A. D. Correll is the CEO of Georgia-Pacific, the leading forest-products
company in the country. Recently Sky magazine quoted Correll on the value of
trees. He said that a growing tree is “the most wonderful pollution
control device ever devised. It takes carbon dioxide out of the air and converts
it to oxygen and stores the carbon in the tree. When you make lumber and paper,
you preserve that carbon storage and start the cycle all over again.”

Surely it is by God’s design that the environment renews itself, and a tree is
only one of countless examples. God has provided his own means to deal with
pollution — both the pollution of the earth and the pollution of the soul. The
earth, so wonderfully made, will pass away, and like the apostle Peter and the
apostle John we look for “new heavens and a new earth” because the
earth will pass away. But the soul, the spirit, the inner person, was created
for eternity. When God “restores my soul,” He is not only making it
possible for me to continue to live abundantly on earth; He is preparing me to
live eternally in Heaven.