Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word

Your Kingdom Come

In: Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word
Published:
When Christ came to this world as a baby the Jewish leadership knew where He was to be born. When the magi came from the east looking for Jesus they first went to Herod in Jerusalem and asked him where the baby king had been born. He sent them to the religious leaders who quickly pointed them to Bethlehem. If they knew where the messiah was to be born, why did they miss Him? Despite all of their study of the prophecies of a coming messiah they were looking for a conquering king NOT a suffering servant, born in a stable. The kingdom Jesus came to establish didn't fit with their expectations. 2,000 plus years later are our expectations any more in line with God's reality than the Jewish leaderships were? How are we in danger of missing out on the kingdom of God because we too are looking for the wrong thing?
 

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Hallowed Is Your Name

In: Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word
Published:
In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God appears to Solomon after the dedication of the temple and declared "and My people who are called by My name...." What is the significance of being called by God's name? How does that change the way we live? How can we "hallow God's name" through our behavior? What does it mean to "hallow" God's name? Other than the fact that Jesus commands us here to hallow His name, why is it important? What aspects of society (and religious behavior) have caused us to lose respect for God's name?
 

Who Is In Heaven

In: Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word
Published:
Many years ago when I was in Respiratory Therapy school we were studying the interpretation of pulmonary functions testing (PFT's). This was one of the critical topics for the class and failure to pass this module meant failing the program. One student was struggling to understand the concepts that had been presented in class and could not successfully interpret PFT's. The instructors had spent many hours with him one-on-one and he still just did not understand it. As we approached the deadline for the exam that would make or break his career one of the instructors approached me and said, "Jon, you understand PFT's very well and can interpret them correctly consistently, would you spend some time with Sean and maybe he will be able to understand your perspective better than he is understanding ours." Sean and I spent one entire clinical day just working with and interpreting PFT's and by the time the day was over he was interpreting them successfully every time. This was not an issue of the instructors not knowing what they were talking about (teachers, you know what I'm talking about here!) It was an issue that Sean wasn't able to understand it from their perspective, but seeing it from a different view point made all the difference in the world.
 

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Friday Blog

This past week has been an interesting and thought provoking week for me. Last Friday I received a phone call from Stephanie Sheehan, Dean of the School of Business at Southern Adventist University, continuing a conversation that began about three months ago. We had been dialoging about an open faculty position in the School of Business at Southern that had taken several intriguing twists and turns over the course of the months long conversation. The simple summary of the phone call on Friday was "with everything that has transpired, are you still interested in teaching at Southern." On Wednesday of this week I received an official invitation from the Academic VP's office to join the School of Business faculty. Throughout the past three months both Lisa and I have felt like every time the door seems to be closing on this opportunity God has pushed the door open again (the post from March 13 is a response to incidents that happened as part of the ongoing dialogue!) Due to the vast array of evidence that seems to point to God's direction in this matter on Wednesday evening I accepted the position.

Friday Blog

When I was younger my brothers and I would often camp beside the pond at the top of Tumbledown Mountain in Weld, Maine (unfortunately camping is now prohibited on the mountain.) Most of the time we would be the only campers on the mountain providing a peaceful solitude away from the busyness of life. We would start at the drive-in base camp located on a long dirt road off the main highway leading into Weld and hike the nearly 3 miles along the Parker Ridge trail to the top. From this bare summit we could look down on Tumbledown pond or we could look to the south and east toward Webb lake and Mt. Blue. One of the defining features of this hike was the climb through the woods to a steep ascent that lead over three succeeding rock ledges before finally ascending Parker Ridge. As you came out of the woods all you could see was the crest of the first ledge. For a first time hiker it appears you are about to reach the summit, only to be disappointed when you finally get there and discover there is another ridge. That experience was repeated two more times as you crested ledges two and three before finally reaching the (almost) summit (if you continue on the loop trail that goes around the lake you will ascend to a higher summit before descending back down through the "chimney" and "fat man's misery" - it is far better to come UP that trail rather than try to go down!) 

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An interactive edition of The Great Controversy by Ellen White documenting historical references to people, places and events discussed in the book.

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