Dear Editor,
I don’t know how to put this, but we have come back from our time in Arizona with a renewed conviction that evolution is the way God created and is creating!
It was a good time, enjoying rain and rainbows, sunshine, blue skies, warm breezes, and the blooming desert with birds and bunnies enjoying their environment, and of course renewing our bonds with friends and relatives.The weekend after Easter, Ted and I were in northern Arizona on our way home, stopping to tour the incredibly beautiful canyons, including Canyon De Chelly in Arizona and Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah.
We decided that was to be our worship experience that Sunday. We learned that more than 300 million years ago a sea flowed into the Colorado Plateau and eventually evaporated over a million years ago, leaving a salt bed that became covered with debris that became compressed into rock (sandstone). Salt under pressure is unstable, so it shifted and buckled, thrusting the rock layers upward and dropping other pieces into cavities. Wind, water, and dissolving salt over the years resulted in the beautiful, unusual formations.We also learned about a cryptobiotic crust that covers the desert to protect it and preserve it so it can maintain flora and fauna. It is composed of cyanobacteria, lichen, fungi and algae.
This covering protects against erosion, absorbs moisture and provides nitrogen and other nutrients for plant growth. Walking or driving off the trail destroys this crust.
I’m so grateful for scientific minds that can explain how everything is related and dependent on each other, and how these things have come about. We also think that if we believe in God as the Creator of all things, we worship God best by appreciating and taking care of the creatures and creations.
God cannot be contained in a box, in a church or school or thought, but still reveals God’s self to us in love and creation.
It’s good to be back in this community too, but — on another subject — I was sad to hear of how, during the recent school board election, on the part of some voters candidates were judged by “how good a Christian” each candidate is or is not. God is the only one capable of that judgment and in God’s sight we are all sinners.
In voting, please learn to look at character and accomplishments. Anyone can talk like a Christian but the real question is, “Do they act in Christ-like ways, loving their neighbors as themselves?”
Trust your own intelligence, do your own research and don’t rely on your political party, friends, or a church group to tell you how to vote.
Carolyn Berkland
Grantsburg
Burnett County Sentinel
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Thank you, Carolyn, for a reasoned and 'from the heart' letter.
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