Garbage Strikes & CS Lewis
I live in suburban America. Here in suburbia, we have companies that come to our houses on a weekly basis and take our trash away. It’s wonderful. Until the week before Christmas, when the magic stopped. The garbage workers went on strike. Womp womp.
Honestly, it wasn’t worth complaining about. I heard the main issue was the safety of the trucks, which is fair. I was grateful that I didn’t have to sit in countless meetings, negotiate contracts, or deal with complaints. I was grateful that I don’t run a food service company that generates lots of smelly trash. I was grateful I only have one kid in diapers, and not two or three or more.
If you, dear reader, live in a rural area or live in another country, you may not be tracking with me here. You may be asking, “what’s the big deal?”
The big deal, for us, is what didn’t happen. Over the past month, no one dumped trash at the church. Several times a year, people dump trash at the church. One time, someone was in a truck bed and tossed a bunch of trash - while someone else was driving - all around our large grass field. It was trash confetti. Several times, people have dumped demolition garbage next to our church dumpster. Next to, not in. It’s all too common to see trash at our entry.
It’s bad math. Messes take a few minutes to make, but take hours to clean up. When you clean up a mess after a party, at least you got a party out of it. When you clean up a kitchen mess, at least you got a meal out of it. When you have to clean up drive-by-trash-confetti, you just sigh. Hackers mean we pay lots of money on cyber security and multi factor authentication. Thieves mean we pay lots of money on security cameras and insurance policies and locks.
We don’t want to live in a world where people dump their trash for us to clean up. And this reality reminded me of the quote:
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
- CS Lewis
Yes, we were made for another world, a beautiful world. This world will be restored. There are touch points where heaven meets earth now (praise God!) but one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1-5.) In the meantime, it’s our role as believers in Christ to create beauty, to spread His light amidst the darkness and point to Him.
And as I further reflected on the garbage strike, I noticed how our household trash went from “out of sight, out of mind” to “in sight…oh look…it’s still there.”
This period reminded me how “out of sight, out of mind” so often prevents me from earnestly praying for the lost.
It reminded me to continue to pray for hackers to no longer be drawn to hacking, but to be drawn to holiness. It reminded me that Jesus was right (of course) that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but He has come so that we may have life and have it to the full (John 10:10.) It reminded me that if we believe God truly hears our prayers, our part is to continue to pray in faith that God would stop people from dumping trash at our church.
It reminded me to pray for the missionaries serving Rohingya refugees, living without access to clean water or sanitation. It reminded me to pray for our missionary friends in Ukraine where war clouds are looming.
May I not take my comforts for granted - like weekly trash pick ups. And more importantly, may I not take the message of salvation for granted.
If you’re searching for hope and want to hear more about Jesus, feel free to check out our Follow Jesus page. Jesus loves you.
P.S. As you may have deduced from the photo, the garbage strike ended last week. Welcome back garbage man. You’ve been missed.
We sat on cold metal chairs in a white room, leaning against a cold metal examining table...waiting. Our beautiful dog Sabrina had been hurried to the back of the emergency clinic without us. She was in danger and distress.
It’s been a minute.
I love that phrase. I probably overuse it. And my repetitious use of it probably annoys those in my listening (or instant messaging) range.
Why did the tomato blush? He saw the salad dressing! Thank you for laughing. I appreciate it.
When you gotta go, you gotta go.
Our friends returned to the mission field last week. They had to go.
Lakes are pretty cool places. One might say that they're refreshing.
Months ago, we taught Silas how to count to twenty. Recently, he has been skipping six. Poor six.
I’m a huge fan of Os Guinness (and his ministry The Trinity Forum.) If you haven’t heard of him, go look him up on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube because he is a gazillion times more articulate than I am.
In the past ten months, I have had to hold fast to Hebrews 13:1-2a, “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.”
Hospitality to strangers is easy to neglect.
What do you think of when you hear, “when strivings cease?”
“When the burden is too much for you to bear, you do not need stronger shoulders, you need weaker knees.”
Dr. Mitch Kim
What do you do when life is rough? If you’re a follower of Christ, what do you do when your pursuit of Christian maturity keeps calling you onward and upward, to terrain that is steeper and more challenging?
What do you do when life is rough? If you’re a follower of Christ, what do you do when your pursuit of Christian maturity keeps calling you onward and upward, to terrain that is steeper and more challenging?
Our cool-factor here at SBCA has been notched up tenfold the past month. Why you may ask? Great question!
Yesterday was Palm Sunday. We had a lovely time at church.
And while no Dickensian Ghost-of-Palm-Sunday-Past visited me, I found myself reminiscing. Holidays and rituals are meant for such a thing, I suppose.
We attended a Christmas party last December and within two minutes of our arrival, Silas (age 2) showed me a toy he had just found. We were outside, in the dark, and on time (meaning not many people were there yet.) Looking around, I asked him, “where did you find this tractor?”
I nerded out this weekend at a ‘Faith and Science’ conference held here in San Diego. Praise the Lord for paid time off and for a grandma who is willing to watch the kid.
In the summer of 2007, in the sticks of San Diego county, Jeff and I met at Indian Hills Camp.
Oh Indian Hills Camp. So dusty. So Wild West-y. So can’t-ever-forget-that-camp-song-y.
No, this isn’t about Eutychus (Acts 20:9.) This is about the first Sunday of March in 2019 when someone suddenly died at the church we were serving at.
It’s early March and the evenings are still too chilly for me, even in San Diego. Since I’ve committed to staying inside in the evening until the weather warms up, it seems like a good time to start spring cleaning.
I am a terrible movie watcher. I don’t cope well with plot holes. Everyone else will talk about the scenes they loved, the parts that captured their imaginations. I, however, will talk about plot holes and major oversights.
During a short vacation to the mountains last summer, I had the time to read a few books
A few Sundays ago, we were singing ‘Be Still My Soul’ at church and my not-so-still two-year-old ran up on stage. Uggh.
Which of the four did I pay attention to (or do I plan to pay attention to) this weekend: the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, my mom’s birthday, or an anniversary?
This Wednesday is the first anniversary of Cat Lawyer! I love Cat Lawyer so much that I felt it appropriate to give him an homage via blog.
I’m an institutionalist. I believe we’re stronger as a team - that’s dedicated to the mission - than we are siloed off.
Two years ago while preparing material for our homegroup leaders, I came across a word study that shifted my thinking, or at least readjusted my focus: “Created for good works…so that we would walk in them”, (Eph.2:10). The word “walk” in the Greek does not imply the simple straight line from point A to point B, but has a more spherical quality.
I live in suburban America. Here in suburbia, we have companies that come to our houses on a weekly basis and take our trash away. It’s wonderful. Until the week before Christmas, when the magic stopped. The garbage workers went on strike. Womp womp.
Last night, we ditched our Sunday night prayer meeting, packed up Silas, and drove 98 miles to see a commissioning service at Celebration Church. One of their pastors and his wife will be returning to Cambodia to share the good news of Jesus with the people of Cambodia who have not yet heard His name.
Why start a blog? Here is a list of questions that I asked myself before starting this.
Kylene Lopo
Kylene Lopo is a pastor’s wife, a BI Reports Developer, and is the mother of Silas (age 4) and Hosanna (age 0.) She has a masters in Biblical Literature from Alliance Theological Seminary and is an official worker with the C&MA in the South Pacific District.