Stewardship (encore)

About this episode

The episode discusses the importance of stewardship and caring for the environment through personal family stories and reflections on simpler living.

Genesis 2:15 (NIV) The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. It is no secret that as a species, we are environmental disasters. From oil spills to trash heaps to climate change to deforestation to air pollution… We sure miss the mark when it comes to caring for creation. We miss so many opportunities to do and to be better. I think about our earlier generations, who lived more simply, preserving the earth. When my dad and his wife Cathie married, they chose to do so in an outdoor ceremony on a piece of family land in the mountains of Monroe County. That particular spot is what my family refers to as “the knob,” a small clearing on a hilltop in the woods of land that has been in my family for generations. My uncle is its current steward, and as such, he spoke at the beginning of the wedding ceremony, inviting us to consider that while this land has been in our family for quite a long time, it existed for thousands of years before that, barely touched by the Cherokee people who inhabited it. Just down the mountain from the knob is my uncle’s house, which my grandfather built in 1981. My uncle renovated it about twenty years ago, but…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jim Stovall, Greta Smith

Topics covered

• stewardship
• environment
• creation care
• family history
• simpler living

Keywords

• stewardship
• environment
• Genesis 2:15
• family land
• Cherokee
• climate change
• pollution

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Garden of Eden, Monroe County, Cherokee, family cemetery

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