Published February 28, 2009

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Our family’s environmental journey has paralleled our faith journey. As we try to live out what it means to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves, we feel inspired to live more simply. The first and most important miracle is that we all came to know Christ, not just in our heads but in our daily actions. Hanging clothes on the line, washing dishes by hand, and growing our own food are all ways of showing respect for God’s creation, and love for our global neighbors.

How Matthew’s book got published was another miracle. The manuscript was accepted by the first publisher we sent it to—Chelsea Green, an environmental publisher that had never published a Christian book before. A couple of months later, a Christian publisher that had never published environmental books bought the softcover rights. For two such very different vendors to reach out and embrace the message was astounding.

And that was only the beginning. To address larger audiences and respond to the hundreds of speaking requests, we formed a nonprofit called Blessed Earth (www.blessed-earth.org). In the last two years, we have spoken in churches, colleges, and the media more than 850 times. It has been inspiring to see congregations that never had creation care on their radar screen make huge changes, quickly—switching to fair trade coffee, conducting energy audits on their buildings, creating community gardens, harvesting water with rain barrels, using ceramic dishes instead of disposables, embracing green cleaning products, and completely re-visioning building additions and renovations with a green lens.

To reach teen and young adult audiences, our daughter, Emma, wrote a book called It’s Easy Being Green (www.itsezbeinggreen.org), when she was just fifteen. Both Emma and our son, Clark, received merit scholarships to college—another miraculous way in which God provided. We do a lot of work with colleges; while schools may initially embrace our ideas to save money, when people embrace the principles of simplicity and conservation in their hearts the programs take on a life of their own.

Many of the people who have read Serve God, Save the Planet tell us that they are inspired to change, but don’t know where to start. In response, I wrote a book that continues the story of our family’s journey, called Go Green, Save Green: A Simple Guide to Saving Time, Money, and God’s Green Earth. It’s the first faith-based, practical book that provides simple tips for green living and green giving. I not only share ways to save resources, but how to give back to those who have fewer resources than we do.

Most inspiring of all are the people we meet in our journey. We hear story after story about how focusing less on material things, and more on relationships with family, friends, and God, leads to happier, more meaningful, and richer lives. With God, all things are possible—including a cleaner, healthier world to leave for future generations.

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