Solar Storage Units

Solar Storage Units

We were sitting beside the fire on one of the recent chilly evenings, discussing the book of Leviticus and the wood pile. (I'll admit that our conversations tend to take odd twists.) And then I commented on that beautiful stack of wood against the wall. What a blessing it is to have that wood available to us! Especially with the price of fuel going up and up (and up?) we are so grateful for our wooded acres.

Woodhenge

Kevin set those few pieces of wood next to the fire, where 'the sun can shine on them.' The stove transmits solar energy. Well, think about it: God gave us the sun, which is our source of energy, and we have twelve acres of 'solar collectors,' as Kevin likes to call them. He reminded me today that we spend about $5 per year on gasoline to heat our house...right -  gasoline for the chain saw.

For a woods to be sustainable, one should cut no more out of it than 1 cord of wood per acre of woods per year. We take between three and four cords per year to heat our house, and since we have twelve acres of woods, that's well within the guidelines of keeping it sustainable.

Isn't fire such a paradoxical thing! Beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. Like God - beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. God is holy and wonderful and amazing - and just. When we look deep within ourselves in our quiet moments, we see greed, selfishness, ulterior motives, etc. We don't like the idea of God being just. But He is. He demands justice. But for those who trust in Christ alone, we are spared from God's demand for justice - by His mercy, through the blood of Christ - because Jesus already suffered the just punishment for our sin.

 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:16-18


Then he isn't safe? 'Of course he isn't safe,' as Mrs. Beaver would say about Aslan in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, 'but He is good!'

An article from the National Geographic provided a penetrating picture of God's wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a big bird literally petrified in the ashes and perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked the bird over with a stick. When he struck it, 3 tiny chicks scurried from under her wings. Instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise, she could have flown to safety, but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze arrived the heat had singed her small body but the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live. Doesn't this sound like the great love of our Father, who was willing to send His only begotten Son, that through His death, we might live! - from Cyberchurch.com


I encourage you to read Psalm 91.