Creation Care Chronicles, no. 1 – Restoration

I am sitting in the Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen, The Netherlands. It is an historic place, where the Germans surrendered to the Canadians in 1945. As a Canadian of Dutch extraction, it holds a special place in my heart. 

The surrender ended years of war and famine. It was the beginning of restoration. At that moment, this hotel stood with shattered infrastructure and without windows. Today, it has been lovingly restored, a picture of the renewal of a country and its people.

As I write this, workmen are renovating the ancient building across the street, inserting 21^st century amenities into a 19^th century edifice. It is messy and complicated, but I look forwarded to the result.

ReGen.Global met here with colleagues from Central Asia and Afghanistan, where we are working to restore soils and souls. The work is also messy and complicated: there are a lot of spiritual, environmental and economic windows blown out. Malnutrition, water stress, and farmers focused on mere survival leave little space for long-term planning.

That is why we must be patient and persistent, bringing the best of 21st-century science into dialogue with centuries-old wisdom of the land. Restoration cannot be forced; it must be elegantly integrated. With the people and resources God, through you, has provided, healing and renewal can begin.