you. What other situations do you see where it's “just God”; where man is failing to do his part? What action can you take to work with God? How can you encourage others to work with God?
posted by Jim Allyn at 8/17/2007 01:40:00 PM
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