Pastors' Blog

This evening at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, if all goes as carefully planned, the youngest American ever will fly into space. Hayley Arceneaux, 29 years old, joins the first all-civilian crew (not a single professional astronaut onboard) to orbit the earth, thanks to the largess of billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. And what’s not to like about her story?

At ten years of age, doctors discovered she had cancer of the bone. “‘When I got that bone cancer diagnosis I was so scared. After the doctor told me I had cancer I just kept saying “I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die.” And at age 10, everyone I knew with cancer had passed away,’ Arceneaux said” (www.wbrz.com/news/baton-rouge-local-to-become-youngest-american-in-space-wednesday/). 

From Baton Rouge, Louisiana, young Haley plunged into the fight of her life, spending a year at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Her regimen was a grueling series of chemotherapy treatments and surgeries. But they saved her life and her leg, most of it. 

Two decades later now, Haley Arceneaux is working “her dream job” in the very place where a ten-year-old found hope. “‘Ever since I was a patient at St. Jude, I knew I wanted to grow up and work there. I just felt so close, part of the St. Jude family, and I was given so much hope that I wanted to share that hope with other kids going through the same thing’” (ibid).

But her dream job soared to new heights a few months ago when an unexpected phone call from St. Jude announced she had been selected to join this first all civilian mission to space “to bring awareness and fundraising to St. Jude” (ibid).

Turns out she is not only going to inspire young Americans battling cancer, she is set to inspire prosthesis wearers as she becomes the first person wearing a prosthesis to be rocketed into space.

By the way, her preparation has not been for the faint of heart. “Training was primarily academic, but the crew also spent a lot of time in a spacecraft simulator, spent a weekend training in fighter jets, and underwent traditional astronaut training exercises, including centrifuge, water-survival, and hypoxia training” (www.wbrz.com).

Haley’s motivation? “‘What I’m most excited about is being the first pediatric cancer survivor to go to space, because I’m thinking about all these kids that are gonna come after me . . . just like me going through something difficult and then knowing that they can do big things’” (ibid).

A story to inspire us all, wouldn’t you agree? Turns out there is no limit to what the young of the world, the young of the church, can accomplish with support from people like the rest of us—who though not so young anymore, are young at heart enough to invest our lives in helping the youngest reach the farthest.

Our mission? To mentor them to: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). 

There’s a line I’ve scribbled in my Bible to help me remember these intrepid young: “With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world! How soon might the end come—the end of suffering and sorrow and sin!” (Education 271)

This campus congregation exists to raise up, to inspire, to equip this young army of workers for Christ. That’s why we’ve set a goal for a quarter of every ministry team to be young Adventists. That’s why our exemplary children’s and youth Sabbath Schools exist, along with our Pathfinder and Adventurer clubs. That’s why we provide significant financial support (thanks to your faithful generosity) for Ruth Murdoch Elementary School and Andrews Academy. That’s why our Grow Group strategy targets university students, both as group leaders and members. That’s why we’ve invited Richie Halversen to join us (October 1 - October 9) to connect with the campus young through his “The Darkness Will Not Overcome” series at Pioneer. 

Why all this? I repeat—we exist to inspire, to equip, to mobilize the young for our Lord Jesus. After all, our praying, our volunteering, our mentoring, our giving on behalf of our young will ensure we join them on the one space flight that matters most—with Jesus.

What if you were living somewhere in Afghanistan, racing across the dusty wilderness toward Kabul, desperate to catch the last flight out of that beleaguered city, only to arrive in time to see the aircraft's jet trail vanish into the ether? In two conversations last weekend I talked with individuals who have been apprised of the actual situation on the ground and who have assured me there still are many who for legitimate reasons hoped against hope to be on that last plane out. But alas, it was a not-to-be.
 

In a fete of prescient timing, the latest issue of Christianity Today arrived two days ago—cover story, “The Other Story of Afghanistan” (September, 2021). The author Rebecca Hopkins reports on the backstory behind the humanitarian aid of nongovernment organizations in the country, about 140 of them (according to the US Agency for International Development), many of them Christian organizations. While the Afghan record of aid workers suffering violent deaths over the past twenty years is somber, nevertheless workers of these charitable agencies continue to serve Afghanistan’s predominantly Sunni Muslim populace.
 

An author and aid worker, who for safety reasons uses the pseudonym Anna Hampton, says that while some will leave the country “because of security concerns,” the fact is “others will find ways to stay.” She went on, “‘There is a 100-year modern history of the Christian foreigner in Afghanistan. . . . It’ll get small again, but it’ll be there.’” Why do such workers remain? “‘We love Jesus and we love the Afghan people’” (39).
 

But in a biblically correct though perhaps (in this case) unexpected interpretation, Anna Hampton defends those who have chosen to leave the country: “‘Both Jesus and Paul fled risky situations,’ she said. ‘Workers need to see where God is speaking and guiding and leading them either to continue to move into a higher risk situation, or to retreat for a time’” (39-40).
 

In last week’s blog, we reminded ourselves we can still have an important part in helping meet the needs of Afghanis through our prayers, our donations to the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (www.adra.org), and our choice to serve the needy who live here in our own community.
 

But if you wish to specifically partner with an effort to assist those who missed the last plane out of Kabul, “a diverse group of all-volunteer NGO workers, pilots, and concerned citizens with extensive cumulative experience in Afghanistan and other international conflict contexts” has formed Operation Rescue. Under the auspices of nPraxis International ("a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit registered with the Internal Revenue Service and the Tennessee Secretary of State”—www.npraxisinternational.org), you may help Operation Rescue with your support (www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=4PD5KLKLYZY7C).
 

The truth is we live in a civilization—unwary and unsaved—awaiting the last flight out. The Second Coming of Jesus, by its very promise, adds to the gospel appeal of Holy Scripture an urgency we must not ignore. August 31 was was the deadline in Kabul. Who knows the deadline for Earth? What we know is clear enough: “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:27-28 emphasis added).

Have your friends, family members, neighbors and colleagues secured their place on the last flight out? What are we waiting for?

Leaving the Olympiad games and the COVID-19 Delta variant out of the picture for a moment, this summer’s unfolding story about wildfires is enough to give any thinking person pause. Even so, yesterday’s headline was jolting, “Smoke from wildfires reaches the North Pole for the first time in recorded history.” The report opens: “Wildfire smoke has made it to the North Pole for the first time in recorded history, NASA said, as multiple blazes continued to rage across Russia on Tuesday. One of the country's coldest regions has been especially hard hit, with smoke so bad that it blacked out the sun, the Guardian newspaper reported” (www.cbsnews.com/news/smoke-russia-wildfires-reaches-north-pole/).

Turns out it’s Siberia that’s burning. “The Sakha Republic in Siberia is one of the coldest areas in the world and sits on top of permafrost. This year it has seen record high temperatures and drought, and vast swaths of its forests have burned.” One scientist described this unprecedented blaze: “‘There have always been large fires in Siberia. It is a landscape evolved to burn,’ Jessica McCarty, an earth scientist at Miami University in Ohio, told NASA's Earth Observatory. 'What is different because of climate change is that fires are burning larger areas, affecting places farther to the north, and consuming fuels that would have been more fire resistant in the past’” (ibid).

Not even the pristine icy wilderness of the Arctic's the North Pole is immune. 

South Lake Tahoe is a sunny world away from that hinterland. But as we vacationed there with my siblings and their spouses in July, on an afternoon hike we noticed an intriguing formation of clouds peeking up above the southern mountain ridge. Someone commented on it. A few minutes later that cumulus cloud had grown. And eventually, we spotted orange hues to its pure white billows. As we learned later, it was another wildfire in that state on fire, this one the Tamarack fire. To the north of Lake Tahoe (beyond our view) still burns the Dixie fire, the largest wildfire in California history. 

So what’s up? Siberia, California, the West Coast states—just another aberration of Mother Nature that we’ll get over as soon as the news cycle finds another tantalizing story to cover?

TIME magazine observes: “Flames light up hillsides in British Columbia. Smoke swells over highways into Athens. A swimming pool in California is surrounded by charred rubble. Thick forests in Siberia lie shriveled and brown. Countries across the northern hemisphere this summer are experiencing the worst wildfires in years of recorded history, with large swaths of land and entire towns in Europe, North America and Russia consumed by flames since the start of July. Though many of these countries are used to summer fire seasons, climate change is making the hot, dry conditions that allow fires to catch and spread more common and more intense” (time.com/6087748/wildfires-around-the-world-photos/).

Are these wildfires eschatological harbingers? I can’t imagine they wouldn’t be. But then we’ve always believed Jesus is coming soon. “More and more, as the days go by, it is becoming apparent that God’s judgments are in the world. In fire and flood and earthquake He is warning the inhabitants of this earth of His near approach” (9T 97). Truth is, we are the red-handed culprits whose wanton consumption and waste of natural resources have triggered the imbalances exacerbating radical weather swings. Our greedy depletion of earth’s choicest gifts has a left a planet with the pox of judgment upon it—a judgment we ourselves have rendered.

“The time has come . . . for destroying those who destroy the earth” is the Apocalypse’s dark warning (Revelation 11:18).

So with that cheerful note, on the eve of a new year here at Andrews University, with more of COVID than fires on our minds, what shall we pray for as the campus church? What a perfect confluence for us to claim the ancient promise: “Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds [thunderstorms—NIV]; He will give them showers of rain [drenching rain—Robert Alter]” (Zechariah 10:1 NKJV). “Drenching rain” for the out-of-control wildfires across the northern hemisphere—why not ask for it? But in the same breath, we must plead for the “thunderstorms” and “drenching rain” of the mighty Holy Spirit, whose outpouring has a been promised for “the last days” (Acts 2:17). It is time, it is high time, for God’s friends on earth to cry out for His rain-soaked intervention. Let those showers inundate this campus, this congregation, this global remnant community—and a people very much like Jesus will be raised up for such a time as this. So pray for the fire, pray for the rain, plead for the mighty Spirit of Jesus. It is time.

The reason the well-known phrase, “man’s best friend,” is enclosed in quotation marks is because (1) it is an oft-quoted phrase in reference to dogs, but (2) it is also regularly challenged! I want to thank all who submitted animal stories prior to our worship series, “For the Love of an Animal.” Those stories are evidence enough that “man’s best friend” could just as well be a cat, a peacock or two or three, or whatever animal companion you happened to grow up with or are enjoying right now.

And yet dogs continue to hold a special place in the human heart. I remember looking down from our hotel balcony in Belgrade, Serbia, and counting the number of people walking their dogs in the nearby city park—ditto, by the way, in Xiamen, China, every early morning. Dogs are beloved—let’s face it. That’s why I’m a bit hesitant to point out that we will not be having a dog story in this short mini-series. Why? Because in the time of the Bible writers dogs were not domesticated animals—they were wild, feral beasts nobody wanted around. Two exceptions are the “sheepdogs” that Job noted (Job 30:1 NIV) and the “little dogs” Jesus and the Syro-Phonecian mother described as eating crumbs spilled from the master’s table (Matthew 15:26-27). 

But look up the word “dog” in your favorite concordance, and you’ll discover the very word is an epithet, “a term of insult when applied to human beings . . . or a term used to indicate extreme self-abasement.” In fact “opponents of the gospel are compared to dogs,” as are immoral sinners outside the New Jerusalem ([Revelation 22:15] see SDABC Bible Dictionary 277).

But happily, three Pioneer members—Kathy Koudele and Bruce and Jan Wrenn, clearly dog-lovers to the core—took the time to extol their beloved canine companions, and even included photographs. 

Kathy wrote up a short piece about “Jack, the Guardian Angel in Dog Fur,” to tell about the part-Husky part-German Shepherd stray that wandered into their farmyard one day in Central Michigan. Would this stranger be a threat to the sheep on the farm? Turns out he was just the opposite! She writes, “Thankfully, Jack showed no interest at all in sheep; he was much more interested in retrieving and chewing on corn cobs. We used his love of cobs to trick him into acting like a Border Collie and thereby accidentally herding the sheep. We’d throw a corn cob toward the back of one side of the flock and he’d run after it causing the sheep to move forward away from him. Then we’d throw another cob toward the back of the other side and the same thing would happen. The process was repeated several times and in that way, the flock would continue to move forward.”

But how would he be with their children? Kathy continues, “Some dogs don’t see babies and toddlers as fully human and can treat them like unruly puppies. When our children arrived, however, Jack recognized them as fully human and treated them with the same respect and enthusiasm he did us. When they would be sitting in their little bouncy seat while I was milking cows or feeding lambs, he would bring over a corn cob he favored and put it in the little tray. They would wave it around and then drop it. He would quickly pick it up and set it back in the tray so they could drop it again for him. Sometimes they would use the cob as a teething ring before their parents had a chance to retrieve it.” Too bad they couldn’t market that idea!

And as for strangers “within your gates” (Exodus 20:10), Jack was there to guard: “His intense husky eyes and upright ears combined with the German Shepard body coloring were enough to persuade folks to stay in their car and call out to us or honk the horn. While my husband was away at medical school during the week, I knew I could rest easy both day and night since Jack was on patrol. I knew no unsavory sorts would be able to get past him and possibly harm our children or me. He was my guardian angel in dog fur, and I thanked God daily for bringing this perfect dog into our lives.”

Bruce and Jan write: “We have had 7 Golden Retrievers over our time in Berrien Springs. . . . Cooper was beloved by all who knew him—from the very young to the very old. Taking him for a walk around the neighborhood was like walking with the Pied Piper. The kids would come running out yelling 'Cooper!!’ And he would sit down so the smallest chidden could hug his neck. Some of the kids would come ring our doorbell and ask if they could come in the backyard to play with him.”

How was Cooper with senior citizens? Bruce wrote: “At the other end of the age spectrum, Cooper was a trained therapy dog, certified to be able to go into nursing homes, and other care places like hospice facilities, to greet older people who wanted to pet dogs and tell us about their own dogs, long since past. Cooper loved doing this, just loved it. He would get so excited when we brought out his service dog vest.”

Reflecting on the softer side of companion dogs, Bruce observes: “Books have been written about how animals have shown remarkable, sacrificial love for one another and for humans. Two that come to mind are Stephanie Laland’s Animal Angels and Peaceable Kingdom. What I take away from all this is just as God places in our heart the need to love and be loved, and to recognize the God of Love’s presence in our life, He also places the capacity for love in many of his creatures. We all have witnessed this in our own lives. Just another peek into God’s marvelous and amazing character and why we are reminded by John that ‘God is Love.’”

There it is. “For the Love of an Animal.” Right here at home. 

So why wouldn’t the Creator of us all—humans and “man’s best friend" and everything “else in all creation” (Romans 8:39)—embed reflections of His own heart of devoted love in all of us? For who more than He deserves the title, “The Best Friend of All?"