We often talk about silence in relation to God not speaking to us or directing us or showing us or teaching us or whatever it is we expect to hear from Him.  But do we ever consider that perhaps we just haven’t shut up long enough to really hear Him?

“To hear God’s voice, turn down the world’s volume.” Those are words from a text my godfather sent me just about a month before he was killed.  I won’t forget them, and I keep them  on repeat especially after my experience with these four other girls.  We cooked together, we ate together, we walked together - all in silence.  The day was spectacular, because it was time to tune out even the noise of our minds’ incessant chatter and tune into God.  Whether it was via His word or a singing bird, we each found Him - or maybe He found us.  We could truly feel His presence.

It’s an experience I can’t articulate well enough to substitute you’re own experiencing it.  I shared the details of my encounter in an email, and an old professor felt the ripple effects sharing, “I have not felt such peace in a very long time.” And yet, it’s is the experience our God desires for us every 7 days when He says, “Come away, Come and spend some time with Me, Come away.”  Pick a Sabbath and push mute.  Do it with friends if you can.  Get disconnected so you can connect.

Options are no longer so friendly in my book.  Growing up, the freedom to choose is anxiously awaited, but somewhere after picking out the color scheme and style for your apartment and theme for your graduation party, things change.  The power of choice seems overrated when we’re so good at making the wrong choices.  It might even make you want to move back in with the ‘rents.

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank” (Dan. 1:8, NKJV).

Making the right choice may seem to be contrary to our nature, but in considering the alternative it’s easy to understand the value of free will.  I think about relationships.  How does it feel when your significant other “surprises” you with a gift on your birthday?  Now, how does it feel when you get that gift out of the blue on September 28th (a day without significance other than being the 271st day of the year)?  True love is better seen with the element of choice in the mix.  Just as you can tell when your significant other is acting out of obligation versus simply love, our relationship with Christ is measured in the significant choice to surrender our will for His will each day.

As the lesson emphasizes this week, Daniel’s choice, decision, purpose was a matter of the heart.  So these are the fundamental basics behind why our God of love opted for freedom of choice as opposed to freedom from choice.  The more complicated questions come later when we try to decipher good choices from better choices.  If our salvation depends on the choices we make, and we’re prone to making bad choices, what factors do we consider when the right and wrong choices aren’t as clearly black and white as the Lesson 2 picture illustrates? The answer is one of those easier said than understood: The choice that matters is pledging our obedience to God.

As we stood in the middle of nature picking and choosing between site number 59 and 200, I couldn’t help but feel a little silly.  When I took a hot shower the next morning in the park, and considered our brothers and sisters in Haiti living in tent cities - our camping “choices” became an ironic luxury.  This thing of choice goes back to the tree of life.  It’s an opportunity to show God we choose Him in Love.  The results include both bumps and easy flowing streams, but the scenic journey is an encounter best viewed from a freely surrendered heart.

As I scanned the audience, I’m not sure that the event’s promotion had reached all across Houston.  Surely we had more SDAs of both colors around this gigantic city.  Maybe intermixing only happens at General Conference. Nonetheless, the programming was on point and a harmony displayed amidst our diverse leadership.  On one side there was the Southwest Region Conference, and on the other the Texas Conference, better known as the “black conference” and the “white conference”, respectively.

The balance of musicians, representatives, and program participants was interesting to analyze, but more profound was the penetrating conviction Pastor Wright’s message left the congregants with.  He started with Acts 6:1 with the basic premise: increase people increase problems. Wright elaborated, “The devil has only one antidote for growth - division.”   While there may be lines of division on our conference maps, they ought not be in our hearts.  He analogized our experience to the church in Acts.  The first five books show the church experiencing rapid growth, and then in Acts 6 “[The] devil says I’m sick of this,” Wright preached.  Read it.

Wright continued to educate with the biblical truths, and refused to shy away from the pathetic reality of racial tensions within our wonderful church.   To stomach the blunt message, “I make you smile so you can take the bitter pill of truth,” said Wright.   The message continued after lunch and your choice from a wide variety of workshops.  His evening message entitled, “The Beat Goes On” picked up where we left off in Acts.   Wright reiterated, “The book ends with a comma…We need to walk out of this building with a comma not a period.  We didn’t end anything, we just are beginning something…You and I must finish the book of Acts. We must write the closing chapter.”

That is what the Houston area intends to do in the coming year.  It was more than inspiring message, with informative workshops.  “United We Serve” was the beginning of a mentality shift that will be required if we have any chance at finishing the work as the real “true” church of John 17:21 “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

The convention had a separate program from Spanish-speaking members, and several guests including Ernie Castillo, Milton Rodriguez, and the A’Men Quartet.  Workshops covered a wide range of training seminars from Children’s Ministries, Photography and Video to Education, Religious Liberty, and Disabilities Ministries.  Several more workshops were offered in both English and Spanish.  The day ran for roughly 12 hours ending right around 9pm with a mini-concert featuring the A’Men Quartet and Forever His.

This issue of organized division on the basis of racial lines has always been of particular interest to me.  Seeing an effort like this at the local level was encouraging.  Five years ago, I had the opportunity to study the history behind this issue and interview both conference presidents.  At that time, it seemed the collapse of racially divided conferences was far off.  While March 20th, 2010 may not have been the demise of religious segregation, at least we came out and admitted it from behind the pulpit.  The first step to breaking down these walls is admitting we are powerless over this disease of division, and meeting on neutral turf at the foot of the cross.

I’m curious to know what your experiences are. What colors do you see on Sabbath morning? Does it make a difference? Is this exclusively an American dilemma?  Is race only an issue at the local conference level?

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. - 1 John 4:15-16

Yesterday we inhaled the sweet scent of roses, savored the rich and milky chocolate, and maybe even whispered the four letter word amidst a sweet embrace.  Today, the commercial peer pressure quickly deflates with 50% off sales, and you might just have to wait till next year for that all-out sentimental “be mine.”

So what do you say to your most loyal Valentine?  We’re talking about the One you’re supposed to be in love with, because He died for you and wants you even after He catches you in bed with the enemy (not once, but on a daily basis).  So do you praise and adore Him with the Song of Songs, do you tell Him He’s the fairest of ten thousand, with all your heart do you praise Him for being altogether lovely?  Just how hot is your relationship with the one you call Savior?

We can all see He’s totally into you.  In fact, He’s crazy about you.  It’s a love worth talking about - more than the loaded vase on your desk.  And the really nice thing about this guy - His love is all in inclusive yet totally exclusive.  This relationship - it’s personal, not generic.  Anyone who wants Him can have Him, and anyone who has Him can’t stop sharing Him.

So let Him love on you today, tomorrow, and the next day.  He doesn’t wait for February 14th.  So maybe in those moments when we get a glimpse of the overwhelming magnitude of His love, and even in those moments when everything around us falls apart except Him, we too will proclaim our love out loud and clear.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5

I’ll leave you with a few love songs that go both ways - His love for us coupled with our desire to fall in love with Him. Enjoy!

*Image thanks to Liyin the Designer-in-Pajamas

It seems to me, we can make far more preparations for the small trips to the grocery store.  We make lists, maybe even compare prices, and clip coupons from the Sunday newspaper.  But like a dream vacation, planning for the ultimate trip to Heaven is currently on hold.  We fill our time ironing and pressing out plans for next Sabbath, and forget about how much effort and cleaning up we need to do before considering ourselves true passengers headed to an eternal destination.  No wonder when we experience a little turbulence, we find our world collapsing as we come crashing back to reality without a parachute.

What is it that’s standing in your way today? What do you need to mentally prepare? What does it mean to be physically prepared? As we rewind to Lesson 2, join me in pondering pending preparations.

I heard about the Saturday night church through some friends back home, and penciled it in for a visit about a month ago when I planned to be in town. I walked in and immediately fell in love with the concept. The church was so “unchurchy” in a good way. The location was in the middle of a shopping strip, but inside there was a designated space for worship and a designated space for fellowship. Two separate distinct yet connected environments perfect for that friend of yours who may not fit in with the church pew.

Towards the end of the one-hour worship, an announcement actually caught my attention. September 26th there would we a Poetry Slam. Of course, I volunteered our own Kemi Ola before heading back to Houston and a few weeks later we were back in Austin for the event.

The night was filled with worship and a study of the book of Revelation with Pastor Gordon Jones.  Then we had some down time in the lounge/cafe area on some comfy red sofas.  Finally, the Poetry Slam opened with a little rhyme, a lot of knowledge, some music, some video - it was fun, it was beautiful, it was real,  it was so on point.

God has truly blessed us each with a gift, and it’s amazing the people we can reach when we break the traditional templates for worship and just…worship. That’s what I see happening at the New Season Fellowship Church. Check them out Saturday nights live at 6pm in Austin (12636 Research Blvd) just inside the Pursuit Church.

In the mean time be blessed by what we heard from one poet, Brett Lee:

“It was a great experience for me to go to Bolivia and help out with the school.  It took several miracles to get us there, and several more to get us back. I would recommend this opportunity to anyone with a sense of adventure, and a willingness to serve.”

- Melba

Now that the dust has settled and the American way has resurfaced, it’s a good time to share some thoughts on what took place down in the jungles of South America.

The sun bore into our backs, baking us from the inside out. Red dust perpetually hung in the air and clung to everything - shoes, clothing, skin. “Organic mineral makeup,” we joked after a fine dusting of the ubiquitous dust coated our features during the bumpy truck rides. Insects of every size and shape became our constant companions. Bugs that would have freaked us out days before were now just minor annoyances. Except for the dog-sized mosquitoes, the constant hum of insect wings almost became a lullaby. There was the rooster that insisted on heralding the pre-dawn right outside of our window. A cold front blew through and chilled us in the early morning. “Laundry facilities” were planks of wood, brushes, and soap powder in a slow moving creek. The food was plentiful, but very heavily on the starchy carbohydrate side.

“And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Isaiah 58:11

But, then there were the stars. Millions of them brilliantly exploding in the night sky. Butterflies of every shape and hue fluttered around us until we did the impossible and ignored them. After a few hours on the job site, fresh, cool water from a spring was sweeter and more satisfying than anything we had known.

The children, their smiles warm and without judgment, embraced us as we stumbled cluelessly for the first few days. They shared their songs, their stories, their tears. The dedication of the missionaries and volunteers shone like a bright beacon and we knew we were camping on holy ground.

Besides the building project and the preaching series, I came away with an appreciation for the work of those dedicated to the ministry and a desire to model my life in a similar fashion.

- Kijana

Somehow it seemed we brought with us loads of luggage to share, and yet left behind the baggage of worldly treasures in exchange for the simplicity of real…life.

“At home, we are rarely able to get beyond ourselves and be reminded of what really matters in life.
This trip was an opportunity to do just that. It was a physical, emotional, and spiritual test that came with a great reward.”

- Jacob

We helped construct a dormitory.  We provided medical care for needy patients.  We brought the message of hope in Jesus.  Together with the support of so many individuals, so much was accomplished in so little time.

I would like to share one of my experiences from the Bolivia trip. I attended a patient in a small clinic in Yata. She had a absess on the bottom of her  left foot. The clinic nurse had been treating her with oral and intravenous antibiotics for fifteen days, however, the foot was still abscessed. We decided to open and to clean the wound. During the process, a thorn, about in inch long, popped out. This was why the antibiotic treatment hadn’t worked.

On our travels in Bolivia, we found other similar situations, that is, cases that were more serious than they first appeared and which required money that neither the patients nor families had. I am grateful that we were there and that we could be of assistance. But it would not have been possible without all of your help, without the teamwork.

So thank Austin First SDA Church for their support and thank God for making it all possible.

- Elizabeth

No matter what may have brought us to Bolivia, and no matter what unique experience we each had while there - the children manifested so well the message we thought we were bringing to them.  Full time, fully dedicated, 100% disciples for Christ - the concept of a “mission trip” is simply a matter of routine.

The experience was wonderful. Addy & I have had our first mission experience together and are greatful. We both enjoyed the children & teens we met and were greatly impressed with their good behavoir and kindness towards us. It was our pleasure to serve them both as builders and spiritual support. The regular singing from morning to night was very pleasant and showed their love of God and each other.

It was my first opportunity to give a sermon as my wife interpreted and even though I received short notice and wasn’t prepared, the service worked itself out just fine, praise God! I also turned 50 years old while there and hoped to skate by unnoticed, but my wife told the cook to prepare a cake and somehow from then everyone found out. That morning we were woken by serenading outside the screen window and after the morning service I was surprised by the male students who by tradition picked me up and tossed me into the cold river with the last bit of dry clothes available to me. The rest of the day went well with congratulations from practically everyone on campus.

Many other adventures were delightful, such as two trips into town to the markets and squares, a special outing to a tourist resort, evening ministry at a local village, a jungle walk, etc. Our fondest memories though are of some of the children because they immediately touched or hearts with an innocent outpouring of love and gratitude for us throughout our visit.

My wife and I would be very happy if, God willing, we were able again to visit the campus  in Guayaramerin or another mission trip.

- Ken

Assume it’s possible to know truth and not love and/or vice versa, that it’s possible to love without knowing truth.  John’s letter to the chosen lady would make little sense, “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.”

I’ve said it before, to know God is to know Truth and to know Truth is to know God.  It sounds quite similar to the message in this clip that I’ve been playing over and over again lately.  Check it out and let’s not leave the message of being loved and loving in Quarter 3.  Let’s return doctrine and love to an indivisible packaged deal.

undergrad…check

post-grad…check

marriage…uncheck

kids…double uncheck

As she scans the masses, it doesn’t take long before Church Girl notices for every one of him there’s three of her.  If only she had come to this point sooner rather than later… While she’s finally wrapped up the pursuit of  her academic career and is asking “what’s next?”, the elders, including mommy and daddy, start asking - when are we gonna get those grandkids?  There’s just one problem - she must hunt for a male counterpart first.  This is a phase of life she perhaps isn’t too fond of.

From the looks of things, what’s an SDA girl to do when she’s committed to seeking the benefits of religious homogamy in line with the principles of 2 Corinthians 6:14 when the logic of the numbers is glaringly disappointing?  Online dating, singles ministry, and all these other kosher-fied ‘hitch’ initiatives can be less than appealing to the non-aggressive type.  Maybe she doesn’t want it to be forced.  We got rid of arranged-marriages for a reason, so why resort to letting cross-checks between computer databases take Cupid’s reigns?  Desperation kind of settles in when scanning the pews Sabbath morning to see if there’s a new one on the shelf.

You can see how quickly the numbers turn women into crazy-for-love maniacs who fill the ranks of the unashamedly desperate.  Just as she steps off the stage with the post-grad diploma in hand, Church Girl begins to wonder whether she’ll join the 40-something club still an “eligible”.

So what’s the motivation for limiting yourself to the demographics of church membership?  When the difference between Christians and non-Christians getting a divorce these days is a mere 1%, there’s essentially no difference. 32% of us (Christians) and 33% of them (non-Christians) will eventually split up, meaning there really is no longer an us and them. Statistically, either you join the 4 in 5 who get married or the 1 in 5 who never get married.  In fact, 84% of Christians hook up as compared to people of non-Christian faiths (74%) and agnostics and atheists (65%).  So, it’s more likely than not that Church Girl will tie the knot with somebody and since there aren’t enough of him, Church Boy, sitting beside her Sabbath morning - she’s got to start searching beyond the church steps.  There are plenty good, fine, responsible, young, attractive guys out there. Maybe we can just start searching in the non-denominational crowds where men apparently are more likely involved in church. With the odds already as tough as they are in the broad spectrum of Christianity’s religious groups, the thought of further restrictions to the island nation of Adventist, Seventh-day even, brings on claustrophobia.

So church boys, don’t talk to me about the challenge of finding a mate in the church - you’ve got options.  Think you’ve got a good view on the Church Girl vantage point?  Maybe you can grasp the sentiment: it’s that feeling you get when you’re the last in line at potluck with only one corner piece of lasagna left and 2 visitors appear out of nowhere famished - you resonate?  It’s much harder for chica to swallow the command, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.” A generalization, yes - we feel your pain, good guy stuck without a car in a rural city in that one peculiar church where men dominate, defying the numbers of congregational gender makeup.  But let’s get back to the more common reality…

So you’re a single young adult female who has done it all right. You’ve stayed close to your home church, finished school without babies, and found a job in the profession of your dreams.  You cook, you clean (even the baseboards), and you’ve maintained a near-perfect figure with above-average ratings on the attractability chart. Guess what? S O R R Y, you really aren’t one of kind.  The stats say, ‘take a number and get in line behind the other 8 million eligible bacholorettes.’

You wonder why we go there?  That’s why.  Put the male/female ratio alongside the divorce rate and the numbers tell you - this whole “compatible dating” thing really is next to impossible.  To be a single SDA girl committed to finding a mate in the church is to be irrationally dependent on the will of God and wrapped daily in the comfort of your faith.

Alright, so forget the stats, Church Girl.  They’re no good for your faith.  Maybe you have to roll your eyes a time or two when Mr. Church Boy complains that there’s no good women in the church today, and maybe you have to learn to knit, crochet, and balance a basket of water on your head while dicing onions.  You might even have to accept that God has plans for you in the ‘1 of 5’ group along with the other 22% who never experience marriage.

How do you deal with this on your down day?  You might try skipping a couple chapters back to numbers that really matter, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 18 is good when you don’t understand why, what, or when God will get to your princess fairy-tale dreams.  He knows you’ve had the wedding planned since you opened your first Barbie and Ken dolls. He knows you’ve got something to offer this world. Better yet, He knows just when and how He wants you to use it.  Take comfort in the verse you’ve heard at many a Sabbath, mid-week service, and camp meeting - “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Or take it from The Message:

“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. “
- 2 Corinthians 4:18

When we find true joy in the one relationship where we really are His everything, who cares about the statistics?  If  He isn’t enough, Church Girl, who is? Why dare go where He told us not to?  Delete 2 Corinthians  6:14 in exchange for certain heartbreak? I think not.  Just keep your eyes open for that equal yoke, and take it easy on Mr. Church Boy - he might just be the one.

Stats taken from The Barna Group

We’ll pick things up again with the memory text, “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5). I was at the Austin First Church this past weekend, and we kinda veered off and got stuck on the first part of the verse to get a better understanding of what it means to “overcome the world.” We eventually ended up talking about being “in and not of” and how anything we put before God is basically our “world.” It made for very interesting discussion, but now I’m here sitting at home and trying to put that simple notion to the test. The text makes a very direct link between who Jesus is and whether we overcome the world. There’s a Sabbath School Lesson Forum on Facebook and I like what they posted:

We may be tempted to consider these topics as mere academic and philosophical exercises. But who Jesus was and what He claimed about Himself impacts every human being. The way we think about Jesus influences dramatically how we relate to God, how we understand the plan of salvation, and how we can have assurance of salvation.

One more thing, I noted a box in the CQ lesson that says, “Even comfortable living has a way of eroding our dependence on God.”  I had to read it over a couple times.  After Kijana and I spent a week in the jungle,  we had no doubt about the presence of God.  All the clutter clouding our vision of His power was stripped away, and there was beauty even in the uncomfortable living conditions.  There’s much more time for Him when you only have to worry about washing one bowl and one spoon.  Lately, I’ve been wondering how uncomfortable life has to get before I notice God’s role and get out of His way.  It’s believing when it doesn’t seem like I have to that ought to keep me close to Him.

So if you are having a hard time putting God before your worries, maybe you just don’t know Him like you used to.  Consider believing in the Son of God, what He came to do, and why He did it - and then, you’ll see that it’s really He that is within you overcoming the challenges of life.