Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word

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.
 

Viewing God as Our Father

In: Personal Reflections on the Study of God's Word
Published:

Several years ago while on vacation with my family in Myrtle Beach, SC I broached the topic of God as our father with my extended family (all of my brothers and sisters were together for the first time since my mom's funeral a little over a year before). My focus on these words had been on "father". What does it mean that God is referenced as father? How has my relationship with my earthly father informed and directed my understanding of what it means for God to be called father? As I brought this topic up my youngest brother Peter wouldn't let me get past the word "Our". He commented that Jesus didn't say "My Father..." or "Your Father...", but "Our Father...." What does it mean that he is "ours" and not "mine" or "yours"? How does that change the way I see people? What about those people that I don't like very much - the ones that have hurt me? Is He their father too? If He is, how should that influence the way I view (and more importantly TREAT) them? Each one of us has been wronged by someone (and each one of us has wronged someone else!) Recognizing that God is their father as well as ours should direct the way we treat each other. (We could broaden this to include all those people who have different religious, social, or political views than us.) How can we become ONE family with differing views but the SAME father focused on HIS will

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Friday Blog

"For someone your age you really should stop doing ..." Not the words you want to hear from anyone but those were precisely the words the Emergency Room doctor used to begin the conversation with me last Sunday evening. To set the full context for the conversation I had been working on replacing some rotted out fascia boards on my house that included the "bird box" on the gable end. Since this house is built on a pier and beam foundation with a 3 foot crawl space the roof line is about 10 feet off the ground. I had set up an adjustable step ladder and was standing on the second from the top wrung piecing the bird box together. The ground was a little bit uneven and the piece I was replacing was about 5 feet long so it required stretching a little bit to reach the ends if I didn't want to reposition the ladder. As I was stretching to the uphill side the ladder decided it no longer wanted to stand upright and deposited me on my back on the ground below. In my mind my ego was far more damaged than my body but my wife and daughter insisted I get medically checked out.

Friday Blog

Last week on Thursday and Friday two candidates for President of Southwestern Adventist University were on campus and met with faculty and staff. Both candidates were asked to describe their plan for engaging faculty and staff with the vision and mission of the university. One of them, Nelu Nedelea, presented a very interesting concept - "I like to ask three questions, Who am I?, What is the context?, and What is my role." He went on to explain that generally the core of who we are doesn't change, we may grow and expand our sphere but our core beliefs and values do not change. The context and our role influence how we apply who we are to any given situation, but in the end who we are ultimately determines how we act.

Friday Blog

A few months ago I was watching an episode of the Canadian TV series Highway Thru Hell where Jamie Davis, owner of Jamie Davis Heavy Rescue, comments about a tow truck that is sitting in a parking lot lit up like a Christmas tree. His observation is how unnecessary it is to have all the lights flashing and that it actually increases danger rather than reducing it. His contention is that the flashing lights draw your attention away from the road toward the source of the lights increasing the probability of an accident because you miss what is right in front of you. I have heard for years that broken down cars parked on the side of the road with their hazard lights flashing at night will draw you to them causing you to wander off the road and onto the shoulder.

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