warming

Maps of dry season (September–November) shows how California's groundwater has been vanishing at a shocking rate. 

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On his way to be crucified, Jesus Christ stopped to address a group of women who were ceremonially weeping and grieving loudly.  Instead of comforting them, Jesus gave a haunting prediction: “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that never nursed. Then they shall begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us’.  For if they do these things when the wood is green, what shall be done when it is dry?” (Lk. 23:27-31).

In Bible school, students are taught that Jesus was speaking of the coming slaughter of the Hebrew nation and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, which was consummated in A.D. 70.

If we look even further down the road, we can see more.  Jesus knew on his way to the cross how bad things would become. This world, that is so comfortable for you now, will end. 

In recent days, I’ve thought of this haunting piece of scripture as I have forged my way through my geology class – the hardest class I have ever taken in my life.  Through scientific and mathematical processes, I have learned about the rock planet we live on.  It’s core, its mantle, its crust – its propensity to be friendly to its inhabitants.  My college professors unknowingly confirm what Jesus predicted: our world is not eternal.  We are heading for global changes that no one seems prepared for. 

Global warming is a result of the earth growing older, inching toward its destiny to eventually die. It will end slowly and barbarically.  The wood will dry - water shortages will dominate the globe.  Global food will dry up; people will turn against each other and become self-protective beasts.  Governments would deem evil things to be good and good things to be evil.  It was coming; Jesus could see it.  He was on his way to be crucified because of human corruption and governmental interference.  This is why he encouraged the women – demonstrative in their wailing and flailing – to cry, instead, for what was in store for the generations to come. 

Weep for yourselves. 

Today I am doing homework related to groundwater, the underground water that occupies open spaces in rock or sediment.  It has been a little more than slightly depressing.  Four years into a severe drought, California has just suffered one of the driest winters on record. Many of California’s reservoirs are less than half full. The natural reservoirs that we rely on for summer water, the Sierra Nevada snowpack, are at a historic low. According to the United States Geological Society, no one knows for sure when the drought is going to end.

California has recently passed legislation to invest hundreds of millions of dollars (that we don’t have) to deal with the current drought.  We are accustomed to “spending” more of our water than we accumulate and it’s starting to catch up to us. 

 In the past, California has depended heavily on dams and aqueducts to enhance statewide water reliability, creating one of the largest and most complex water systems in the world. It still is not enough and we need help finding answers.

The earth is in a fast-paced climate change and the warming trend doesn’t look like it’s turning around. 

Pray.