Sedaven Alumni Reunion

 

[1]

2 John 1:12 Good News Translation (GNT)

¹² I have so much to tell you, but I would rather not do it with paper and ink; instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you personally, so that we shall be completely happy.

 

It had been 52 years since I had seen most of my Sedaven High School class members. When I took a trip to South Africa in 2011, one of those members, Willie Uys, organized the very first class reunion ever, using my visit as a catalyst. The time together was all too short but richly rewarding.

We first went to Flip Retief’s home and carried him out of his home so he could join us. His wife told us this was the first time he had been out of the house, except to go to hospital, in many months since he had severely scalded his foot in an accident. He had sunk into a depression that was consuming all of his energy. He told me that he despaired of ever being able to walk again. We were able to spend much of another day together comparing memories and experiences. We also shared how our Christian experiences have changed from the rather bleak outlook we had upon leaving high school to the richness of the grace of Christ that we rejoice in now. He later turned everything around; his foot has healed enough for him to walk on it again.

During our reunion, others shared their life experiences, some good and some tragic. We grieved about some of our classmates who had already passed on. We agreed to try and get together again. Flip summed up the joy we felt by saying that our conversation had brought closure to many of his feelings about class members.

The group at the reunion had been very anxious that I share their news with Smuts, our erstwhile class president, since he also lives in Southern California. A little less than a year later, I had a chance to talk with Smuts about our high school experience. He had not been able to be with us during that reunion. He was as thrilled as I was about the news.

Thank you, Lord, for the rich bonds of friendship and the even deeper bonds of Christian brotherhood that you have given us so that we can indeed be “completely happy.”

 

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[1]  The second man from the left is Willie Uys, I am third, and Flip Retief is sitting in the front.

The Power of God's Word

 

 

Matthew 7:6 (Good News Translation)

Do not give what is holy to dogs—they will only turn and attack you. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs—they will only trample them underfoot

I have been attending a memoir writing workshop by Rose Monge. For this week she assigned the following prompt: “Select a tangible artifact, prized possession or object that has meaning to you. What and why is this artifact so significant? Write about it.” What follows is my response.

I had been teaching for 5 years at a Christian high school in Tanzania. The seniors, whom they called the Form IVs, finished their external exams on Thursday (November 25 1971) and were scheduled to leave for home on that day. They made a special request to stay another day, “to say goodbye!” I encouraged the principal and the faculty to deny the request. I feared they could be up to some mayhem; however, their request was granted. The other classes didn’t take their final exams until the next week, so we had regular classes Friday. I had Form I mathematics at 7:00 a.m. that day. As usual, the teacher who had the first period class each day was also expected to start off with a ten-minute devotional with the students. I locked the classroom door because I saw some Form IV students walking around outside. I started the class on time. However. the Form IVs, started banging on the windows and door and shouting and making more noise outside the classroom. They continued this raucous behavior for the entire period. It was so loud that I couldn’t lecture. When the period was over, I opened the door and started to leave the classroom. However, the 10 disgruntled seniors were not done yet. They formed a circle around the door, one of them menacingly swinging a rawhide whip. The Form I students crowded around the door behind me, so there was no retreat there, Evidently, they were expecting something to happen. The student with the whip stepped up to me and said, “I hear you have called us dogs!”

I said firmly, “I never called you dogs!” I paused, “but Jesus Christ[1]  did. ‘Do not give what is holy to dogs—they will only turn and attack you. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs—they will only trample them underfoot’.”

“Where!” demanded the whip kid.

I opened the little Testament pictured above that I carried in my shirt pocket to Matthew 7:6 and handed it to him, “Here!”

He took this proffered Testament, read it in silence, after a moment’s hesitation closed it, handed it back to me, turned on his heels, and stalked away. His fellows followed him. Although it is well worn, I still treasure this little Todays English Version testament with a color striped cover that saved me from a beating that day.

I stepped into my office door, which was right next to the classroom. I turned to lock the door, but my hand was shaking so badly, I had a difficult time. After locking the door, I sat there for a whole class period and praised the Lord. Fortunately, I had a free period at that time, and slowly my shaking stopped.

Meanwhile the disgruntled boys went to the principal’s office. He told me about the encounter afterwards. They demanded that he come out of his office. He saw the whip which the ringleader was waving menacingly. He declined to come out. They still demanded that he come out so they could talk with him. Whether it was the aura of the principal’s office or just the fact that they figured they couldn’t swing the whip effectively in the office that caused them to finally turn around and leave the building.

They still thirsted for blood, so they went over to the vice-principal’s home and pounded on his front door. His wife came to the door, and they demanded to see him. His wife quickly assessed their menacing attitude and said, “Sorry, he’s in the shower!” and closed and locked the door. They stood around waiting for a long time, hoping for him to come out. Finally it became time to catch the bus, and they dashed off.

Thank you Lord, for using such a little thing as this Testament to quell the fury of the disgruntled youth, and saving me from a beating.

 

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[1] Matthew 7:6 GNT

Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

 

March 3, 2022

[1]

Psalm 73 Good News Translation

²  I had nearly lost confidence;
    my faith was almost gone
³ because I was jealous of the proud
    when I saw that things go well for the wicked. …

¹⁶ I tried to think this problem through,
    but it was too difficult for me
¹⁷     until I went into your Temple.
Then I understood what will happen to the wicked.

¹⁸ You will put them in slippery places
    and make them fall to destruction!
²⁸ But as for me, how wonderful to be near God,
    to find protection with the Sovereign Lord
    and to proclaim all that he has done!

 

During the late 1960s I taught at a rural boarding high school in Tanzania. The main support of the small village that had grown up near the school was poaching from the nearby Serengeti Game Reserve. Several villagers owned Land Rovers that they would use to drive out into the reserve at night and bring home animals that they sold for their meat and hides.

In order to avoid suspicion the Land Rover owners would strip the wheels, seats, and engine which would be kept by other villagers. They parked the stripped vehicles next to their homes. They were all old and showed no signs of having been used within the last several years. However, in the late afternoon a group of men would cluster around the vehicle. They would bring the missing parts and reassemble them. About five o’clock they would pull into the school gas station for gas. By the next morning they would have finished their hunting trip. The dusty vehicle would again be lying next to their home, wheels, seats, and engine all missing. It would appear to have not been used for a long time.

Several hunters would climb into the reassembled vehicle and drive out across a river that harbored both crocodiles and hippos. They were very careful to take a slightly different route each time so that no track appeared for rangers to follow them. They would mainly shoot large antelope, hack the carcass into liftable size pieces, and load them into the back of the landrover. When It was full they would head home and sell the meat to the villagers, including some of the staff of the school. Sometimes the Land Rover would break under the heavy load; then they would come on campus and seek me out to weld the break.

One of these poachers was much more prosperous than the others. His Land rover was practically new, a pretty green color. He dressed well, spoke passable English, and was much revered amongst all the villagers. We became friends. While he was making a delivery to one of the staff on campus late one night, I asked him if he had official permission to shoot the game. He smiled and assured me he did and produced an official looking requisition that had several animals listed on it.

One night he was out in the reserve loading the animals they had shot into his Land Rover when the rangers came upon him. Instead of jumping into the vehicle and fleeing like was usually done, he decided to have a shootout with them. During the fight he was killed. The rangers brought the vehicle back to the village with his body in it. The other hunters were carted off to jail. This time I saw his blood mingled with the blood of the animals. Of course, this did not put an end to the poaching.

There was a huge outdoor funeral for him. I joined hundreds of people who came to it, not only from that village, but many of the surrounding villages. Our school chaplain preached the sermon. He preached for several hours, while everyone stood or sat around patiently and listened. He covered the grand themes of Christianity in detail, including salvation, grace, the state of the dead, and the Sabbath. He told me later that he knew that this was the only time many of these people would hear the whole Gospel. He felt compelled to use the occasion to the best advantage for the Lord.

Oh Lord, thank You that You look after Your followers so well, even though we might not be as prosperous as the world’s tycoons. 

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[1] https://www.nrt-kenya.org/news-2/2020/11/5/10guardians-grevys-zebra-champion-stephen-lenantoiye

Water on Mars?

 

 [1]

1 Peter 5:8-9

Holman Christian Standard Bible

⁸ Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. ⁹ Resist him and be firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.

 

When the serpent (devil) tempted Eve, he had very little to go on. He used ventriloquism to make it appear that the serpent was actually talking and promised Eve that, as the serpent, had gained the ability to speak by eating the forbidden fruit, she, Eve, would gain precious knowledge by eating it. She was tricked, and all the evil in the world today resulted from her falling for it.

Likewise, the devil will stoop to any deviant, low, and mean device to capture us. Shortly after I got to high school, we had a discussion in a Friday night meeting about things to do on the Sabbath. Some students suggested that since God is love, and that he gave us love, including physical love, we should read novels about love. A lot of students thought that was a good idea.

I countered that since God is love and, in the commandment, He stated that the seventh day is the “Sabbath of the Lord Thy God,” therefore, we ought to be reading about our love for God instead of physical love. My reasoning sort of brought the discussion to a close.

Several of my fellow students approached me afterwards and told me that my reasoning was very convincing. They would appreciate it if I used it “on our side.” Their compliments fed my ego, and I began looking for places where I could support “our” side, and there were lots of places that I could. Some of those places actually supported what I considered to be the Lord’s side. On the other hand, it is also easy to use reasoning to support evil.

For example, just the other day, I overheard someone commenting that as scientists have examined some global structures on Mars, they have come to the conclusion that, early on, Mars was covered by water. Those same scientists examine the very same structures on earth and conclude that the earth was never covered by water. Why not? Because that would support the concept of a Genesis flood, and that is unconscionable.

Oh Lord, may my reasoning be guided by your Holy Spirit!

 

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[1] https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/what-happened-to-marss-water-it-is-still-trapped-there

The Desire of My Heart

[1]

Psalm 37:4 
(King James Version)
Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

 

As a child in boarding school in what is now Zimbabwe, we were required to write a letter to our parents. We then gave this to our teacher who censored it, put it in an envelope, and mailed it to our parents. Two pence postage was not too much per week for the school to keep the parents and kids in touch with each other—after all there were no cell phones in those days. Mom about hit the roof when she learned that the letters were censored, but she did enjoy getting a weekly letter from me. She wrote back on a weekly basis.

This training has stood me well all my life. I continued to write an (approximately) weekly letter to my parents. This has evolved into a periodic letter to the extended family today.

When I was in high school, I was extremely shy when it came to girls—something like Koothrappali in the Big Bang Theory TV sitcom. As a senior I still didn’t have a girlfriend. A freshman girl took a liking to me, and we started going steady. In the next weekly letter, I mentioned that I had “gotten myself a girlfriend. “

By this time Mom had gotten so busy she wrote very seldom. Dad, picked up the weekly letter writing. But on this news, I got short typed letter from Mom. She expressed her delight. Then in good motherly fashion she encouraged me to pray continually about this. She reminded me to “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”.

During college I met the love of my life and have shared many years with her. Indeed, the Lord has blessed us beyond what we could have imagined!

Thank You, Lord, for fulfilling Your promise in Psalm 34!

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[1] https://devsari.com/the-hardest-rajesh-koothrappali-quiz-ever/

Sharing Good News

[i]

Mark 16:15 

Tree of Life Version (TLV)

¹⁵ He told them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to every creature.

Saint Francis of Assisi is often depicted as taking this great commission in Mark literally when he preached the gospel to the birds and other creatures. Most of Christendom has considered the commission as meaning take the gospel to every human of every race, gender, language, status, and locality. Most Christians, however, have not necessarily considered the commission as applying to them personally.

The Adventist church has a huge worldwide educational system. One of its goals is to bring the gospel to its students. Every once in a while, we as teachers in the system were encouraged to bring the gospel to our students—to make the gospel an integral part of the class content. I puzzled some and laughed a little about bringing religion into factoring a polynomial or integrating a trigonometric function. That was way beyond my creativity, and I was not willing to contrive artificial applications that would not bless anyone. At one point I did publish a paper suggesting how infinity is one aspect of God.[ii]

In my first teaching position, Ikizu Secondary School in Tanzania, teachers were expected to conduct a 10-minute worship during each day’s first class period. That period was actually 10 minutes longer than the other class periods. Since I always had a first period class, I became accustomed to reading a text and commenting on what this text said to me.

Later on, when I taught at the university level in the system, I found it fulfilling to take the first 5 minutes of any class to read a text and explain the significance I found in it. Some students criticized me for doing so; however, many students told me that they gained much when I did this. I also gained a personal blessing.

Lord, thank You for asking me to proclaim Your gospel in my world.

[i] https://www.eternitynews.com.au/world/catholics-commemorate-the-feast-of-st-francis-of-assisi/

[ii] http://www.institutechristianteaching.org/vol_01/vol_01.html see “The Finite, the Infinite, and God” pages 29-46 (1989)