Tag: environment

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

An environment for unfaithfulness

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Nathan Cowley on pexels

A “through the bible” devotion from Judges 1 and 2.

Productivity gurus and life coaches will tell you that your environment determines your habits.

  • If you’ve got chips in the house, you’ll eat chips. Throw out the chips and fill the fridge with fruit. You’ll be much more likely to reach for a healthy snack.
  • You’ve got your guitar in a case over in the corner. You’re not as likely to pick it up and play it as you would be if it were out on a stand where you can see it.
  • Own a dog? You’ll walk a lot more than if you didn’t have one.

God’s people didn’t create an environment for faithfulness. Over and over again we read, “[They] did not drive out the inhabitants” (Judges 1:30,31,33). As a result, “The sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals” (Judges 2:11). If you’ve got Baal worshipers living in the neighborhood, you’ll be tempted to join them. And that’s exactly what happened.

I wonder what happened. Did the people just get tired of fighting? Did they think the benefit of slave labor outweighed driving out all the inhabitants of the land? Were they simply disobedient? Yeah, I’ll bet it was the last one that got them into the most trouble.

Posted in recycling

A swimsuit from recycled plastic

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Most of the recycling bins out on the curb this morning were chock full of empty water bottles.

On the one hand, that’s a good thing. It beats having all of them sitting in landfills for who knows how long. And it means that people are drinking a lot of water, which is healthy.

On the other hand, we have good tap water in our community. Unless you’re stocking up for a hurricane or you need to pack some drinks for a trip, how much bottled water do you really need to buy to drink at home? Is it really better than what comes from your faucet at home?

And, the bathing suit I just bought from Fair Harbor clothing is made from recycled water bottles and a little bit of spandex. Now you might think such swimwear would be a little uncomfortable. I don’t know how they do it, but the fabric is soft, feels great, and dries quickly.

So far, I’ve only bought the one suit made from twelve plastic bottles. But they also make shorts, pants, t-shirts, polos, and hoodies. I had a coupon and am getting a rebate for my first purchase. Since it’s pricey, I wait and see if they send me discount codes to buy more stuff.