Heat and Responsibility

This week in Northern Illinois we had four days in a row of daytime high temperatures of over 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

But the night time lows were even more oppressive. Never below 73.

It was after 10:00 PM when I took our Border Collies, Max and Hector, out for their final walk of the day. Hector will be 15 years old in a couple of months. He has lumbered in his walk for many years now due to arthritis in all of his legs. But up to this heat wave he was able to go out a quarter mile or so with Max, and make slow but steady progress going back to the kennel. But on Tuesday night Hector really struggled. He would waddle a few steps and stop to rest, waddle a few more and stop. And after a little respite in the house, with its air conditioning, he balked at going back into the kennel and its 80 degree swelter. Only when I put a leash on him would he reluctantly go with me.

That night I barely slept. I felt sore and agitated in every joint of my body. I tossed and turned. Many times my thoughts went to Hector and Max and their eyes and their tail wagging and their eagerness to understand me and meet my needs. Many times I fought back tears.

I thought of how much I owe to them, especially Hector in his laboring heart and lungs and legs in this god-awful heat and humidity.

The next morning I was relieved to see Hector lift his head when I went into the kennel; but I took Max out separately, and then he and Hector over to the shaded farm-house lawn. I felt Hector could do his business at his own pace while I tossed the ball to ball-obsessed Hector.

Inside for breakfast I was pleasantly surprised to get a 10 AM appointment at the veterinarian’s office, and we took Hector in, half expecting to be told it was time to put him down. But it wasn’t. The doctor recommended an injection of a monoclonal antibody drug that has a good chance to ease his pain. It will be $85 a month if we think it is helping him. But we owe it to him, do we not.

And we owe it to him to keep him cool with fresh drinking water, hose downs, shorter walks, more time with us and the air conditioning. We owe it all to our faithful Hector.

We all owe it to one another as well to take responsibility for the ways we are deliberately pouring greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. This is our climate change. It is our responsibility.

We should all have hard times sleeping over the ways millions suffer--millions of people with noble hopes and dreams and gifts for humanity are having to lumber through days of floods and hurricanes and oppressive temperatures rather than sharing those gifts. We should see them all in our nightmares.

We are being urged by our better church leaders to rouse ourselves to a true allegiance to the Christ of Creation. Here is a prayer petition I put together for this Sunday’s worship:

Lord of earth and cosmos, you have made us stewards of the earth’s soil, waters, plants, animals, and the environment itself. Awaken in us a deep and strong sense of responsibility that is a necessary part of such faithfulness. Make us weep for the destruction of habitats and the tragic deaths of people caused by greedy development and careless climate change. Help us weep for the thousands who suffered and died in the floods of Tibet and Nepal, as well as the thousands of our elderly neighbors who suffer and die during every heat wave. But help us do more. Help us be wise and brave enough to do what needs to be done to work with you for the healing of our planet.   Hear us, O God.   Your mercy is great.