By Ronald D. Graybill | 22 February 2018 | Katy was curious
Read more at the source: Newly Authenticated Ellen G. White Letter at Pacific Union College
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Adventist Today.
Unexpected Tears
“Don’t touch anything without your gloves on!” shouted our trip leader.
A group of us inhaled one last deep breath of fresh air before entering another moldy home. Dinner time was approaching, my energy was vanishing, and the last thing I wanted to do was haul out loads of grungy items. Within ten minutes, I was covered in sweat. This was not my idea of a relaxing Spring Break.
I was a young, outgoing, and single-minded teenager. My view of Spring Break consisted of going to the beach, and shopping, instead here I was doing this grimy, dirty work.
“Jana, are you just going to stand there? I need help carrying this bed-frame outside,” a classmate of mine said.
I snapped out of my daydream, yet could not shake off my grouchy mood. Instead of working hard, I kept thinking about my friends enjoying their break without me. I obviously did not want to be cleaning out filthy houses in New Orleans! The true reason I agreed to participate? Because I still needed community service hours to meet school requirements.
Hurricane Katrina had taken place months before our visit, but New Orleans still needed desperate help. Each home we entered reeked, making my eyes burn and stomach churn. The waterline reached clear up to the ceiling in most the homes. Piles of individual’s belongings were smothered in grime. Our job consisted of clearing everything out, and then completely gutting the house.
I walked into a bedroom and started to clean out the closet. I reached into the closet, grabbed a mangled up jacket, and instantly froze in my tracks. I owned that exact same jacket. The room felt eerie, lonely, and cold, it was just me and that jacket. As I peered into the closet, I saw numerous items that were just like mine. How would I feel if my closet had been destroyed? Tears immediately sprang to my eyes. In that moment of silence, I thanked God for what I do have.
People’s belongings, memories, and meaningful items were washed away in hurricane Katrina. There I stood, observing the destruction firsthand. I became ashamed with my self-indulgence, begging God to veer me away from my egocentric viewpoint.
I knew God had put me in that moldy room at that exact moment. He knew how stubborn I was being. Through Him I learned to see the world through a whole new perspective, and appreciate the blessings He has provided.
Jana Kubrock Carter writes from the Pacific Northwest.
The post Unexpected Tears appeared first on Answers for Me.
Read more at the source: Unexpected Tears
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.
When Problems Come
I grew up in a loving Christian home. We went to church every week. I loved the pastor—he was my Dad. If something was happening at church, we were there. We had family worship every morning and evening and my Mom would sing songs about Jesus through the day. We learned the great stories of the Bible. I have loved Jesus as long as I can remember.
When I was five years old my mother had brain cancer surgery (this was in the dark ages—decades before MRIs or even CT scans!). The pathology report revealed a high grade cancer. She should have been dead in weeks to months, but in answer to prayer, she lived another 48 years before dying in her late seventies. I remember other answers to prayer—our lost dog being found and another time when our car got stuck in the mud out in the middle of no where. These incidents strengthened my trust in God.
I always had a heart that was tender for the Lord. When I was 7 or 8 I asked to be baptized, but was told by the pastor (my dad) that I was too young. I was a good kid, but I remember wondering if I was good enough because sometimes I would tease my little brother and talk back to my Mom. I hadn’t read the Bible text that says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). As I matured, I gradually learned through prayer, Bible study and conversations with others that it was not my goodness that counted, but what Jesus had done for me. As John 3:16 makes clear, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus was good enough. He gave his life for me.
As a young teenager I developed a strong devotional life and got involved in activities to tell others about Jesus. I even considered studying to become a minister, but that was not really an option in those days. So I went to college and then became a physician.
In my practice of medicine I tried to share Jesus with my patients when it was appropriate. I remember thinking that the office was my parish and I was truly a minister to my patients. As my children started growing, I got involved in children’s ministry at the church. Later I had opportunity to minister in other areas. But always my greatest joy was seeing people come to know the Lord and mature in their faith. When I retired early from medicine in 2002, I joined the pastoral staff as a volunteer staff pastor. What a joy!
We all have struggles in our lives, some more than others. But I cannot imagine living in the world of today without the security of knowing that Jesus is my friend and that he cares for me. When problems come, I don’t have to handle them by myself. I can share my problems with God and trust him to lead in my life. Even when bad things happen I know that is not the whole story. God is love and he hurts when I hurt. My favorite text is probably John 14:1-3, Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Jesus promises we don’t have to have troubled hearts. He has gone to heaven, but he will surely return. THAT is the rest of the story. I can’t wait to experience the end of that story and be with my friend Jesus forevermore.
Marcia Stone writes from the Pacific Northwest.
The post When Problems Come appeared first on Answers for Me.
Read more at the source: When Problems Come
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.
Reflection on Desmond Ford’s Historic Glacier View Document, Recently Republished
Recently one of the most famous documents in the twentieth century history of the Adventist faith was republished in a new edition with some recent annotation and documentation. “Daniel 8:14, the Day of Atonement and the Investigative Judgment” was written by Dr.
Read more at the source: Reflection on Desmond Ford’s Historic Glacier View Document, Recently Republished
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Adventist Today.
Before You Crash
Every time I’m asked why I won’t use my Saturdays to mow the lawn or spring clean my house, I get happy. One of the most profound practices in my life is the practice of Sabbath. I love it when I’m asked about Sabbath. Not only does it give me a chance to promote something that brings balance and security to family ties, it’s also an opportunity to throw some light on the one thing God asked us to remember, that we’ve gone and forgotten.
My favorite story about Sabbath I read in an airline magazine. Written by a Jewish woman with little or no ties to God and faith, she rambles on about how her life is coming apart, how she and her husband for all their work and business don’t seem to know each other anymore. And how with conflict and maybe even divorce staring them in the face, she stumbles upon that ancient practice so familiar to her ethnic heritage, the Jewish Sabbath.
The rest of the article is about how they begin to practice Sabbath—a commitment that is outlined in the Ten Commandments that involves kicking back, communing with your family, and not doing anything mundane or common for the rest of the week. Sabbath practice forces a calm day, a mini-vacation day, like a little respite in the middle of our rampant responsibilities. No matter what has to be done, when Friday night comes with the sun going down, well, everything gets thrown in the back room and forgotten for a solid 24 hours.
Did their marriage start to thrive? Yes. They were very happy in the end. Just as successful, but also very connected and emotionally strong. Toward the end of the article, she went on about how they always have Sabbath to fall back into now, no matter the week. That they know that despite schedule conflicts and all the crazy dynamics of two adults working full time, they will have each other all to themselves in less than seven days. Always.
Her story was very much a take on my experience. I felt like I had read about myself on that flight out East. Although for me it’s not just about saying no to all those annoying must-do-now lists, or even being all day without the pressure of my job or the media or the random information dumped all over my life on a daily basis. It’s also about communing with God. It’s my day where I remember I’m human, a created being, yes, human being, not human doing.
What’s funny though, is whenever I’m given a chance to share about Sabbath, most—especially Christians—get this squinty look on their faces and ask why I’d be doing something Jewish, you know, instead of Christian… you know, like that is the Jewish Sabbath, hello. It’s amazing really; any good Christian will tell you the Ten Commandments are front and central to guiding our lives, and right there in the middle is the one commandment that starts out REMEMBER, and yet has somehow been relegated an ancient Jewish heirloom, like an old relic of times past.
That makes no sense to me. When I get that response I like to remind whoever I’m talking with, that Sabbath was given to the human race before anything happened, including sin and then a few centuries later, the Jewish nation. Sabbath was the first day of life for humans; this is what the Bible teaches. God created us and then the next day—a seventh day, following six days of creating the natural world—He rested and called the day Sabbath—a day to relax and be reminded of our origins as a race.
What a grand idea!
Clarissa Worley Sprout writes from the Pacific Northwest.
The post Before You Crash appeared first on Answers for Me.
Read more at the source: Before You Crash
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.
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