Good Friday and Earth Day

One might wonder if Good Friday and earth day even belong in the same sentence. I say they do. Good Friday reminds us of the price Christ paid for our sins. The nails in His hands and feet, the crown of thorns on His head. He bore all our sins, so we don't have too. I would not want to pay the price for things that I have done wrong. You only need to ask God to forgive you for your sins (that would be the things you have done that are wrong, (lies, stealing, gossip, cheating, using the Lords name inappropriately, etc) Admit that you have indeed done things that are wrong, be sorry for those things, and accept that God forgives you. John 3:16 says it very well.  For God loved the world so much that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but  have everlasting life..
 So now I would like you to do something. Read this and every time you see a _____, put in your name

For God loved _____so much that he gave his only son, so that ______ would believe in him and not perish, but that ______ would have eternal life. Make it personal. God wants a personal relationship with you!

Today reminded me of a song I used to sing:
He grew the Tree. here are the lyrics

HE MOLDED AND BUILT,
A SMALL LONELY HILL,
THAT HE KNEW WOULD BE CALLED CALVARY.

THEN HE MADE THE SEED,
THAT WOULD GROW TO BE,
THORNS THAT WOULD MAKE HIS SON BLEED.

THEN HE MADE A GREEN STEM,
GAVE IT LEAVES AND THEN,
GAVE IT SUNSHINE AND RAIN,
AND SHELTERED IT WITH MOSS.

HE GREW THE TREE,
THAT HE KNEW WOULD BE,
USED TO MAKE THE OLD RUGGED CROSS.
NOTHING TOOK HIS LIFE,
WITH LOVE HE GAVE IT,
HE WAS CRUCIFIED,
ON A TREE THAT HE CREATED.

WITH GREAT LOVE FOR MAN,
GOD STAYED WITH HIS PLAN,
HE GREW THE TREE,
SO THAT WE MIGHT GO FREE.

WITH TEARS IN HIS EYES,
GOD LOOKED DOWN THROUGH TIME,
SAW HIM SPAT UPON,
REJECTED AND MOCKED.

STILL, HE GREW THE TREE,
THAT HE KNEW WOULD BE,
USED TO MAKE THE OLD RUGGED CROSS.

Without a doubt this is the first thing I am thinking on today. My daughter even told one of her class mates that Good Friday was when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and Easter is when He rose from the grave. Now that makes a mama happy, she is learning, and sharing. Praise the Lord!

Now to the lesser thing on this day, Earth day. This isn't about being an eco-maniac. It is about taking care of this beautiful place God gave us to live, and taking care of these bodies He gave us.

Every time I take my homemade produce bags (old sheers from good will, and clearance rack toulle sewn into bags), and reusable shopping bags to the store, I bring home that many fewer or no plastic bags. plastic bags that pollute the earth by not breaking down, and the pollution created in the manufacturing is terrible too.  I know we can "recycle" these plastic bags, but a lot of people don't and really we should reduce first, and recycle last!

Every time I send my kids juice to school in a stainless reusable cup, there are 2 juice boxes not being thrown away (that is 360 over the course of one school year), even tho some of them are also recyclable, they usually have to travel across the ocean and back again before they are made into new products. We save a lot by using our reusable bottles. (this goes for those plastic water bottles too, you know right that most bottled water is just tap water in a plastic bottle, and you pay for it!) I'm not judging I used to do it too. Do you know that the two biggest producers of bottled water or Coca cola, and Pepsi. This is about the bottom dollar, not about getting us better water. People started drinking more water, so the soda companies started bottling it and marketing it as better. It really just creates a lot of pollution, and waste, so you could save lots of money in the long run by purchasing a reusable water bottle and using it!

for fun let's crunch some numbers.

Juice boxes for 10 of Caprisun at my grocery $2.27 that is about 23 cents each. I have two kids so that would 360 days of school (180 per kid) for a total juice box cost of $82.80 for the school year only. Now you know as well as I do, that if there are juice boxes in the fridge the kids reach for those. Did you know that if you have a pitcher of water, they will reach for that instead, and get one with a spout, and suddenly it is fun to get water.

Now for stainless bottles the bottles initial cost was $12.99 each, so that is $25.98 (sounds bad, but we have been using the same bottles for a year) Juice in a could of ways, I go natural, so added sugar, no high fructose corn syrup, just juice. I can get 1 gallon of juice for $2.28 that is 16  8oz servings at 14 cents each, so at 360 days (again 180 per kid) that is $50.40 for the school year. Now we add the cost of the reusable cups for a total of $76.38. Now we saved around $6.40 for the school year, however, the reusable cups keep going, we will use them all summer, and again next school year, until they are completely unusable. However, next school year we have a savings of close to $32 by using the reusable cups because our initial investment keeps giving.  Not only that, we are reducing what we bring into our home, and what we toss out.

So today, be thankful for the price Christ paid, and then do something to help the earth! Each small step makes a difference.

Have a blessed day!