Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word

Lead Us Not Into Tempation

In: Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word
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The book of Job focuses mainly on the lessons Job learned as he went through the trials inflicted upon him as Satan tries to shake him loose from the faith and trust that he has in God. His friends tell him he is suffering because he has some secret hidden sin that he needs to confess, his wife tells him to just give up and curse God and die, but he refuses to let go of God. When we look at the beginning of the book we find the curtains drawn back so we can see what is happening behind the scenes (something that Job, his wife, and his friends did NOT have) observing interactions between God and Satan. In chapter 2 God is addressing Satan for the second time highlighting Job's faithfulness despite Satan "inciting [God] against him to ruin him without cause."

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As We Forgive Others

In: Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word
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In the 1998 movie "The Christmas Wish" Will Martin (Neil Patrick Harris) sets out to provide an answer to his grandmother Ruth's (Debbie Reynolds) Christmas wish to know who Lillian is - someone who shows up in her late husbands journals after their only son and his wife (Will's parents) were killed in a car accident. If you have never seen this movie, and don't want the ending spoiled stop reading, go find the movie and watch it before you finish this post!...

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Forgive Us Our Sins

In: Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word
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We have all seen it - the non-apology, apology. It goes something like this, "If what I said [or did] offended you, I am sorry." It might also look like "To the extent my words [or actions] offended you, I apologize." The approaches essentially say "I am not sorry I said or did what I did. I am only sorry you were offended by it." The focus is not that I said or did something wrong, it is that you are somehow wrong because you took offense to me. Many people find it difficult to sincerely apologize. We somehow feel that apologizing somehow degrades us as a person.

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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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