The Little Furnace That Can’t

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My 3 1/2 year old furnace with a cracked heat exchanger.

This wasn’t the post I intended to write. But the day kind of went off the rails when our heating tech said something to the effect of “I can’t believe this!” and proceeded to tell me that the heat exchanger on our three and a half year old furnace was cracked. In case you don’t know–this is bad. As in carbon monoxide leaks. His next step was to shut off the gas supply to the furnace, his due diligence to protect his company from liability.

The news got worse. A repair bill in excess of $1000, and that was if they could get the part. I later learned that they probably wouldn’t get it until mid-December–almost two months. So I called the company we bought the furnace from. They are coming to check it tomorrow. They say they can get the part in 2-3 weeks, around the second week in November. The supply chain chickens have come home to roost for us.

I learned from our technician that this particular part is known to crack where ours cracked and that newer models have redesigned the heat exchanger. And he reminded me that replacement parts for furnaces may be like those on cars, not usually as good as OEM parts. So we could well have the problem again, maybe several times during the life of the furnace.

Hmm. It used to be that heat exchangers lasted the life of the furnace. But in this case, the metal is thinner. I’m thinking that maybe this furnace’s life has ended–for us. I don’t want a potential carbon monoxide threat sitting in my utility room. Yes, we have CO detectors, including one by our bedroom. We’d probably feel better being rid of this furnace and to negotiate for a replacement that (hopefully) doesn’t have this problem. Now we’ll have to see what the company we bought the furnace from thinks about that.

Needless to say, I’m not happy. This happens more than I’d like. Crappy compressors in refrigerators are another one of my beefs. Remember those refrigerators that would last 30 years? You might still have one. Now, you are lucky if they last ten. All the while, they boast about energy efficiency. What’s efficient about making and disposing of these major appliances in such a short cycle?

What’s more troubling is that technicians know about these things, which are potentially life threatening. If my furnace were a car, there would probably be a recall. Why is that not the case?

At least it’s not January. That said, the temperatures the next few nights will be in the 30’s. We have no other heat source than an old space heater–will be going out to get another.

We may have to convert to electric one of these days. It would mean some serious rewiring in our mid-80’s house in natural gas land. It may even be a green move when we finally figure out how to generate our electricity from something else besides coal. Maybe we’ll put solar panels on our southern exposure. Cha-ching…

Meanwhile, the house is starting to get a bit chilly…

An Update:

A technician from the company from whom we bought the furnace was out this morning. One thing that impressed me was that he was far more thorough than the previous guy, pulling the blower, looking from below, above, as well as through the front via camera at the location the other tech said there was a crack. He found nothing. He ran CO and combustion tests. Nothing.

So where does that leave us?

For now, we will run the furnace. And, I changed the batteries in one CO detector, and we will add two more per his suggestions. And we may talk to a home inspection guy who is a friend to see if there is a way to get an “impartial” assessment because:

  • We wonder if the first company is really trying to get us to buy another furnace. We’ve dealt with them for a long time, but in recent years, we’ve noticed techs who try to get us to buy more add-ons.
  • We wonder if the second company doesn’t want to lose money on warranty repairs.

I should say, the second company’s tech seemed very thorough, spent a long time on the diagnostics, and didn’t charge us anything.

But all this strikes me as a parable of our “epistemic crisis.” Whose “truth” do we trust? When truth and trustworthiness has become such an expendable commodity in our communal life and everyone claims a right to their own truth, their own facts. When there is no accountability for lies or they are even considered expedient–this seeps into all of life.

Right down to those upon whom our homes and lives depend.

A (hopefully final) update

We did have a third company inspect the heat exchanger. They gave free second opinions if you had an invoice with a diagnosis of a cracked heat exchanger. I showed the tech a picture the first company sent. He said, “That’s not your heat exchanger.” But he checked everything out thoroughly.

We also installed two CO detectors, one on each floor. And a company that has had our business for thirty years has lost it. It appears they were trying to sell us a bill of goods, some of which may be reflected in the first part of this post. It’s disheartening, and left us a bit less confident in the safety of our furnace, even with those second opinions. This is what happens when trust is broken…

Review: Your Calling Here and Now

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Your Calling Here and Now, Gordon T. Smith. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022.

Summary: Looks at calling in our present moment and place, and how we live into our calling in all the turnings and changes of life.

Often the idea of calling or vocation seems to be presented in a grand scheme, lifelong way. And we often struggle to connect that to our present moment. Gordon T. Smith addresses this dilemma with a thought-provoking question:

“We ask, at this time and at this place, who and what are we called to be and do?”

None of us can map out our whole lives. But what is required of us in this day, both in terms of what qualities of character and what actions in our given situation may be clearer, and to live faithfully in light of this takes us into the bigger picture of God’s intentions. Smith proposes that to answer this question daily requires of us focus amid distraction, courage to act, connection with others who discern with us, and patience amid hurry to allow clarity to unfold. Furthermore, we become free to be and to act as we know ourselves to be the beloved of God and calling as the stewardship of the life lovingly given us.

Smith then helps us think about calling in three concentric circles of callings within our calling. The inner circle consists of the “must do’s,” in a sense, what we must do this day to “pay the rent.” The second circle constitutes the things that must happen now or they won’t happen–we only get to spend time with our thirteen year old son or daughter now. If we don’t, we won’t. The third circle, then is made up of those good things we want to pursue as there is time. Smith then discusses how we live in the tension of these callings and six questions to ask ourselves. Sometimes the tensions in our callings lead us into transitions. Sometimes these are transitions of saying yes to a calling we only grasped in an inchoate way earlier in life, or perhaps did not have the courage and support to pursue. Smith describes the challenge in these situations of shifting from the expert to the beginner, becoming a learner all over again.

The next two chapters focus on tending to the life of the mind and the work of our hands. Smith argues for the importance of both. He warns of the danger of an unprincipled pragmatism and sentimentalism and upholds a vision of critical, confident, creative and compassionate thought. He offers advice on our reading, commending reading old as well as new, reading diversely, reading the material of thought leaders in our field, and reading poetry! He remarks that “effective pastors need to be judged in part by the quality of their libraries.” Yet there is no divide of head and hands for Smith. He thinks in some form, we should all learn to work with our hands, at very least in the maintenance of our homes. He notes that the wise woman of Proverbs 31 is adept with her hands. This leads us to recognize the nobility of all work and manual work often is an opportunity for prayer.

In some way or another, all of us will relate to institutions, to organizations as we pursue our callings. This chapter distills some of the best ideas from an earlier work of Smith’s, Institutional Intelligence. We will never be nearly as effective in our callings if we don’t learn how to work wisely and well within organizations. We also need to understand practices of engagement as well as contemplation. Prayer and work are essential to each other. Smith considers four practices of engagement: hospitality, acts of mercy, financial giving, and intercessory prayer. These are practices by which we know the grace of God in the world and align ourselves with the purposes of God in the world.

The work concludes with a look at resilient hope. A called life is one of resilient hope. It exists against a “backdrop of realism” but refuses “to accept this reality as the status quo.” The hopeful live meekly, refusing to carry resentments. Hope doesn’t give way to cynicism when discouraged but finds in the company of others genuine encouragement. Hope values art and creativity, discovering beauty and transformation in brokenness. And finally, Smith comes back to patience that allows us to be present to God and others in the moment. The final note Smith sounds in the book is a call to both personal responsibilities for our lives and accountability to others. We ask here and now about what we are to be and do. And we recognize that we are inextricably connected with others who discern with us and sustain our hope.

What is distinctive about this work is not merely how we might discern vocation, but how we live in our calling over the course of a lifetime. This book begins where most end and is filled with wisdom for the journey. Smith surprises us throughout, never over-spiritualizing but insisting that calling includes paying the rent, values the work of human hands, and knows how to work in organizations. I can’t think of another book that does this. We often want a roadmap for our lives, our route marked out with a highlighter. Smith gives us something far different, a guide for living wisely and well in the present, discerning what we ought be and do to steward the gifts that the God who loves us has bestowed.

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Explaining Colleen Hoover and What It All Means

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“Colleen Hoover” by Chad Griffith licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

My wife and I were talking at dinner and she mentioned this writer who grew up in a small Texas town, working as a social worker at $9 an hour who is setting the publishing world on fire. I guessed that it might be Colleen Hoover and looked up the article on NPR and discovered I was right. The numbers are astonishing. Her latest, It Starts With Us, sold over 800,000 copies on the day it was released. She has sold more copies of her books this year than the Bible. Six out of ten paperback bestsellers are hers. She’s sold more books than blockbuster authors James Patterson and John Grisham combined.

While pegged as a romance author, she has written psychological thrillers, a ghost story, and books centered on domestic violence, drug abuse, and poverty. Part of her appeal seems to be the ability to evoke strong emotions in her readers, most of whom are younger, ethnically diverse women from 15 to 24. Readers attest to finding her works both riveting and fun, the kind you read in a day or two. What is clear is that Hoover seems to have figured out what this demographic wants. It may not be great literature but Hoover seems to have the capability to write what her audience wants to read.

Perhaps the most interesting part of her success is the role her fans on BookTok have played in talking about their reaction to her work and promoting her books. Her fandom (#CoHo) exploded on social media during the pandemic. A New York Times article compared what is happening to Oprah’s Book Club, where one woman’s choice sold a couple million books. Now, a hundred #CoHo BookTok’ers sell four million of Colleen Hoover’s books.

I’m about as far from the demographic who would read a Hoover book as could be. So I have no clue about the appeal of her books beyond the fact that she is an easy and fun read. My hunch is that what makes it work is the gap between the romantic longings of her audience and the much grittier reality of romance for many, where the sex may (or may not) be hot but the people it comes with may be less than desirable and even at times dangerous. It gives voice to what many women have thought and felt and experienced, which accounts for such heartfelt reactions. At least that is what the plot synopses I’ve read would suggest–that and the longing for something more.

Except one wonders if you can never go too far into that “something more” without losing sales–there is just not the same gripping drama in the deeper growth of love through enduring hardship and learning to die to one’s cussed selfishness over a forty year marriage. I suspect we both want and don’t want that.

Beyond what these books may mean for her considerable audience, one must consider Hoover’s impact on the publishing industry in the last few years. This woman who has helped sustain the book trade during the pandemic has broken the mold by writing in different genres rather than following publisher formulas. She has created models for using social media to sell not only her books but a variety of “swag” to her fans. And she has created The Bookworm Box, which is both a book subscription service and a bookstore, proceeds from both of which are given to those in need. Part of this woman’s success is that she seems to have an incredible work ethic.

I suppose one could find much to criticize in Hoover’s writing. I won’t go there since I’ve not read her. What is evident is she is reaching a diverse group of young women and turning them into readers. One hopes that in reading as in relationships, Hoover’s readers will long for “something more” and branch out to other books, and perhaps richer fare that goes beyond the fun and the evocative. Perhaps Hoover will lead the way with her Bookworm Boxes. Perhaps.

I find myself wondering if someone could ever do something like this with male readers. Lee Child and James Patterson have done pretty well but I can’t see the viral BookTok fan club dynamic happening. It would be wonderful to see more men reading, and more men encouraging men to read. But I suspect the audience will always be smaller.

But back to Colleen Hoover. Her success and what she has done with it is impressive. My interest in different books than the ones she writes will not be a cause for me to criticize her. In fact, she does something I wish would catch on–writing for readers rather than other writers, literary critics, or scholars. Sadly, I believe many good stories and ideas have been lost to a wider audience for just this reason.

Review: Like Birds in a Cage

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Like Birds in a Cage, David M. Crump (Foreword by Gary M. Burge). Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022

Summary: A book that argues what is wrong with Christian Zionism from a biblical, geo-political, and eyewitness perspective.

David Crump grew up believing in Christian Zionism, that the restoration of Jewish people to their ancient lands fulfilled prophecy as part of a dispensational premillenial schema. He describes how that changed under the influence of his college fellowship where he learned to study the Bible for himself and came across Romans 4 and understood that when he believed, Abraham became his father and that there was no basis for the belief that an ethnic Israel must be restored to its ancient land. Further study, including reading dispensational theologians only further convinced him that Christian Zionism was wrong.

This in turn led to an unblinking study of Israel’s modern story, the seizure of Palestinian lands, the brutal treatment of Palestinians, and the efforts to conceal this history, with an eye to maintaining evangelical support of the Jewish ethnocracy that Israel has become. The final strand in Crump’s journey was to visit Israel/Palestine himself as a guest of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and Breaking the Silence, a group formed by former Israeli Defense Forces. These are not the standard tours most Christians take, and exposed the author to the demolition of homes, the expropriation of land, and the devastation of brutal suppression efforts.

This book weaves those three strands together into an argument contending that Christians have supported the oppression of Palestinian people, including many Christian Palestinians in an effort that is unsupported by scripture, that relies on a distorted narrative of history by Israel, and turns a blind eye to efforts to erase the Palestinian presence in a Jewish ethnocracy.

Crump begins with biblical interpretation, arguing that we must read scripture as did the apostles, first front to back, and then back to front–making sense of the former scriptures in light of the gospel of Jesus. He then turns to the rise of Jewish and Christian Zionism in chapters 2-4, and then intersperses accounts of Palestinian life under Israeli rule, with further discussions of what he sees as flawed interpretation. In the latter part of the book, Crump describes the ethnic nationalism of Jewish Israel, which denies standing to Palestinians. He also deals with the argument that any form of anti-Zionism is also antisemitism, arguing that while all people must oppose genuine antisemitism, this does not mean that Israel cannot be called to account for injustices to Palestinians. He concludes with a plea that others would awaken to the way Christianity has been held politically captive to Zionism and to pursue justice.

The most compelling parts of the book are the eyewitness accounts, one of how a family reunion was disrupted by Israeli forces who utterly demolished the home where the party was taking place, without warrant. Another account describes the killing of three Palestinian youth where rock-throwing in protest of the presence of Israeli troops in Palestinian areas was met with live fire. Pictures of wounds are included as well as the devastation of bombed out homes.

The organization of the material felt disjointed to me at times–it had a bit of the feeling of a collection of articles, back and forth between biblical material and eyewitness accounts, historical material, and advocacy. It is an approach that breaks up more academic material with riveting first-person accounts with images, but is thus less linear and more episodic.

The author does not defend the wrongs of Palestinians but does help us grapple with the actions of Jews from the beginning of settling to never declare borders, to ignore the UN partitions, to seize land owned by Palestinians, acting as if the land was empty and turning them into prisoners in their own home. The irony is not lost on the author of the situation many of these Jews had fled in Europe.

The author notes that evangelical Christians make up Israel’s most ardent supporters. The author advocates for a re-examination of that support, and that there is no biblical warrant for the injustices Palestinians have experienced. For American Christians, the parallels with our own treatment of indigenous peoples, often with similar rationalizations and tactics, ought to give us pause. Should we not know better?

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — McGuffey Mall

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McGuffey Mall at the time of its Grand Opening in 1972. Screen capture from Youngstown Vindicator, October 22, 1972 via Google News Archive.

It seems that I have been writing a lot about the East side of Youngstown of late. I’m back there this week because it was fifty years ago this week that the McGuffey Mall had its grand opening. There was no big fanfare but simply a sparkling new shopping mall covering over one of the first plazas in the Youngstown area and adding 10,000 square feet of retail space.

In 1954, William Cafaro built one of his first shopping centers at the intersection of McGuffey Road and North Garland. It was a location that was special to Cafaro, who grew up on the East side. They added the Garland Plaza in 1960. For many years the plazas were a thriving shopping location but by the early 1970’s, a number of tenants were leaving at the end of their leases for the new malls. Eastwood Mall, another Cafaro property, opened in 1969 and Southern Park Mall, operated by the DeBartolo Corporation, opened in 1970.

The Cafaro firm took an unusual step that reflected their ties to the area. They admitted that they could have signed a few leases and sold off the property. Instead, they made a major investment, enclosing the old retail space and adding additional retail space. They worked with the community to gain their buy-in and in the fall of 1972 opened a glittering new space at the site of the nearly 20 year-old plaza.

This move certainly extended the life of shopping in this area. Over the years shops, banks, drug stores, supermarkets, a bowling alley, and a post office occupied the site. But by the early 2000’s, the site was clearly struggling. In a 2007 video of low video quality, it shows only four open businesses that I can see, anchored by a Family Dollar and a National City Bank. Much of the retailed space was closed off.

2007 Video of McGuffey Mall

The Garland Plaza was occupied by Mahoning County Department of Job & Family Services from 1988 until 2007. In 2012, the Cafaro firm decided to sell both the mall and the plaza. On October 25, 2013, it was acquired by Highway Contracting of Boardman, a demolition contractor, who proceeded with demolition beginning in December, completing it in 2014.

The site has been idle since, but 2022 brought news that the Western Reserve Port Authority (WRPA) planned to acquire the site for $162,250. They had no immediate plans for the property but Anthony Trevena, representing WRPA, observes that the nearby freeway access makes it a desirable location for redevelopment. Viewing the site on Google street view reveals a significant amount of workers and vehicles on the site, suggesting the first steps of preparing the location for redevelopment.

Nothing is firm yet, but this would be a shot in the arm for the area, recalling the years where this was a center of bustling commercial activity. That might be the best news this area has had in fifty years.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Review: After the Ivory Tower Falls

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After the Ivory Tower Falls, Will Bunch. New York: William Morrow, 2022.

Summary: How the culture wars, costs, and inaccessibility of college have contributed to our political divides and what may be done.

I graduated from college in 1976. Because of personal savings, scholarships, and work, I finished college without debt. Our family did not have much in the way of financial resources at that time and did not contribute financially except for providing a roof over my head. Low, state-subsidized tuitions helped make that possible. Reading this book, I realized that this could not have happened in 2022. If I went to college, I likely would have ended with five or six figured debt. I even might not have gone to college.

Will Bunch argues that there are two Americas–one that manages to afford a college education, and one that does not and either finishes or drops out with massive debts, or doesn’t even try. He proposes that our political divides map onto those two Americas. He opens the book by using Knox County, Ohio as an object lesson of this division. Knox County is the home of the elite, liberal arts college, Kenyon College in Gambier, as well as Mount Vernon, six miles to the west, the county seat and a town struggling to get by after its largest factories were shuttered. Kenyon costs in excess of $76,000 a year and attracts a national student body, many from households that can afford these costs. In 2020, the median household income in Mount Vernon was $46,656. In terms of politics, Gambier is an island of blue surrounded by an ocean of red, and Bunch, who spent time embedded in the area as a journalist, maps how those differences played out.

He then zooms out to a time when public education got as close to being universally accessible, following World War 2 and the G.I. Bill, the building boom that accompanied the Baby Boom, and the low or no tuitions (in the case of California) for in-state institutions at public institutions. He traces the increasing disaffection toward public support for colleges to the political radicalism of the Vietnam era and the rise of the culture wars and conservative talk radio in the 1980’s and 1990’s, particularly in the Clinton era. During this time, state support for higher education began to decrease and costs rose. And so began the efforts of colleges to recruit from out of state or even internationally those who would pay premium prices. By the 2020’s, student debt had climbed to $1.7 trillion and scandals like the Varsity Blues scandal exposed the pay to play admissions policies with vast inequities, particularly at the most elite schools.

Bunch then zooms in again, describing four groups, illustrated by four individuals that he argues comprise the two Americas. First are the Left Perplexed, boomers and Gen-Xers who are baffled by the rise of both Trumpism and youth drawn to socialism. Second are the Left Broke, the children of the Left Perplexed, saddled with high debts and drawn to socialist solutions and concerns for racial justice. Third are the Left Behind, the Boomers and Xers who went to work out of high school in factory jobs, many of which went away or were off-shored, people often drawn to Donald Trump as one who affirms their value, their work ethic, and their concerns. Finally, there are the Left Out, the young growing up in the former factory towns who don’t have access to the college track, who work in warehouse and service industries while struggling with alcohol or opioid addiction and higher rates of suicide.

He then chronicles both the increased resentments of foreclosed opportunities in movements like Occupy Wall Street and the rejection of the knowledge associated with college from science to social analysis, particularly among the Left Behind, who often felt themselves belittled and marginalized by the progressive elites associated with higher education.

Bunch then turns to Truman-era solutions as the beginnings of a way out, arguing for the public good of subsidized post-secondary education, whether college or skilled trades. He also looks at the possible benefits of a National Service program for 18 year-olds, bringing people from a variety of backgrounds together for the good of the country as well as mentoring that prepares them for further educational options. In addition to advancing the common good, such a program would help close the divides and forging new bonds of commonality.

I found Bunch’s survey of the higher education and cultural landscape both persuasive in the broad strokes and flawed in the nuances. I wonder if the portrayal of an college vs. high school educated divide, while working as a broad generalization, especially among white Americans, neither explains the support of Trump politics among the educated, nor the more progressive policies supported by some communities with less access to higher education.

What is more compelling is the account of rising college costs, the burdens of college debt, and the urgency for a new policy that recognizes the public good of education beyond high school. To fail to act on this perpetuates not only economic inequities but also political divides. The best way to avoid divides is to include those who might be alienated. It is actually in the common interest of all of us to provide education beyond high school at the public expense as opposed to that education being available only to those who can pay. But that will require a shift in understanding of “us versus them” to “we” and from competing interests to the common good. The question this leaves me with is where the leadership will come from to forge that new understanding.

Review: All Will Be Well

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All Will Be Well, Lacy Linn Borgo, Illustrated by Rebecca Evans. Downers Grove: IVP Kids, 2022.

Summary: Julian’s Mima is very sick and Julian is worried, sad, and angry and wondering if God hears or cares.

Julian’s Mima was sick and Julian was worried.

“God, please make Mima better,” she whispered.

All Will Be Well.

Anyone who has experienced the serious illness and imminent death of a beloved grandparent will resonate with this story. For many children, their first encounter with death is the loss of a beloved grandparent.

Julian longs so much to hear God’s assurance. Is God in the fiery autumn leaves, the whirling winds of autumn? What Julian does know is that the hazelnuts falling on her head are her Mima’s favorite. They are everywhere and she brings them home from school to share with Mima.

They talk about her day and Julian unloads not only her hazelnuts but her fear, her sadness, and the feeling she has that she’s going to explode. Mima just holds her hand and tells her she loves her. Then, at Julian’s request, she tells her the story of the saint, Julian of Norwich, after whom Julia is named. She reminds Julian of a message from God to Julian:

“If something as small as a hazelnut is loved by God, then we are loved by God too.”

The next day, she gives Julian a hazelnut to carry with the reminder “And God loves you.” And this helps her through her school day.

They talk the next evening about Julian’s concern about Mima dying. Mima asks a searching question: “Does God still love us when we die?” She assures her in the words of Julian of Norwich that because of God’s love for them both “All will be well, all will be well, everything will be well.”

The next day Mima dies and the remainder of the story follows Julian as she struggles to come to terms with this loss until she remembers the hazelnuts and the words Mima shared from Julian of Norwich.

The story brought back memories of my own last conversation with my grandmother, dying of cancer. She was in pain and it hurt to see her that way. She spoke of looking forward to being with Jesus, who she had taught me to love. And her words have stayed with me all of my life and become my own.

This book is like that, written with the sensitivity that allows a child to express the strong mix of feelings they have when a loved one is ill. The relationship with Mima is a model, where she listens and loves and then asks a gentle but important question, reminds her of truth, and shares a token to help bring that to mind.

The colors of autumn, which suffuse this work, both reflect someone in the late autumn of life, but also the splendor of God’s presence in color and wind and hazelnuts!

A note from the author offers suggestions for further practices that may help a child as they read the book together. The publisher’s website also offers a reflection activity that may be shared.

This is a wonderfully sensitive and rich work to help a child (and an adult) through some of the hardest realities of life, when we are most tempted to question God’s love. It makes space for all the feelings and doubts and fears one may experience. Using the life of Julian of Norwich, it invites us to trust that in life or death, “all will be well.”

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Water Security

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Several weeks back I wrote a post on food security. It was in the wake of the Intel deal to build a huge manufacturing plant in Central Ohio, insuring the security of our micro-chip supply. But there is a form of security even more fundamental than food security, and that is water security. Human beings cannot live more than three days without water. Fifty-five to sixty percent of the human body consists of water.

In addition, we depend on water to grow both plant and animal food, as a source of power, for various manufacturing processes, and for transport among many other things. That Intel plant in Ohio? It is projected to use a staggering 5 million gallons of water per day, becoming the single largest user of water in Central Ohio. Ohio’s abundant supplies of water were no doubt one of the factors in siting the plant there. But they will now have to develop the infrastructure to move that water, and a reclamation plant to recycle at least some of the water used.

It seems that water may threaten our security in at least three ways:

When there is too little of it. Climate change is rendering many parts of our world much drier, not just for a year here and there but for the long term. The reservoirs that are supplied by the Colorado River have dropped by 50 feet or more to about 25 percent of their capacities, jeopardizing power generation as well as the supply of water to Arizona, California, and Nevada. And much of that supply, up to 80 percent, is for agriculture. It’s likely that the fresh fruit and vegetables in your refrigerator were grown there. But perhaps for not much longer–a major dislocation. NASA predicts that California has only one year of water. Given the low levels of water in rivers, streams and reservoirs, efforts are being made to tap into groundwater supplies in aquifers. But these are also finite and dependent on the same rainfall and runoffs for replenishment

When there is too much of it. We heard a presentation recently of a Christian school in rural eastern Kentucky that fought to recover from a hundred year flood last year, only to endure a thousand year flood this summer, with much higher floodwaters. One of the impacts of climate change in much of the eastern United States is more intense storms with heavier rainfall totals. That school has decided to re-locate out of its location in a hundred year flood plain because the once in a hundred or thousand year events seem to be coming much more frequently. Coastal communities like Fort Myers in Florida face greater storm surge, which in combination with rising sea levels can wreak ever greater devastation. And with the melting of ice from Greenland to Antarctica, rising sea levels will make many of our coastal cities new versions of Venice.

When impurities render it unpotable or toxic over the long term. It is a major wonder of infrastructure and technology that we can turn a tap, fill a glass, and drink it. This is not the case in many parts of the world, resulting in higher infant and child death rates, and underlying digestive illnesses for many. But bacteria are not the only danger to our water. Impurities are a major threat from lead that impairs child intelligence in many cities with aging water infrastructures to toxic chemicals that escape into adjacent groundwater, or are discharged by manufacturing processes. Finally, the possibility of sabotage always exists.

Many of our problems are ones that have been long foreseen, but ignored. John Wesley Powell, armed with watershed maps testified before Congress in 1890 about the limits the water supply of the West, situated in a desert climate, would impose on development. People did not want to hear him then and most still don’t want to heed his message. But it seems to me that the question needs to be asked whether the West, particularly in even drier and hotter conditions than Powell knew of, can sustain a growing population and the water uses to which it is accustomed. Likewise, climate experts have predicted with a high degree of accuracy the intensifying climate effects contributing to flooding and coastal inundations.

It seems it is probably past time for us to think about water:

  • How will what we know determine decisions about where we live, or don’t live?
  • How will we better steward existing resources, including the capture of rainwater runoffs, often wasted?
  • How will we protect and expand the supply of potable water, including in the permitting processes for industrial activity that may endanger it?
  • How will we manage water disparities in different parts of the country without creating water wars?
  • How will we think intelligently about various industrial uses of water to avoid disruptions in production while providing for other uses? How will we handle situations where demand exceeds supply?

Many places are already wrestling with these questions. Our presence on a burgeoning and changing planet means all of us need to grow in our awareness of these realities. We no longer have the luxury of ignoring the warnings of John Wesley Powell and the host of others who have given public testimony about the challenges facing us. Every single one of us are within three days of extinction without water. That seems to me to be enough reason to care,

Review: The King of Christmas

/ rtrube54 / 1 Comment

The King of Christmas (A FatCat Book), Art by Natasha Kennedy, Text by Todd R. Hains. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2022.

Summary: The search for the King of Christmas by the Magi, and where the King was found…and where he was not.

I told you I had a second FatCat Book to tell you about, one that is Christmas themed. The King of Christmas draws on the story of the Magi and their search for the King of Christmas after sighting his star. The didn’t find him with the stars of heaven or the birds of the air, the fish of the sea or among the beasts of the field. He wasn’t at the tables of the rich, the courts of kings, the forts of soldiers, the markets, or with the scribes in the temple. Each page asks, “is the King of Christmas there?” with the answer of “No!” until at last they find him in a converted feed trough where animals were stabled.

But the story doesn’t end there. He’s found between criminals and wherever his word and name are. And that name is Jesus, the King of Christmas! But he is not found in a tomb. And as in the other stories, FatCat may be found on every page.

Once again, Natasha Kennedy accompanies Todd R. Hains text with vibrant illustrations that will be a delight to the child’s eye. Here’s just one example (from the publisher’s website):

Consistent with the series, a great diversity of people exist, including gathered at the table of a dark-skinned Jesus, with us as God’s Word is read and taught, in Baptism and at the Lord’s Supper celebrations.

As with other books in this series, the story is meant to be read and shared in families, and the author includes a Christmas prayer that may be read responsively. The book renders afresh the story of the humble beginnings of the King, his victory over death, and his presence with all who seek him and how he may be found. The text is simple and budding readers will want to learn the words, even as they enjoy the illustrations. So you will want to read this more than once–perhaps many times–and not only at Christmas.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Review: The Lord’s Prayer: For All God’s Children

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The Lord’s Prayer: For All God’s Children (A FatCat Book), Art by Natasha Kennedy, Text by Harold L. Senkbeil. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2022.

Summary: A lavishly illustrated book designed for parents to use with children in teaching them the meaning of the Lord’s prayer and praying together in family worship.

One of the things I love about this book out of the gate is that is designed for parents to use in introducing their children to the Lord’s Prayer, walking phrase by phrase through the prayer. I suspect that as parents do so with their children–perhaps no more than a phrase a day because the reflections are rich–the parents will learn as well. How many of us have reflected on the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer?

Here’s part of the reflection on “Thy Kingdom Come”:

"Lord teach us to pray.
Your kingdom come.

Can we make God's kingdom come? No!
His kingdom comes all by itself.

Where is God's kingdom?
Wherever Jesus is, there he rules as King.
He brings us life and forgiveness, peace and salvation.
That's why we pray for God's kingdom to come."

The book is lavishly illustrated in a rich palette of color showing Jesus in a variety of settings, each connected in some way with the phrase of the Lord’s Prayer being read about. Here is an example from the publisher’s website of the “Thy Kingdom Come” pages:

One of the features I noticed is that Jesus is dark-skinned, not the fair-haired blonde Jesus many of us grew up with. Also, there are people with a variety of skin colors and features, fitting with the title of this prayer being for all God’s children.

You may also notice FatCat, who appears on every page. Children will love looking for FatCat, who visually represents an important idea in this book–the “fatness” of the catechism–that it is full of meaning. This book, and others in the FatCat series are intended to teach in an approachable manner about central texts of the faith–the Apostles Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer.

The book builds on this idea in a discussion titled “Families are little churches” that follows the Lord’s Prayer. These book reflect the conviction that the family is where instruction (“catechesis”) has happened throughout church history and that this can be as praying what we believe together a families. A simple family prayer service that may be read responsively follows in the text.

The author concludes by sharing scripture texts that informed and bounded both text and illustrations for each phrase. It was clear in reading this book that great care was given to say both what this prayer does and does not mean and what we may learn both of Jesus who teaches the prayer and the Father to whom it is addressed.

This book is a gift to parents who want to actively take part in teaching their children about the faith. The combination of the beautiful illustrations, FatCat who roams the pages, the biblically grounded reflections, and helps in translating teaching into family worship make this a rich resource packed into just 32 pages.

Tomorrow I will be reviewing another book in this series, The King of Christmas.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.