God Is Good Even When Things Go Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

Lamentations 3:25

New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.

George taught at Ikizu Secondary School in Tanzania, Africa. He was promoted to principal the year we arrived there. He loved the students and all the people in the area. Many a time he went out of his way to help someone in need, someone whom I was ready to ignore. The people loved him for it. Sylvia and I were the only missionaries without a car at Ikizu. George usually offered to take Sylvia with him on his weekly trip to town, an hour’s drive away, and never charged us a cent.

As time went by he developed numbness in his legs. Doctors recommended back surgery to take the pressure off pinched nerves. He had the option of returning to the U.S. to get the surgery done or having it done in Africa. He told me that he chose to have the surgery done in Nairobi because it would save the mission many thousands of dollars. Whether or not the result would have been the same if he had returned to the U.S. no one will ever know. But the surgeon cut too deeply and left George paralyzed from the waist down.

He returned to a small house in Cicero, Indiana, where he was simply forgotten. He hoped for a surgical procedure that would reverse the paralysis, but it never materialized. Depression settled in on him, and bitterness seemed on the verge of overwhelming him. Yet George refused to let it get him down. His indomitable will and the Grace of God overcame these, and he became a great source of courage, happiness, and joy. As the years stretched into decades, he took up quilting, some rug weaving, and wheelchair gardening. We visited him and his wife anytime we took a trip across the country. We always left their place feeling better about life, God, and ourselves.

He had fallen before we stopped by one time. In obviously severe pain, he looked at me and with a broad smile and a twinkle in his eye said, “Can you imagine anyone falling out of bed and breaking a hip?” Then he chuckled about the absurdity of it. He had had a bar mounted above his bed. He would grab the bar with his hands and move his paralyzed body out of bed and onto his wheelchair. His hands had slipped off the bar that time. The fall proved to be the final blow, and he passed away a month or two later. He had been paralyzed for over 35 years. In spite of this, he never failed to thank and praise the Lord for His goodness. What an example!

Thank You, Lord, for being good to us, especially when things go wrong, wrong, wrong. Thank You for the joy that George experienced in his affliction and that such joy can be ours, too.

Christian Icons

Matthew 5:16

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Coming home from early church I noticed a vehicle start out of a side road just as I approached. The driver of the bright red pickup braked just before he would have slammed into the side of my car. His face had impatience written all over it as he tail-gated me for three-quarters of a mile down the street with his bright lights on even though it was broad daylight.

When I reached Gramercy Place, I pulled over to the left and stopped at the stop sign. He shot around on the right side of me and, without even slowing down for the stop sign, turned the opposite direction. His lips were moving as he looked daggers at me.

Hanging up in the rear window of his pickup was a choir robe. I glanced at the clock in my car:  It read 9:31. Suddenly it all made sense. He was saying, “Get the h*** out of my way! Can’t you see I’m late to church?”

On occasion I have wondered about getting an “ixthus” fish and putting it on my car--or maybe a NOTW sign in the rear window. There are even tattoos of some of these symbols; (I have no desire to get a tattoo.) But then reality takes over. What if I were to cut somebody off on the road and had a symbol of Christ on my car? Wouldn’t I be hurting the concept of Christ or Christian in the other person’s mind?

Lord, may my actions not offend others but rather show Your good works so that they can glorify You.

Pain!

Ezekiel 14:14

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,” declares the Lord God.

Over the weekend my mother-in-law, who is currently staying with us, complained of pain when the skin around her ankles was touched. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic which eased the cellulitis almost immediately. But that evening she broke out in a rash around her abdomen. She was in excruciating pain all the time, not just when it was touched. This time her doctor diagnosed her with shingles. Apparently anyone who has had chicken pox is a likely candidate for shingles. Two nights later she fell out of bad and injured her right hand to the point that any movement proved extremely painful

Recently I have been reading about Job in Philip Yancy’s The Bible Jesus Read. A parallel between Mom’s extremely painful shingles and Job’s boils came to mind. Job lost all his wealth and all his children on a single day. Then he got these extremely painful boils all over his body. His wife callously advised him to simply curse God and die. “Friends” came over and 36 chapters of the book are devoted to their analysis of why Job suffered all these tragedies. As far as any of them are concerned, there must have been something evil that Job had done to be punished by such a terrible catastrophe.

What has Mom done to warrant days of agony from shingles? What sins did she commit? What evil have her children done so she is afflicted with this pain? Nothing I can think of.  

According to the book of Job, no one in his story ever found out the actual reason why Job suffered. To the end of the book all of the characters were convinced that God had afflicted Job because of some evil he had done. Job is convinced that he had done no such evil and desired a chance to defend himself before God. Finally God speaks to Job. God does not address these accusations. He leaves Job under the opinion that He had indeed afflicted Job. But tucked away in the first two chapters lies the surprising revelation—God allowed Satan to test Job’s faith in front of the watching universe. In the end God doubly restored all of Job’s fortune.

Is God allowing Satan to test Mom’s faith in front of the watching universe?  I asked her if she thought so. She, too, is silent on that issue. Of course, just like Job, she doesn’t know. At 98, Mom is unlikely to live long enough for a restoration of her earthly fortune. Or is God simply allowing modern medicine to prolong life and consequently in many cases to prolong pain and suffering? We all have unanswered questions.

Thank You, Lord, for loving and saving us. Thank You also that You have guaranteed the outcome of this conflict with Satan. We chafe under the malevolence and hatred of Satan, of course, yet we thank You for the eventual victory we will have over him through Christ’s victory.

  

Thanksgiving for a Beautiful Creation

Genesis 1:31

Good News Translation (GNT)

³¹ God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased. 

Where I grew up the south-east trade winds blew continuously for nine months of the year. They came in off the southern oceans and had a constant chill in them. Often they howled through at gale force sweeping everything clean and laying a magnificent white cloud covering over the rugged mountains isolating us from the great desert stretching away to the north. Epidemics that swept the continent were blown out to sea by this Cape Doctor, protecting the fortunate Cape dwellers.

Magnificent sunsets over Table Mountain and Lion’s Head were so common that most people never bothered to marvel at them. The mountains anchor what the global explorer Sir Frances Drake called “The fairest cape in all the world.” The wind carried the fading daylight far out into the Atlantic and left a clear black sky. The brightest stars in the heavens bejeweled the sky and became my constant friends.

In late winter and spring the foothills of these mountains are festooned with an array of wildflowers that is unequalled anywhere else. Some have claimed that there are more species of flowering plants within 50 miles of where I grew up than in the rest of Africa combined. I wandered the hills and mountain slopes and made an unending collection of these flowers that I pressed in a contraption made of two boards and lots of newspaper stuck under the leg of my bed. Finally I mounted them in scrapbooks that I pored over on days when I couldn’t go out.  

Brightly colored sun birds seemed to steal their radiance from the flowers they lived on. My brother, friends and I often scared up a family of guinea fowl under the bushes and trees and chased the scattering babies. We never caught any. Other birds and small animals—pigeons, squirrels, mice, lizards, snakes—were common sights in the hills. I kept a small zoo of these animals Gerald Durrell style—a childhood close to nature

Thank You, Lord, for sharing with us a tiny remnant of that great perfection You created the whole world to be.  

Gossip by Superiors

Psalm 69:12

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

¹² Rulers and judges gossip about me.

When I finished graduate school and earned a doctorate in mathematics, I had several openings where I could teach. We prayed earnestly over the choices and asked the Lord to indicate His will in our lives. He directed us to South Africa. The choice was appealing since I had grown up there and could speak both official languages; the choice also seemed the most rational to make. We spent four good years there. It seemed like we were helping students not only do mathematics but also establish a foundation for solid Christian living.

Eventually the time for a furlough arrived. Questions arose in our minds about what would be best for God’s work and for our family. Our children were of school age now. Sylvia felt that our simple country living in Africa without TV and other modern distractions would be a better place to rear the children. Besides that, we enjoyed our work in Africa, had excellent friends that we would hate to leave, and had no desire to radically change anything. We had committed our lives to work in Africa.

On the other hand, changes were coming to the college: science and math were being phased out because those students could take the science classes at a nearby school with well equipped labs and other facilities. Furthermore, there were elements in the board of the college that saw no use for science. The country was in the midst of double digit inflation, and everyday expenses had approximately doubled in four years. Faculty, however, had received no cost of living adjustments to their salaries. We were per force a one income family, and we were barely making ends meet.

Again we took these issues to the Lord and asked Him to direct us as to what our next employment should be. His direction was contrary to our chosen mission. He directed us to return to the United States, at least for the foreseeable future. When I communicated with the college president, he agreed with my explanations and encouraged me to pursue them.

The next day I got word from several of my friends that the president was circulating the report that we were money grubbers and were going elsewhere to get better wages. I was saddened by the misrepresentation, and I guess I wouldn’t remember it now if it didn’t really hurt at the time. I said nothing about how I had originally chosen to come there knowing I would be getting significantly less than my other job choices offered. If I were really money-grubbing, I would never have gone there in the first place.

Looking back, I can see God has abundantly blessed us over the last 35 years. I am still not rich as far as wealth goes, but I count myself rich in life experiences, in friends, the students we have influenced, and above all, in the marvelous grace of our loving Redeemer.

Thank You, Lord, for bringing to naught the gossip of those who speak out of ignorance or misconception.

When Everything Goes Wrong

John 16:33

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

³³ I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

It seemed that things were going from bad to worse. It was winter in South Africa. The nights were frosty and the days grey, drizzly, and cold. Our home had brick walls with vent holes in every room and every external wall. There was no heat, and the damp cold air seeped into our every fiber. The children, one still in diapers, had colds that added to the suffering. Inflation had eaten up our meager savings, and our wages just couldn’t be stretched thin enough.

My wife was depressed. It was a spiraling, deepening depression that left her weepy and irresolute. Just getting up every day and fixing meals for our three kids had become an impossible chore. I took her to the family doctor. He diagnosed this as a nervous breakdown and prescribed total rest away from family responsibilities.

Of course, time away in a resort was totally out of the question. The Coetzee’s, long time acquaintances but not close friends, offered to let her live in their sunny cottage with them. I had no idea how long this isolation would be. We bundled everyone into our little old Peugeot and headed for Coetzee’s. I was almost a basket case myself. The future looked bleak as I drove over to their cottage. On the way there, a man in a pickup suddenly hit the brakes ahead of me, and I slammed into the rear of him. We dropped my wife off, and the four of us drove home in a blackening depression. Life was bleak, cold, and unfriendly.

But things did turn around. The sun eventually came out. After a week or so Sylvia returned home rested and refreshed. The accident was sufficiently minor that I chose to pay for repairs to both vehicles rather than collect on insurance. We were very tightly stretched financially for the next two years until we returned to the U.S. It took well over ten years before we found a doctor who was able to provide effective and lasting relief for the depression. But through it all we were given the courage and the peace to face what life had given us.

Thank You, Lord, that You do give us the support and comfort we need for the suffering that indeed comes our way.

When God Delays Answering

Jonah 2:7

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

⁷ As my life was fading away,
I remembered Yahweh.
My prayer came to You,
to Your holy temple.

Esther, our eldest child, was born in Kendu Bay, Kenya—the home town of President Barak Obama’s father. We were missionaries at Ikizu in Tanzania, and she spent the first two and a half years of her life there. Ikizu experiences two separate rainy seasons in the year. During each rainy season mosquitoes abound, and malaria becomes a major problem.

We had no malaria prophylactic for such a young child. Even though we took precautions like having her sleep under a mosquito net, she came down with malaria. There were two standard treatments for malaria available to us, Chloroquine and Camoquin. Chloroquine was much easier on the patient, but much of the malaria in our area was resistant to it. Camoquin, on the other hand, was still effective in most cases but was sufficiently poisonous so that the patient would nearly die of the cure.

Esther invariably contracted the Chloroquine resistant strain of malaria. Each time her temperature shot up to 105° or 106°F (above 40.5°C), naturally, under medical recommendations, we tried Chloroquine first, and it would have no effect. Then, in desperation we switched to Camoquin. Blood tests showed that we had eliminated disease, but she would be absolutely prostate in bed for upwards of a week after being “cured.” Each bout seemed to hit her harder than the previous one, and as the December 1971 rainy season approached, Sylvia and I became concerned that we would lose Esther to malaria this time.

We had a furlough back to the U.S. scheduled for late in January. I requested permission to send Sylvia and Esther away in December, early enough, we hoped, to miss the rains and mosquitoes. The response was, of course, that this was against policy and couldn’t be done. We felt desperate and prayed earnestly for the Lord’s intervention. Eventually He not only intervened to let them leave early but also allow me to go with them. We took several doses of Camoquin with us just in case Esther had a relapse in America where many doctors have no experience treating this tropical disease. By God’s grace we never had to use them.

Thank You, Lord, that indeed You hear us even when we seem to be near death’s door.

Mt St Helens Geology

Hebrews 11:3

King James Version (KJV)

³ Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

The Davy sisters sent me two DVDs a couple months ago. I was going to watch them earlier but then decided that Sylvia’s Mom would probably enjoy watching them with us. She was here with us for a week recently, and I invited her to watch one entitled Mt St Helens: A Big Bang for Creation. It has several parts, and we chose to watch a one hour lecture.

The St Helens eruption in 1980 was undoubtedly the most carefully observed and documented by scientists of any major eruption to date. The massive eruption saw the top and whole north side of the mountain blown away in a very few minutes. The glaciers on the mountain were melted causing a great river of water, volcanic ash, and mud to rush down the side of the mountain, carving in 20 minutes a canyon as deep as 400 feet in places. This whole new river system, dubbed Hoffstadt Creek, would have been considered to have taken many centuries to form by old style geologists. Hundreds of layers of strata were laid down by the explosion and then carved by the creek to leave cross sections of these layers exposed, much like those in the Grand Canyon and other great canyons in the American west today.

Where the old Spirit Lake had been, the volcano created a new lake−also called Spirit Lake. The bottom of the new lake is roughly at the altitude of the surface of the old lake. Hundreds of square miles of forest were denuded in the first blast from the mountain. This area after the blast was covered by thousands of logs, many of them lying in such a fashion that it looked like the area had been combed. Thousands of these logs covered the surface of the new lake. Over the last thirty years most of these logs have sunk to the bottom of the lake. In the process of sinking the heavy end of the log went down first leaving the trees suspended in the lake in vertical position. They then come to rest in this vertical position on the bottom of the lake.

There is a petrified forest like this preserved in Yellowstone that was regarded as proof positive of a long geological history of that area. A plaque had been erected in the area by the National Park Service stating this. Now, at the suggestion of Dr Coffin from the Geoscience Research Institute, this plaque has been removed since scientists have witnessed another petrified forest like that in Yellowstone form in less than a quarter of a century.

Although the Mt St Helens eruption was extremely powerful, it is regarded by volcanologists as being puny when compared to many volcanic eruptions within the past few centuries. Results from the observations of this mountain are causing geologists to reassess their whole dating systems and to reexamine old estimates of long geological time.

Thank You, Lord, for tipping Your hand just a little in order to give us an inkling of how mighty Your works are.

Love And Marriage

Proverbs 5:18-19 

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁸ Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

¹⁹ Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

Sylvia had a birthday recently. The universe celebrated it in big style including an eclipse of the sun. I’m afraid I can take no credit for that one. We met in a Christian college back in the early 1960s. Courtship was very limited at the college in those days. A date consisted iof meeting a girl in the lobby of the women’s dormitory before a Saturday evening entertainment in the gym. Otherwise we could see each other in the classroom or library.

Two and a half years after our first date we were married in the college church. About ninety guests showed up to help us celebrate. They looked lost in a church that must have seated 2,000 people. Our guests assured us that the rain we had during the wedding was a token of a fruitful union. We took a tent and summer clothes on a camping trip into the woods of northern Wisconsin. Of course the weather turned cold, and we spent a week shivering in a tent on the shores of a muddy little lake.

Over the next quarter century we became the proud parents of three lovely children. We each went back to school. I earned two graduate degrees and Sylvia her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. We spent two terms as missionaries in Africa. These taught us to that we could survive in each other’s love on a lot of faith and very little money.

The second quarter century is nearing its close. We still rejoice in each other’s love. When I recently reread Solomon’s advice to married couples, I was impressed again by the beauty and wisdom in his words. I looked up this advice in several different versions of scripture.

The CEV misses the thrust of  Solomon’s well earned advice by yielding to the accentuated hypocrisy of a pretended Victorian Christian 21^st century facade. “Be happy with the wife you married when you were young. She is beautiful and graceful, just like a deer; you should be attracted to her and stay deeply in love.” This rendering is truly insipid and offers only generic advice, watered down purely for pecuniary reasons and groveling political correctness.

The Voice translation on the other hand shoots straight from the hip with post-Christian candor. “May your fountain, your sex life, be blessed by God; may you know true joy with the wife of your youth. She who is lovely as a deer and graceful as a doe—as you drink in her love, may her breasts satisfy you at all times.”

Thank You, Lord, for your special, abundant blessing on a faithful union that You have used to symbolize the ideal relationship between You and us.

A Most Impressive Miracle

Psalm 77:14

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles.

For several years now I have observed individuals, relatives, friends, who have been under the iron grip of chemical dependence. They strive to regain control of their lives. Sometimes they will be “clean” for days, weeks, months, and even years. Then suddenly they are sucked back into the unyielding, merciless clutches of their old habits.

Last month I was with four of these unfortunate souls. All four were in various stages of “detoxing.” For the first time in my life I attended an Al-Anon meeting. Everyone who attended is closely associated (spouse, parent, sibling, friend, etc) with an alcoholic and/or someone addicted to some habit forming substance. Person after person spoke about his or her experiences.

Out of the general atmosphere of resignation and despair, they spoke encouragement to each other. They recognized that their love must not be allowed to enable or empower someone to continue pursuing his or her habit. They freely recognized the desperate need of an external, supreme power to free the addict.

One evening, by invitation, I sat in on a counseling meeting with Pastor Mel[i] and the four addicts and some of the family. The pastor launched right into his own experiences. He grew up in Southern California where he was inducted into one of the many gangs and initiated into some hard drugs, besides alcohol and tobacco. To pay for his habit he had to become a drug distributor. After a short period of time he was racing all over the country supplying many people with the drug. He was also constantly on the run from law enforcement and fear of reprisals from rival gangs. Over time he watched as one after another of his friends and relatives were arrested or killed doing the same things he was doing. Of course, he was eventually caught and plea-bargained so that he was out of jail after some imprisonment. He confessed that he doesn’t understand why he is still alive, except by God’s direct intervention in his life.

With the power of the Lord, he was able to beat his habit and has stayed clean for over ten years. As he counseled these addicts, He stressed again and again how the Lord is ready and eager to give them the victory over their addictions, too. Mel's lifestyle change is indeed a most impressive miracle. 

Thank You, Lord, that Your miracle working power is just as effective today as in New Testament times. Help us by Your grace to avail ourselves of Your victory in our lives.

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[i] Mel is a pseudonym.

True In Spite of Opposition

Psalm 27:8 

American Standard Version (ASV)

⁸ When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; My heart said unto thee, Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek.

A long time friend, whom I’ll call Eric, was a pastor in the Adventist Church. Like I did, he grew up in an extremely legalist church. Like so many of my contemporaries he spent many prayerful hours studying scripture, initially to support the ideas he had grown up with. Gradually the magnificent gospel of Jesus Christ forced its way through the smog of the false and enslaving salvation by works. He accepted the wondrous, all-encompassing grace of Christ and the marvelous freedom from guilt and bondage.

Eric’s and my paths didn’t cross very often. Some 15 years after graduating from college we spent some time together comparing our experiences after having pursued very different, widely separated careers. We worked at the same place for a year or two and casually shared our new found appreciation of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross and what it means to Christians today.

Eric was pastor of a number of churches over many years. The conference he served in still clings to its old emphasis on the efficacy of strict Sabbath keeping, tithe paying, and dietary restrictions for salvation. He rejoiced in preaching that good works are a result of a grace based salvation rather than the means to that salvation. Eventually the conference took a unilateral action that where there was a difference in what the Bible said and what the Spirit of Prophecy said, members were to adopt the latter as the supreme authority.

Eric knew that Ellen White wrote that she was but the “lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light,”[i] and he felt that he could no longer in all honesty continue to pastor for that conference. He resigned and after a period of study time preached for a different denomination until his retirement. I heard many rumors criticizing Eric, demonizing him, accusing him of apostasy, and the list went on and on. Years later, when I had a chance, I sought him out and spent a day with him. What a wondrous fellowship this was. As usual his detractors were misinformed at best, and a few malevolent. Eric had not apostatized. His spirit was one of warmth and forgiveness. He expressed sorrow for the misunderstandings and firm confidence in the grace of Christ to save us all.

Lord, grant us firm assurance in the Grace of Christ. Make it the firm pillar in our quest for sanctification.

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[i] Colporteur Ministry p125

Is Anything Too Trivial for God?

Romans 8:32

The Voice (VOICE)

³² If He did not spare His own Son, but handed Him over on our account, then don’t you think that He will graciously give us all things with Him?

I was walking through a library book sale yesterday. To my delight I found three volumes of a six volume stamp catalog series that I have wanted to get. Instead of $120 each that is the price for new ones, these were older and only $1 each. I looked around to see if I could find the other three. With something like 10,000 books of all kinds on sale, I had no luck. So I purchased the three and took them out to the car.

Then with a prayer in my heart I decided I would have one more look. All of a sudden in a pile of books I had looked at several times before I discovered the missing volumes and a specialized catalog. I rejoiced and praised the Lord. I got the equivalent of $840 of catalogs for $7.

Several years ago we were driving through a part of Africa where crime was extremely prevalent, and it was getting close to nightfall. Naturally we prayed for a safe place to stay. We had just found out that there was a special conference going on in town, so all of the resorts and hotels were already full. We asked a clerk at a tire store if he knew where we might stay. “Wait a minute!” he replied and disappeared. He came back in five minutes and handed us a phone number. It was for a resort not two miles south of us that had a vacancy.

Is anything too trivial to bother God with?

Thank You, Lord, that You are just as interested in supplying a one dollar catalog as a life saving place to sleep.

Men's Ministry

Matthew 14:21

The Voice (VOICE)

²¹ There were 5,000 men there, not to mention all the women and children.

Sylvia often reads to me while I’m driving. Riding down to the beach on a scorching August Sunday afternoon, she read an article in the Adventist World announcing a new international ministry for men.[i] The author, Consuegra, used two pages of the church’s official news magazine to promote and defend an outreach to men. Ever since the 19^th century the church has a history of launching ministries to various groups of people including ethnic groups, children, women, and nations. Some were launched with great fanfare, some even at the urging of Ellen White.

“Why men?” I asked myself.  You may have noticed that there are usually significantly more women than men that attend your church every week. This may be a reason for starting a Men’s Ministry. However, read on.

Some years ago we attended a large institutional church. I confess that I was not receiving the spiritual nurture I craved. Our family sat in the front row of the back balcony each Sabbath. In boredom I counted the worshipers below me. In fact, I counted the males and females separately and noted down the numbers. This little exercise went on week after week for four years. Eventually I entered the numbers into a spreadsheet. Its software easily drew a graph showing the weekly rising or falling of attendance. It also calculated and plotted lines of regression that showed long-term tendencies. After all, I am a mathematician.

On the street one day I happened to meet the pastor, whom I regard as a personal friend and whose preaching I value. I pulled out the graph as an intellectual curiosity and showed it to him. He stopped talking, he even stopped breathing. His face turned as white as a sheet. I began to fear for his health. He walked away in a daze.

The next Sabbath a deaconess walked down the outside aisles of the church quietly counting the attendees. This went on for a few months. Then the pastor announced that he was transferring to another continent and left us.

The graph showed a slow and steady decline in attendance. What’s more, it showed that average female attendance dropped off every year by 3%, but average male attendance had dropped off every year by 7%. In other words, at the end of about 4 years, 10% of the women and almost 25% of the men in our church were no longer attending. Coincidentally there was significant emphasis on women in ministry at the time, and we ordained our first two women to the ministry on December 2, 1995. How much effect did this emphasis have on the men’s decisions? I don’t know.

Since that time, huge changes have taken place in the institutional church. I believe that many of these changes are for the better. It’s high time that the church recognize that its men are an irreplaceable asset to the church. They are also people for whom Christ died and whom he chose to be leaders in His church.

Lord, grant Your church wisdom to serve all of its members no matter who they are.

---

[i] Consuegra, Claudio “Another Ministry? Why a ministry for men makes sense,” Adventist World—NAD August 2014, p. 14.

Reaching the Reticent

1 Corinthians 12:5

The Voice (VOICE)

There are many different ways to serve, but they’re all directed by the same Lord.

Tourists go to northern Namibia to see the great Etosha National Park with its abundance of African wild animals and to Kaokoland, the wildest part of northern Namibia, to see the Himba people who to this day cover their bodies with a mixture of rancid butter and red mud and traditionally wear only red mud colored skirts around their loins.

Pam and Gideon Petersen were sent as missionaries to the Himba people in Kaokoland in the early 1990s. Going back to Dr Robert Moffat and Dr David Livingstone, for almost 200 years missionaries have worked in this part of Africa. To this day the Himba have resisted Christianity. The Petersens went into the heart of this wild country, built themselves a palm leaf hut, learned the Himba language, and worked with the people. After a few years the church withdrew their support, regarding the effort as fruitless. They conveniently forgot how Moffat had worked for over a quarter of a century before reaping his first convert to Christianity in neighboring Botswana.

The Petersens, however, did not give up. Instead they joined the self-supporting Adventist Frontier Missions organization. They visited many churches and people across the world to raise enough money so they could continue their work. They trained local people to carry on their work. After a dozen or more years, the Holy Spirit suggested a novel approach. The Himba, like many peoples in Africa, have only an oral tradition to remember their history. This history is passed on to future generations by minstrels who chant the stories of ancient heroes sung to time honored tunes.

Stories of the great Bible heroes and containing the timeless good news of Christianity are being told in Otjihimba poetry that can be sung using the ancient tunes. These are recorded on solid-state MP-3 players and distributed amongst the Himba. Already God is bringing about wonderful hope and changes in the lives of this people through these simple stories.

Finally the church that once lost interest in the conversion of the Himba is now taking renewed interest in this work.  Many are encouraged by the recent baptism of a Himba chief.

Please continue, O Lord , to bring light and hope to the Himba people who for so long have been held enslaved by the evil spirits of Animism.

Does Anyone Really Listen to You? Do you to them?

Proverbs 4:25

The Voice (VOICE)

²⁵ Keep your head up, your eyes straight ahead,
    and your focus fixed on what is in front of you.

Grandpa never learned to drive. He told me on more than one occasion, “No man can do more than one thing at a time. If I were to drive, I would have to put my hand out the window to signal a turn, while turn the steering wheel and shifting the gears with my other hand, push down the clutch with one foot, and either pushing the brake pedal or the gas pedal with the other foot, all at the same time. No, no man can do more than one thing at a time, so I haven’t learned to drive.”

He was a very successful businessman, and after he retired at about age 55, he founded a school amidst the ignorant hillbillies living in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in eastern Oklahoma. My Grandma, whom I never met, was the one who drove the car. She was principal of the boarding school. From donations Grandpa solicited they provided for all of the needs of the students at Ozark Mountain School (OMS), including room, food, clothing, books and medical treatments.

He lived with us from the time I was six until his death six years later. Whenever I went into his room, he would turn to me and give me 100% of his attention. Never did I get the impression that he was thinking about other things while I was there. He corresponded with many people including family and former contributors to OMS. But when I was there, the letters were put aside and not so much as looked at until I left.

He studied his Bible diligently, not only the Sabbath School lesson, but also the various topics that interested him. When I developed a consuming interest in astronomy, he warned me that there is no benefit in studying the stars. One day I brought home an old book entitled Astronomy and the Bible by Lucas A. Reed (published in 1919 by the Pacific Press. Reed was president of the Pacific Union College from 1906 to 1908.) Grandpa came into my room and saw me reading the book. He asked to borrow it, read it from cover to cover, and developed an interest in astronomy that surpassed mine. After that I had to compete with him at the local college library for astronomy books.

Lord, in this time of my life, when I’m so easily distracted that I often forget what I came looking for, help me to keep my focus fixed on what is important. 

Ebola

Luke 12:15

The Voice (VOICE)

¹⁵ Then He used that opportunity to speak to the crowd.

Jesus: You’d better be on your guard against any type of greed, for a person’s life is not about having a lot of possessions.

This morning Dr Kent Brantly gave a very moving speech crediting God, a new drug, and Emory Hospital for his recovery from Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). He had been serving in Liberia under Samaritan’s Purse when he contracted the deadly disease.

This reminded me of a conversation I had with Gail Schatzschneider earlier this week. All hospitals in Monrovia, the capitol of Liberia in West Africa, closed down a month or more ago due to the EVD epidemic—that is all of them except the Adventist Cooper Hospital. Gillian Seton, a surgeon there, insisted that this hospital remain open for non-EVD patients. She pointed out that people would still need emergency care unrelated to EVD. Unfortunately no hospitals in Liberia are equipped to handle this terrible disease.

Last month at our Fellowship of Adventist Missionaries to Africa (FAMA), Gail told me about the stand Dr Seton had made. She mentioned that a new doctor and extra money were urgently needed to enable the hospital to keep operating. I passed the news on to the people sitting at table with me, but they showed no apparent interest in what I said, and the conversation moved on to other matters.

Gail’s news this week is that shortly after our FAMA meeting, one of the people sitting at table that day sent a check of $10,000 for the Cooper Hospital project. This was the seed that launched a rapidly growing fund. A doctor has volunteered to join Cooper. Many lives will be saved. It is gratifying to be a small cog in a large endeavor to help Africa. If you wish to follow and possibly support the progress of Cooper Hospital and other Adventist Health International institutions around the world, you can check their webpage at http://www.ahiglobal.org/

A temporary mission doctor from Chad, Dr. James Appel, tells of his harrowing experience getting to (Entry 1) and at Cooper Hospital (Entry 2) on the AHI webpage: http://www.ahiglobal.org/main/news/?title=ahi-doctor-heads-to-liberia-to-aid-ebola-crisis--entry-1/  Look for his second installment http://www.ahiglobal.org/main/news/?title=ahi-doctor-heads-to-liberia-to-aid-ebola-crisis--entry-2/

Lord, thank You for organizations that enable us support Your suffering people in places as far away as Africa rather than simply acquire more possessions.

Deferred from Punishment by Supreme Request

James 3:17

The Voice (VOICE)

 Heavenly wisdom centers on purity, peace, gentleness, deference, mercy, and other good fruits untainted by hypocrisy.

The University of Iowa had well over 30,000 students when I was studying and teaching there many years ago. I was a graduate student in mathematics and earned my way as a teaching assistant. Most of the time this meant that I taught calculus. In those days there was no diagnostic test that could assess whether a potential student had enough mathematics background to be able to succeed in calculus. Then, as now, the student’s performance in high school math classes was not enough for the simple reason that the topics covered in any high school class often varied widely.

Upon first arriving at the university, I was told that because of this inability to predict a student’s readiness for the class, they allowed any student who wished to take the class to register for it. Consequently, there would be more students registered for the class than the classroom could hold. I was to go to the first meeting of the class with a stack of withdrawal cards in hand. I would give a good, no-nonsense first lecture. If a student came to me after the class and said, “I didn’t understand your lecture.” I was to hand the student a drop card and suggest strongly that s/he drop the class and register for a prerequisite class. As a matter of fact, I usually had over 60 students in a room that could only seat around 30, so I handed out many drop cards on the first day.

Diane (I’ve forgotten her real name) came to one of these classes and didn’t drop on the first day. She struggled valiantly, but her background was weak and her native ability may have been lower than average, too. She was performing on the very low C- or D level throughout the semester.

Towards the end of the semester I received a letter from the dean of the university. It informed me that Diane’s father was an abusive man and that he had threatened to kill her if she didn’t pass her math class. Furthermore, he had reason to believe that the father would carry out his threat. The dean requested that if at all possible I should give her nothing lower than a C. I deferred to the dean’s request.

Lord in heaven, thank You for deferring, in Your wisdom and mercy, to Christ’s request that You graciously change our death sentence as sinners in spite of our inadequate performance.

Mortality

Romans 14:8

The Voice (VOICE)

 For if we live, we live for the Lord. If we die, we die for the Lord. So in both life and death, we belong to the Lord.

The recent tragic passing of Robin Williams reminds me of my own mortality. He was almost 10 years younger than I, which makes it even more tragic. My mother and father have both left the field of battle against the evil one. Sylvia’s father passed away many years ago. Her mother, Grace, is still fighting the battle, and we have the privilege of having her in our home often. She will turn 98 yet this month, and the years are eroding her strength.

In 2001 Grace joined us for a six week road tour from California east to the Maritime Provinces of Canada. We walked along the rugged shore of the North Atlantic as the angry waves dashed themselves against the rocks. We relived stories of the war that sent Dad to France while we stood along the shores of Bedford Basin where the great convoys were secretly assembled to go to the relief of the allied forces. We basked in the rugged beauty of the World Heritage Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland and counted icebergs off the fog enshrouded Labrador Coast. We shared the romance of Anne of Green Gables on Prince Edward Island. In the Bay of Fundy our tiny, two-car ferry skirted the Sow, largest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere, carefully coming close enough to use the twirling waters to speed it on its way, but not so close as to get sucked into it. Grace loved it all. An ardent Protestant, she hesitated entering some of the great stone cathedrals, fearing she was treading in Satan’s lair.

At the impressive Montmorency Falls outside Quebec City, she rejoiced in her own strength as she climbed the some four-hundred steps so she could walk across the bridge over the top of the falls. Today walking comes harder, and she feels more comfortable with something to help her keep her balance. Through it all she still rejoices that she always belongs to the Lord.

We love You, Lord, for Your love for us whether we are in the prime of our strength or in our declining years.

Manna and Our Own Needs

Exodus 16:4

The Voice (VOICE)

Look! I will cause bread to rain down from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather a helping of it each day. I will test them to see if they are willing to live by My instructions.

We were very young, fresh out of graduate school, and married for just a year and a half when we went to Africa. Everything was new to us. The school put us in a neat little whitewashed mud-brick home on the mission compound. An inch wide crack ran from ceiling to floor in the front wall of one of the bedrooms. All the windows sported burglar bars.

Sylvia brightened up our bedroom with a bright crimson curtain. We could lie in the sagging bed and listen to the termites chewing on the roof rafters over our heads each night. We had to keep careful tabs on our fridge that kept cold by burning kerosene because of its habit of gradually building a higher and higher flame until soot formed on the ceiling.

More than once our black lab and Rhodesian ridgeback mix dog would bark her snake bark at the back screen door. We would look carefully out the screen and see a venomous cobra or other snake coiled up on the top step just daring an incautious step out of the house.

At the beginning of our second year in the house we got an accusing letter from headquarters. It demanded to know why we hadn’t alerted payroll that they weren’t taking house rent out of our subsistence level paycheck as specified in the mission policy book.

Surprised, I requested a copy of the policy book. I was told rather curtly that there was a policy book but missionaries were not allowed to see it because they might request benefits that were listed in it that they didn’t know about. The treasurer went on to tell us that the previous year’s rent would be deducted from our salary over the next six months:  we would receive a total of 200 shillings a month (less than $30) for living expenses until such a time as we had paid the back rent.

 For the next six months we lived on beans and rice, and bananas that we could buy by the stalk. We could also buy a few eggs or tomatoes from villagers trying to get a little cash. When my parents came for visit a few months later, they urged us to see a doctor because we were so gaunt.  Even on such a restricted diet, however, we never went hungry.

Thank You, Lord, that You provide for us even when necessities get pretty scarce.

Apology

2 Timothy 2:16

The Voice (VOICE)

¹⁶ Stay away from ungodly babbling because it will only lead deeper into a godless lifestyle.

The blog I posted associated with this verse has been an offence to someone. It is my intention to not offend anyone. I apologize for doing so.

Heavenly Father, forgive me for offending a very dear child of Yours

Ask the Lord Even for the Simple Things

1 John 5:15

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.

The concept in this verse is so simple that it cannot really be true!

We left my cousin’s home in north-eastern North Dakota and drove to the south-eastern portion of the state. As it got toward evening we pulled into a motel in Belfield, ND, and asked what they had available for us to overnight in.

“Sorry,” we were told, “we’re full.”

We found a little, dark motel tucked away back off the road. Sylvia didn’t like the looks of it. That was the only motel we skipped.

We offered a short prayer while sitting in the car, “Dear Lord, please lead us to a safe hotel that we can afford tonight.” We had started praying this as we travelled each day when we were touring South Africa on our own a few years ago. Safety was a major factor because crime is an ever present fact of life there. God had always provided.

We drove on west along I-94. We stopped at every motel for over 150 miles. The story was still the same: “Sorry, we’re full!” “We wish we could help you, but we’re all booked up.”

It was almost like we had some incurable disease and no one wanted us to stay there.

“What’s happening that there is no room?” I asked one proprietor.

“You know they’ve discovered oil in North Dakota?”

“Well, we did see a lot of heavy equipment as we came south on U.S. 85.” I admitted. “In fact we had to wait for 45 minutes at one point while they moved some of the equipment.”

“All of our clients are people who have come north to work in the oil fields.”

Well after midnight we pulled into a complex of motels outside Miles City, “I’ve heard that in the center of town there’s a quaint old hotel that has some rooms,” one motel clerk told us.

We stood in line at the Historic Olive Hotel desk. It was well after midnight by now. When our turn came I asked if they had a non-smoking room for two.

“Yes.”

“Great! We’ll take it!” I said simply. Sylvia looked at me very strangely. I hadn’t even asked the price! It turned out to be a wonderful and affordable place. There was a park along a river across the street and a delightful little breakfast spot on the next corner.

Thank You, Lord, that we can ask You to find a room for us and be absolutely confident You hear our prayer and answer it. In fact, this is always true no matter what or how simple our need is.