Tough First Day of School

By Andrew McChesney

The first day of school was hard for Niang Muang. Really, really hard.

Image © Pacific Press

The 9-year-old girl had arrived in the United States only a month earlier from Myanmar. Her parents were refugees. She didn’t know English, and she didn’t have any friends.

“Hello, what’s your name?” a girl asked her.

Niang shook her head.

“No,” she said.

“Oh,” said the girl, confused. “Where are you from?”

Niang shook her head again.

“No,” she said.

Niang was not trying to be rude. She just didn’t understand.

Because she didn’t know English, she sat quietly all morning in class. At lunchtime, she followed the other children to the cafeteria and looked at the food being served. Nacho cheese and shredded beef. Mini-pizzas. Chicken nuggets. The food was very strange to her. She was used to eating mustard leaves, potatoes leaves, watercress, brown beans, and red lentils.

After tasting the food, she returned to the classroom and sat quietly until school ended for the day. At home, she prayed for help. “Dear God, please help me survive another day of school,” she said.

Fourth grade was tough, but fifth grade was better. She began to speak English and to make friends.

“What’s your name?” a girl asked.

“My name is Niang,” she replied with a shy smile.

“Oh, where are you from?” the girl said.

“I am from Burma, which is also called Myanmar,” Niang said.

The girl nodded her head. She had heard of the country. Several other refugee children from Myanmar also studied at their school.

“Oh OK,” she said. “Do you want to play?”

Niang felt happy. She was beginning to fit in. She felt even happier in seventh grade. She was able to transfer from the public school to a Seventh-day Adventist school thanks to money from a 2011 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering to help refugees in the North American Division.

She thanked God in her daily prayers. “Dear God, thank You so much for helping me learn this new language and for taking care of me,” she prayed.

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help more children refugees like Niang study at Adventist schools. Niang is now 21 and studying to become a mission doctor.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

“We all desire immediate and direct answers to our prayers, and are tempted to become discouraged when the answer is delayed or comes in an unlooked-for form. But God is too wise and good to answer our prayers always at just the time and in just the manner we desire.

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He will do more and better for us than to accomplish all our wishes. And because we can trust His wisdom and love, we should not ask Him to concede to our will, but should seek to enter into and accomplish His purpose. Our desires and interests should be lost in His will.” — Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, p. 219.

“It will only be a little while before Jesus will come to save His children and to give them the finishing touch of immortality … The graves will be opened, and the dead will come forth victorious, crying, ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’ Our loved ones who sleep in Jesus will come forth clothed with immortality.” — Ellen G. White, Counsels on Stewardship, p. 350.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZgqTYglytE]

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“Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.” Matthew 24:40-41 NLT

Many people have used this passage to suggest a secret rapture, where people will suddenly just disappear and be taken to heaven. Growing up, I occasionally saw bumper stickers, warning that in case of rapture, this car will be unmanned. But when you read this passage in context you will see no hint of a secret rapture. * Unlike the secret rapture theory, the Sabbath is found in the Bible and has been taught and observed in the Bible and throughout history. The secret rapture was never taught before 1830 and is not found in the Bible.

Let’s take a look at the entire context of the passage in Matthew 24.

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. Matthew 24:37-41 NLT

In the days of Noah the people who were swept away or “taken away,” as other versions describe, were the wicked people, not the righteous. Jesus tells us it will be the same when He comes. So the ones taken in the field and at the mill are not the righteous, they are the wicked. They are taken away from the presence of the righteous and destroyed, just like in the days of Noah. So, Jesus is telling us that two men will be in the field; one will be taken and destroyed, just like the tares that are bundled up and destroyed in Matthew 13:30 while the wheat remains in the barn. By saying the other man is left, Jesus means that man is left alive and not destroyed. In Matthew 13:38 Jesus says the field is the world. That tells us that the one who is taken is destroyed while the one who is left inherits the new earth. (See Matthew 5:5 and Revelation 21:1-5.)

Luke makes it even more clear that those who are taken are not taken to heaven, but rather are taken to destruction like those left to be eaten or destroyed by vultures.

I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.” And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” Luke 17:34-37 NKJV

Neither Matthew or Luke give any hint of a secret rapture. After all, when the wicked were swept away in the flood, that was no secret. The whole world at that time saw what was happening. The eight who remained and took over the earth knew what was going on the whole time also. There were no secrets either way.

Far from being a secret the entire world will know.

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. Revelation 1:7 NKJV

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NKJV

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Yes there will be a rapture when we are taken up, but it will be no secret. Why is it so important that everyone sees Jesus coming instead of the righteous just secretly disappearing? There are many reasons, but I am sure that Satan does not want to have to face the music. He would rather avoid that confrontation when Jesus comes as King of kings and Lord of lords. But there is no avoiding it. One day,

As I live says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God. Romans 14:11 NKJV

When the great controversy is finished, the entire universe will declare that God is love. And that is a truth that Satan would rather cover up and keep secret, but he won’t be able. The whole world will see Jesus coming, and He will take home with Him all those who have accepted His love into their lives. Let’s accept Him into our hearts now so that we will greet His coming with joy.

*By the way the secret rapture rapture was never even taught until the theory was invented by John Darby around 1830. The Sabbath truth was re-discovered around the same time. 

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One of the most-used apps on our smartphones is Google Maps. Most of us cannot remember what we did before GPS-based maps existed on our phones. We may be nervous heading toward a place that we have never been to before, but with Google Maps on our phones, we can confidently venture out and find our way in any foreign city. Could this confidence be an illustration of the kind of rest God wants to give us with His prophetic timetable?

Sometimes, however, we may enter the wrong address into our apps, or we may just decide not to follow the directions because we think we know a shortcut. In either case, we may end up somewhere we didn’t want to be — and most definitely not in a restful frame of mind, either.

Read Philippians 4:4-6. What is Paul saying here to us about the way to have true rest, true peace, even amid a harried and painful world?

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In this passage, Paul is not saying to rejoice, always, in all the trials that you are facing. Instead He is saying, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” No matter our present situation, no matter what trials we are facing, if we dwell on God, on His goodness, His love, and on His sacrifice on the cross for us, we can rejoice in Him and have peace for our weary souls.

Just the very tone of the texts implies rest, peace, and a transcendent hope of something beyond this world.

Imagine, too, the kind of rest for our souls that we would have if, indeed, we could be “anxious for nothing.” This hardly seems realistic for anyone in this world (even Paul had plenty of worries), but again, knowing that a loving God is ultimately in control and will save us into His kingdom can, surely, help us put the things that we are anxious about into proper perspective.

The “Lord is at hand”? That is, He is always close to us, and that as soon as we close our eyes and rest in the sleep of death, the next thing we know is the return of Christ.

No question, life is full of tensions, trials, and struggles. None of us escape them; certainly the apostle Paul didn’t, either (see 2 Corinthians 11:1-33). Nevertheless, his point is to tell us that even with all that we endure now, we can rejoice in what we have been given in Christ and, indeed, we can find rest for souls, even now.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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