My heart is burdened for my homeland today. With the rest of the nation we await the Supreme Court decision on gay marriages—do gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry and can state bans against same-sex marriage remain in place? Thus far 37 states in our nation have legal provision for same sex marriage, with the other 13 states banning gay marriage (although in 8 of these states [including Michigan] gay marriage bans have been overturned and appeals are in process). What will the Supreme Court decide?

Bom dia! Nothing like a cheerful bit of Portuguese to launch another sunny day on the south Brazil campus of IAP. Karen and I were blessed to spend a week with the students and faculty of this college (and elementary school and academy), sprawling across rolling green cornfields as far as the eye can see.

Now there’s a thought! Ben Carson, the Seventh-day Adventist pediatric neurosurgeon of Johns Hopkins fame, announced to the world on Monday that he is running for the office of President of the United States (POTUS). At a carefully choreographed campaign kickoff rally in Detroit, Dr. Carson returned to his boyhood home for the media event. His book, Gifted Hands, describes his inner city boyhood providentially turned around by a praying single-parent mother (with a third grade education)—a mother who challenged her son to aspire to his God-given potential. It was the impetus he needed.

In front of this church where graduation exercises transpire stands a bronze statue of the university namesake, John Nevins Andrews. The skilled work of sculptor Allan Collins, this replica of the Seventh-day Adventist church’s first scholar and missionary is shaped with extended arm and hand pointing outward to a world beyond the church. For years now pinned to the wall of my study is this quotation from J. N.

On April 29, 1865, 50,000 people stood in line to pass through the Ohio Statehouse rotunda to pay their last respects to the recently slain Abraham Lincoln. As America mourned the assassination of its President, Ohioans reflected the gratitude of this country in that outpouring of affection.

Here’s a cheerful thought on this sunshiny Tax Day. According to the website usgovernmentrevenue.com, the governments (plural) of the United States will collect $6 trillion in revenue in 2015—$3.2 trillion for the federal government, $1.6 trillion for state governments, and $1.2 trillion for local governments. Those taxes will include income tax, social security tax, sales tax, along with fees and charges and other revenue. For a total of $6 trillion. Do you know how much that is? Neither do I.

Our Jewish friends and neighbors are celebrating Passover this week—from the sundown that welcomed Sabbath (April 4) to the sundown that concludes Sabbath (April 11). Included in their festivities will be the solemn but joyous celebration of the Seder. Replete with candles, the unleavened matzah bread, the maror bitter herbs, and a sumptuous dinner, this annual ritual Seder gathering of family and friends around the supper table is unlike any other Jewish celebration.

The Wall Street Journal this week reported the story of Sandra Ladra of Prague, Oklahoma. She was sitting in a recliner at home when the earthquake struck. As she describes it, the ground shook, her chandeliers “swung wildly” and the stone chimney in her house disintegrated, sending blocks through her roof and onto her legs. “‘I was screaming. I was trying to keep the blocks from hitting me’ said Ms. Ladra, 64 years old.

Maybe it’s because I just returned from a week-long preaching mission (nine sermons) in Serbia—that land torn by the pincers of war through much of its recent history. Or perhaps it was this week’s reporting on the 70^th anniversary of the Battle for Iwo Jima, the site of one of World War 2’s bloodiest onslaughts and the setting for the iconic picture of U.S. Marines hoisting their wind-whipped American flag atop Mt Suribachi.

I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised that last Sabbath afternoon’s panel/audience conversation about race relations in the Seventh-day Adventist church in America was a standing-room only event (here at Andrews University). The conversation was candid, but the spirit that prevailed was both healthy and essential to any future change in our national church. What I’m especially proud of, however, is the prayerful, cogent thinking evidenced by the team of Andrews University student leaders who organized the event.