Living nature

MIRSADA BURIC was an athlete who became famous at the Olympic Games in Barcelona for competing in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She didn't win any medals, but everyone remembers her.

A few months before the Games, her photo appeared in all the newspapers of the world as she trained in her native land of Bosnia, surrounded by war machinery and destroyed buildings, due to the recent conflict in Yugoslavia. It was ironic that she trained for her race among these obstacles.

One doesn't have to be very observant to realise that our country is far away from the purpose for which God created it. We have to admit that we are destroying our own planet. From the first act of rebellion against God, the first sin committed, the earth groans as it is destroyed at the hands of man. When God created the world, he made man and woman the rulers and caretakers of nature. It was they who had to give account for all things created, because they were appointed by God himself to rule over the world.

When man disobeyed God and sinned, he began to destroy the world. Sin destroys everything good, and what God had made was good... very good.

Since that time, the men and women who have lived on the earth have preferred to obey the king of destruction, the Devil, and for that reason the earth has its days numbered.

Every day, every moment, we can decide who we are going to obey in relation to nature and created beings. We can obey the creator, loving and caring for all the things he made; or we can obey the destroyer and do the things that pollute the atmosphere more each day, and keeps nature groaning. There is no middle road; we are either with God, the creator, or with the Devil, the destroyer.

You know, one day God is going to put an end to the process of destruction on the earth. Some day there will be a new earth and new heaven, and no one will have the right to do evil there. Nature waits for this glorious day. The animals, the plants, the sea, and the land, that now suffer illnesses and death because of the sin of mankind, are waiting for that day. It is the day in which the Creator King, Jesus Christ, will set up his law, the law of LOVE.

There will be no more destruction. The Devil will have been judged, and all his followers with him. Evil will not be able to exist.

As we wait for that day, we have the responsibility to take care of what God has given us... mountains and animals, land and sea, clouds and valleys, stars and rivers. All of these things want to return to their creator. All of them are waiting and hoping for that great day. It is our duty to care for them, love them, and feel for them. They can teach us so much about the glorious character of our God.