Is Going Green always the best choice?                                                                                                                                         We live in a world full of environmental enthusiast, taking great concern for the planet and reminding us all how destructive our automobiles, coal burning factories and plastic bottles are and how we are destroying the planet causing globlel warming. As I write this article the outside tempurature is -24 degrees it has been above 10 degrees twice in the last 4 weeks. The Obama administration has empowered the environmental protection agency to implement a new tax called Carbon footprint. The administration has made the reduced greenhouse gases emissions so high, that it is cost prohibitive for companies, especially coal burning electric plants to meet, thus forcing them to cut back, or close plants and lay off workers.

     Well there is a new green movement that is taking the USA by storm, on New Year’s day Colorado became the first state to legalize the green plant known as Marijuana to be sold as a recreational drug to the public. The New York Times said that people drove through the night from as far as Ohio to purchase their first legal bag of weed. It also said a lot of these folks had been busted and even jailed before and were jumping for joy over the Change in heart of the American government. The government after 50 plus years fighting the desire of its citizens and the opportunity for huge new taxes, in light of aging and retiring employees, promised pensions and health care for life, saw the chance to grab billions of new dollars for themselves. Since the last three presidents of our country are admitted pot smokers, it doesn’t seem to be such a stretch for legalization at this point in our declining history. 38 states have legalized gay marriage, you would think that pot would have been legalized before gay marriage.  Oh well other states will follow suit shortly. Washington State has legalized use and is getting ready to issue license to sell to the public. Of course there is outcry among government and religious groups that support gay marriage, but find marijuana a sin and moral decay. It reminds me of Rom. 1:24-28 So I ask where do you come down on this issue? We can no longer say don’t do it because it’s illegal, so what are we going to tell young people? Senator Bob Dole US presidential candidate in 1996 said “Just Don’t Do It.’ He lost the election to the pot smoking womanizer, Bill Clinton. In the mid 1980’s First Lady Nancy Regan said “Just say No” it had little effect on a nation that was getting high on a regular bases with much heavier drugs than Marijuana. Cocaine and Alcohol are far more deadly. The truth of the matter is were going to have a ongoing problem on our hands. Many more kids are going to try Marijuana and many church kids are going to try it and use it, some on a regular bases. There will also be adult’s, ministers and their wives who use it, these are the facts. Who uses and doesn’t, is going to depend on a lot of factors. What are we going to preach as a COG and how are we going to deal with users among us, this is the issue from here forward.

     Let’s talk a little about what the effects are and why people like to get high! Simply put, people including COG people like to check out, from time to time. As Billy Joel said “everyone goes south, every now and then. The pressures of this life are extreme and becoming more stressful all the time. Alcohol is used by millions of people, from ages 10-100 maybe younger and a few older, my point is, it is the most wide spread stimulate used. It is legal for 21 and older and most young kids can get it from someone. Many parties from 8^th grade on use it and many get drunk and do foolish things, including killing themselves and others, sexual encounters and getting into trouble with their parents and the law. This has been going on for a long, long, time. Some families have had more success than others with their kids, countering the popular trends. We must remember that Gods’ trends are the same yesterday,

today and tomorrow. In the song Cocaine, by JJ Cale made famous by guitar great Eric Clapton, has a very telling lyric in the song that says, “Don’t forget this fact you can’t get it back Cocaine.” It has many levels of meaning, here are a couple which apply to all Alcohol and drugs. Once you have spent the money, in a lot of cases all the money you earned for a week or two on one night of partying, which leaves you broke and bummed out for a period, so you try to find some other way to get high, so you can get by, until your money comes around again. If you have money like the celebrates like Lindsey Lohan you just keep on partying and getting into more and more trouble, until you go to jail, or lose all your money, then the possible the unthinkable committing suicide. The other thing you can’t get back is your health, your liver and lungs are a onetime gift, each person’s body reacts differently, not every one can take as much as another. All of these possibilities stem out of use of stimulates including prescription drugs. There is no easy answer to any of these realities we face. The number one deterrent is family example and it starts at the parent level. If you have trouble expressing yourselves as a father, or a mother, if you can’t show affection and steady purpose to your kids, they will find it out there, in these stimulates. God’s way of life in action every minute of the day “Yeh” is the sure best way to help your kids. The do as we say (While smoking and drinking) not as we do, proved to be disastrous for my generation. Only with the goal of getting out of this world alive, into the glorious kingdom of our father, working with his appointed king and son, helping other kids see the light,  is going to keep you on the right path. Talk to a adult you trust before you venture out there on your own. It’s a lot harder to stop, than it is to start…