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For the past four years I have been gradually learning that my spiritual life and accountability to God influence the way I live my life beyond the black and white morality issues. It includes daily decisions involving healthy living and environmental responsibility. We must realize that simple decisions unknowingly have results that help or hurt our neighbor.

Much talk has revolved around the issue of global warming and it is almost taken for a fact that industrialization affects our planet (and thereby our neighbors) in drastic ways. I have just finished Michael Crichton’s book, State of Fear, in which he dramatically deals with environmental fundamentalism, political posturing, and pseudo-science. He raises questions concerning the conclusions made around the whole global warming issue and believes we know surprisingly little to make such bold claims. In the last chapter, his characters present some thoughts on how to get some hard facts from the science in a field which is astonishingly complex. So, how does this relate to how we live out our Christian lives?

“The biggest cause of environmental destruction is poverty. Starving people can’t worry about pollution. They worry about food. Half a billion people are starving in the world right now. More than half a billion without clean water.”

As a Christian it is our responsibility to show love to our neighbor by offering food to the hungry. Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day. What can you give? I would suggest a simple start. Sponsor a child with Compassion International for $32/month. By working to end poverty you may also save the planet.