Loyal Friends

[i]

Job 6:14 

Good News Translation (GNT)

¹⁴ In trouble like this I need loyal friends—whether I've forsaken God or not.

In 1954 Dad was sent to Solusi, a ten-grade school in Zimbabwe, to make it into a four-year college. Naturally the Trans African Division of Seventh-day Adventists didn’t have all the money it was going to require. Raising funds was part of his assignment. Besides, Solusi had only a minimal amount of water available in its dams on seasonal streams. It was certainly not enough to support a college with many more students. Consequently, Dad built a new dam and enlarged an already existing one. He brought the government geologists on campus to search for good spots to drill for water. They marked out three sites, and he drilled at all of them. He even got a local water diviner to explore for water. This man pointed out another spot, and Dad drilled a well there, paying for it out of his own pocket. Interestingly, he got more water from that well than from all three geologist-located wells combined—but it still was not enough for a burgeoning college. Finally, the government built a very large dam on a larger, near-by river, and they brought water from there.

Many other major problems, such as housing and collapsing latrines, took much of his time to overcome. In 1956 Dad returned to the U.S. on a working furlough. He visited several retired church leaders and persuaded them to donate their libraries to Solusi. He visited John Fetzer, a radio-TV mogul, whom most people know as the owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1961-1983. He and John had been good friends and business partners before Dad went to Africa in the mid-1930s. When they parted, Dad became a devoted missionary, and John spent his skill and time becoming financially successful. John became very interested in Dad’s project to lift the educational level of Africans to that of world leaders. He and his wife, Ria, visited Solusi to see what Dad was doing and thereafter contributed toward the efforts to make it a working college.

Solusi University has grown and prospered over the years. During the terrible financial crisis Zimbabwe went through, it was the only university to remain open in the country. The number of students at that time was over 5,000. Currently 2,892 are enrolled there.[ii]

We are grateful, Lord, that You provide us with friends who can help us in times of need.

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[i] https://www.facebook.com/Solusi-University-441288199368674/

[ii] http://www.solusi.ac.zw/

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)

On the Verge of Giving Up?

[i]

Hebrews 10:35 

New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

We once visited Calico, a ghost town in the hills north of Barstow California. It is a tourist trap that was run by Knotts Berry Farm for many years after 1950. Now it is run by the county. One of the sites in the old town is a mine. The miner dug back into the mountain for several hundred yards. He found nothing and eventually gave up.  I have often thought of this poor miner. He slaved away for years with pick and shovel, carrying all his diggings out through the tunnel. It was backbreaking work in a hostile desert environment. He must have finally said to himself, there is no future here. I’m slaving away and I’ve found absolutely nothing I’ll carry out one more cart full of rock and then I’m giving up forever. This mountain contains only worthless rock. And he did.

Around 1881 someone else dug in from a different angle and found the richest vein of silver ever discovered in America  just one yard from the end of this tunnel.The town of Calico grew up around this highly productive mine. Of course, that vein eventually ran out and today Calico is designated the Official State Silver Rush Ghost Town.

There have been times I have felt like this frustrated miner in my Christian experience. In my late teens and early twenties, I gave up on religion completely. Then a stranger took me under his tutelage as a reluctant student and I discovered the real Jesus who saves me not by my efforts but by His grace. Since then when God appears to have totally receded from my experience; when things appear to be going really bad, I will look back on this experience, and many others since then. I realize again that He is in control of my life and my destination. The perceived troubles shrink into their proper perspective and He sees me through them.

You have indeed, Lord Jesus, richly rewarded me; and will continue to do so. 

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[i] https://www.americansouthwest.net/california/calico/calico2_l.html

Wealth or Love, Which Do You Want?

[i]

Song of Solomon 8:7 

World English Bible (WEB)

⁷ Many waters can’t quench love,
    neither can floods drown it.
If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love,
    he would be utterly scorned.

Fred Clarke and John Fetzer were best friends and partners in the radio business back in the late 1920s. Fetzer had bought WEMC and converted it to WKZO. This was the most popular radio station in southwestern Michigan. Fetzer later moved it to Kalamazoo. Then he started or acquired radio stations across the United States. During World War II he was the national radio censor for the U.S. Office of Censorship to make sure that secrets were not broadcast to the enemies. After the war he shut the office down. He stated later that if he hadn’t, it would have continued, and he “shuddered to think how powerful it might” have become. He owned the Detroit Tigers baseball team for twenty years and became famous in Michigan.

When Fred’s father died of a heart attack, Fred did a lot of serious thinking about where his life was heading. He, too, saw the possibility of great riches and an easy life, but he also saw the great opportunities of service to God. Over his father’s coffin he pledged his love and service to the Lord. He promised that he would do whatever God would have him do, go wherever God asked him to go, and never ask what his salary was going to be. He remained a good friend of John and persuaded him to help support the founding of Solusi University that became a major university in the emerging country of Zimbabwe. It was the only school of higher learning to remain open throughout the civil war and later disastrous, runaway inflation that destroyed the country’s economy.

Fred would occasionally speak of his opportunities with Fetzer, telling how fulfilling and satisfying his life choice had been since then. His educational work has benefited many of the countries of southern and central Africa. Although he was never wealthy, he lived a comfortable and beneficial life until his death at nearly 101 years old.

Oh Lord, may we scorn offers of wealth and resist circumstances that attempt to drive out our love for You.

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[i] http://wittyskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/solusi-web-screenshot.png

Seeing More Than You Expected

[i]

Daniel 3:25 

New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Once or twice a year I would take several carloads of students to a computer show in Las Vegas. We spent the day looking at the latest innovations in the field of computers. We also marveled at the crazy lengths exhibitors went to trying to sell us their product. They showered us with relatively worthless gifts until everyone was walking around with a big bag of loot.

When the show closed, we would get in our cars and go to some casino where we could get a good meal for a very reasonable price. Then we headed south toward home in a caravan. As the miles ticked, by everyone would get sleepy—hopefully not the driver. South of Baker there are several exits off the I-15 freeway that go nowhere. There are no buildings, just a dirt road wandering off into the desert.

At the top of an exit I pulled over and stopped.

Students poured out of all the cars and ran up to me: “What’s wrong, Dr. Clarke?” they queried.

After a minute or two to let their eyes adjust to the darkness, I would point dramatically to the sky. “Look up!”

Their eyes turned heavenward, a unanimous awe inspired “Wow!” escaped their lips. They were city kids. They had never seen the majesty of a black sky with millions of stars, the Milky Way, the majesty of Orion.  Like Nebuchadnezzar in front of the fiery furnace, they would see far more than they ever knew existed. Their minds would begin to imagine how great God and His creation really are.

Thank You, O God, for being so immeasurably greater than our grandest concepts—and for being intimately interested in each of us.

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[i] https://www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Winter-Milky-Way-Constellations-Orion-Gemini-Canis-Major-and-Canis-Minor-over-a-Tamarisk-Posters_i13821350_.htm?UPI=PWCVFZ0&PODConfigID=4990719

Who Is Christianity Following?

[i]

Romans 1:16 

Good News Translation (GNT)

¹⁶ I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God's power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles.

Many have said that the worst thing to ever happen to Christianity was the nominal conversion of Constantine. He said he had a dream that showed him a cross and heard the words in hoc signo vinces “In this sign conquer.” Constantine then became a Christian. It now became fashionable to be a Christian, so the world marched into the church. People became Christians, not because they had faith in and loved Christ, but because it made economic and political sense to do so. Christianity has never recovered.

Are we seeing the same phenomenon in America today? We find fundamental Christianity supporting a president who makes no pretense of being a Christian. But they like that he supports the independence of the country of Israel. Under his leadership the stock market has risen to record levels. Unfortunately, so have medical expenses. He is trying to purge aliens from America, even demanding that duly elected congressmen “go home.” I hear proclaimed by people I have respected for years, “Even if he is proved to be a liar, I will vote for him!”

In the 1930s both the Lutheran (Evangelische Kirche) Church and the Catholic Church in Germany strongly supported Hitler. After all, Hitler was a vegetarian and a teetotaler. He rescued Germany from terrible runaway inflation and brought in a strong economic recovery. But then he killed between 15 and 30 million people, including some 6 million Jews, as he purged Germany from social undesirables and non-Arians.  

Our ancestors fought the tyranny of King George III for freedom to live as our consciences direct. The Anglican Church strongly supported this tyranny. Are we, as Americans, going to accept injustice and erosion of freedom for an apparent economic advantage? Will we allow our own church leaders and political leaders to blindly support a new tyranny?

We pray, Oh Lord, that You will bring Americans to their senses.

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[i] https://www.amazon.com/High-Supply-Polyester-Grommets-Stitched/dp/B01N5QSQ4A

Don't Be Afraid

[i]

Isaiah 41:10 

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁰ Fear thou not; for I am with thee:

     be not dismayed; for I am thy God:

I will strengthen thee;

     yea, I will help thee;

          yea, I will uphold thee

with the right hand of my righteousness.

For my entire career I had been teaching mathematics. Many students hated mathematics; they feared it and were dismayed that they had to take it in order to graduate. I used everything I could think of to try and break down that fear. Those who would actually do what I told them to do in class and for homework usually succeeded well. They didn’t always lose their hatred for the subject, but at least they gained an assurance that they could do it. It gave them a feeling of empowerment that bolstered them for the rest of their college life.

Success comes from doing, not wishing for or dreaming about it, but from sitting down and actually sweating through the details until they began to see why it worked for them. Naturally there were some who expected—even demanded—that I do the work for them and give them a grade representative of what I could do. I would hold review sessions before major tests and exams. I would give daily quizzes that were aimed at making them acquainted with the kinds of questions I would later put on tests. I often handed out copies of previous exams I had given in that topic so they could work through them. I encouraged them to use these to simulate their exam experience. This was to help them to relieve their own stress during the in-class tests. I knew it had worked for me and that many students told me it had worked well for them, too.

I always explained to each class that when God promised wisdom to us—see James 1:5—there were no conditions attached to that promise. God would always give them wisdom. We would always pray for wisdom before each test.

Early on in teaching I discovered that each class had its own “personality.” A few classes stonewalled themselves behind an attitude of resisting everything I did for them. They refused to do homework or prepare for tests. They tried to demand that I give them a passing grade simply because they came to class regularly. One time six students, each bigger than I, marched into my office furious that the test I gave was not an exact copy of a previous test that I had given them for review. When I pointed out that, of course, the answers weren’t the same because the questions were similar but not identical, they vowed revenge. The next morning when I went out to my car to go to class, I found that the windshield had been smashed by a violent blow with a baseball bat. I told my class what had happened and explained that I was apparently doing too much for them. In the future they should look at their textbook for examples for tests and prepare for them in that way. Fortunately, I’ve had no more bat impressions in my windshield.

Thank You, Lord, for living up to Your promise to strengthen, help and uphold us, and for the fact that You really do that.

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[i] https://carbuzz.com/news/smashing-your-ferrari-s-windshield-with-a-baseball-bat-is-labor-day-fun