Happy Earth Day!

Some people may be surprised to see us celebrating Earth Day. But as Christians, each day should be a celebration of the wonderful world that God created!

Just take a few moments and slow down your daily routine to really look around at the beauty of the creation. Stop to watch the bees work in the gardens. Take a minute to listen to the birds sing. Actually stop and smell the roses.

Each living and non-living thing on this planet was crafted and created with care by our most marvelous and creative God! Think about how wonderful earth really is. From north to south, east to west, God has made a vast world full of different climates, beautiful and varied environments, spectacular species of animals and vibrant human cultures to compliment!

Each day on planet earth is another day to just stop and recognize God’s infinite creativity and splendor. And when you look around and see all that is beautiful in this broken world, remember that He is creating another world that is perfect beyond our imagination!

And as you take the time to admire the plush, green grass, the pink & purple blossoms and soak in the warmth of the sun, remember to also protect His creation. We can all do our part to worship God the Creator by taking care of His creation!

At The Hope Center, we’ve been a recycling facility in Hagerstown for many years. While this is an extra form of income to help fund the many ministries, this is also our way as Christians to be good stewards of this magnificent world that God gave us!

We recycle cardboard, newspaper and clothing in our Baling & Recycling Center. But we’ve also started recycling plastics and aluminum in our other facilities.

Taking care of the earth is not about worshiping the trees or “mother nature”. It’s about showing respect to God for His creation. He gave us dominion over this planet and with that power comes the responsibility to use the resources to our advantage and also take care of the earth to give our children and grandchildren a healthy, beautiful place to live in the future.

God created the earth to be a habitat for life (Isaiah 45:18). We have a responsibility to God to be good stewards of the earth He entrusted to us. We cannot exploit the earth’s resources in greed and technological ambition, nor must we care for the environment more than we care for God’s most precious creation, people.

We must also be careful not to neglect the needs of our fellow man. God called us to help each other. While He loves all of His creation, the most important to Him is mankind. After all, we were made in His image (Genesis 1:26). The most precious of all of God’s creation was “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14).

So take some time to thank God today for the air that you breathe. Thank Him for the wonderful color display that He gives us each spring. Thank Him for the resources of this planet that He created so that we could have an abundant life. And be sure to do your part to keep the earth clean and leave it a better place so that the future generations can see how magnificent God is through His creation!