From time to time growing up in Orange County California in the 80’s and 90’s I heard the phrase “Crazy Christians” used to define “those” people who were super committed to their faith and willing to do anything to share it with the world.  They were the really sold out ones, the “on fire” group that just seemed over the top about Jesus.  They were the Crazy Christians and I am not sure where “they” have gone and why they seemed so “crazy.”

I hadn’t thought about the phrase in a long time and then I watched a television show called Whale Wars on the Discovery Channel.  If you haven’t seen it, the show chronicles the efforts of the Non-Profit Sea Shepherd to track and interfere with Japanese whaling ships in the south sea.  If you watch the show what you will see is a group of people passionately committed to saving whales, so much so that they are willing to sink ships, risk death and arrest, and sacrifice their lives for the whales – literally.  In fact, the leader of the organization asks each new crew member a simple question: “Are you willing to give your life for a whale?”

A Fish Needs Oil Like a Duck Needs a Shotgun

I was recently asked to give a quote on the gulf oil disaster.  This is what came out of my small but pliable head:

 “It doesn’t take a Christian environmentalist to realize that God didn’t create fish to swim in oil, it just takes a Christian who cares.  We can’t continue to sit in the cheap seats on environmental issues and expect anyone to care what we think about the other challenges that face our world.  It’s all connected -- Christ cared deeply about all sorts of suffering – physical, emotional, spiritual, economic. The Christian church can ill afford to continue to exhibit indifference in the face of human and ecological tragedy.  Sadly, that continues to frequently be our best and only apparent answer.” 

Jim Moriarty (Surfrider CEO) Talks About Faith & Oil 

I have known Jim Moriarty for over five years now and I consider him a good friend.  He and I don’t always see eye to eye on every issue, but we do see eye to eye on Christ.  As the CEO of Surfrider Foundation, one of the biggest coastal environmental organizations on earth, Jim agreed to be a part of Humanitarian Jesus (one of only two secular non-profit leaders who are in the book) and I will share that interview later this month.  But, given the media coverage that the current oil spill is getting I asked him if he would answer 5 Questions on the topic.  He did and the answers are worth reading:

1.  What was your immediate reaction to the spill as someone that cares deeply about our oceans?

"Africa needs long-term, well-educated and highly committed help."   Read on...

Anyone up for trash detail?  Just wondering if any sending organizations in the West would like to gather folks for that…

Joking aside,  Africa needs long-term, well-educated and highly committed help.  Africa needs people with degrees that give them credibility in the areas of sustainable development, waste management, recycling (on a major scale), reforestation, sustainable agriculture etc etc etc.

As you may know, one of the biggest problems African nations are facing or, rather, not facing, is waste management.  Plastic bags cover the ground everywhere I go.

I've landed in California after another 2 years in Africa and, once again, I find there are so many things to love.  For starters, I love the city of Pasadena, Southern California's only "real" city, if you ask me.  It's old enough to have a little history.  Pasadena has real trees with old roots and a spectacular city hall.  I love the affordable dining-out in this state, the crazy way the mountains almost touch the sea, the sense that anything can happen.  I love that people buy flowers and eat fruit and want to be informed, concerned and relevant.  

I tiptoe into the my areas of concern because I really don't want to sound as if I'm judging.  I just can't help being surprised by certain things during this month that we've been back.  So let's call this my short list of surprises.

I'm a part of tiny organization called Wild Hope. Outside of Arusha town, here in Tanzania, Wild Hope owns a pretty piece of land where large areas have been plowed improperly in the past. Now, a big rant about the damage done all over Africa by poor plowing practices won't help anyone, and the question remains as to why small farm owners plow up and down the slope? Don't they know that the topsoil is being stripped off their farms? Don't they realize it is eroded by wind and water, poured into the streams and eventually dumped into the ocean where it kills the coral reef and puts all other marine life at risk?

Possibly there is no concern for marine life so far away. Few local inland farmers would have had resources available to travel to the coast and be impressed by the warm Indian Ocean. Understandably then, there may be little regard for her, but aren't they driven sufficiently by their own desire for successful farming to keep their topsoil?