March 9, 2015

Give & Take

Adventist Life

Each Sabbath my Sabbath school teacher would ask us to read our favorite Scripture passage. And each week I did not have one. I had learned my memory verse, but it was not my “favorite.” The teacher would faithfully give me the same Scripture text to read: 

1 John 1:9. I distinctly remember tiring of reading the same text, but apparently I wasn’t tired enough to come prepared. Perhaps this dear woman knew how I would need the assurance of this precious promise in later years. Now in adulthood, and even into “senior status,” I think of this dear soul each time I encounter this passage, and thank God for the training in my youth.

—Linda Steinke, Millet, Alberta, Canada

My Prayer for the Church

Dear God of all love, all light, and all life, in 2015 may we, as Your worldwide family, planted in thousands of local communities, experience fully the deep oneness of Your end-time Spirit. May this baptism of living grace provide that irrefutable witness that we are a called and destiny-directed people. Let our racial, national, ethnic, and gender diversity find that unity that arises, not from an artificial uniformity, but from our common faith and our common mission. In a world in which little children starve, and little girls are sold, and countless millions drown in rising poverty, use us as vessels of health, hope, and healing in a broken world. In Christ’s name, amen.

—Leslie N. Pollard, president, Oakwood University

Our gracious God, as we watch this world decay, our courage is challenged and our resources stretched. Though You have given us incredible opportunities to bring healing and hope to so many, we seem to be majoring in minors. Help our church to refocus on sharing Your love and compassion with Your people everywhere, to put aside self and bring glory to You alone. This is my urgent plea.

—Richard H. Hart, president of Loma Linda University; the first Adventist student missionary to serve outside of North America as a Walla Walla College student in the 1960s13 1 8 3

Sound Bite

“I learned that it’s a lot easier to teach a blind person how to ski than teach a person with sight. The blind trust purely in the voice of their guide. The person with sight relies on what they see. Blind faith is being able to trust God and not rely on your own sight to lead you.”

—Mike Mooney, a blind athlete who found God while attending an extreme sports camp run by Adventist-owned Extreme Mobility Camps, speaking at a January 10, 2015, event at a church in southern California

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