“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you” (Isa. 43:2, NLT).
I like this verse a lot because it reminds me that, no matter what happens, God is with me. There have been times when I have struggled with things such as math or science. But I have always gotten through these classes, thanks to my parents and God.
Editorial by Leona Bange
Seventh-day Adventists have long valued the concept of educating our young people to be the army of youth empowered to hasten the second coming of Jesus. From the earliest years of our church’s history, we have understood the importance of opening schools to educate our children for service in proclaiming the gospel message.
“For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Ps. 50:10, NKJV).
Graduation had just ended. The tired mommy shifted an infant girl from one side to the other. “I would love to have my children at your school,” she said. “I can see from this graduation program how much your church members love their school.”
I searched her face. Our church had just finished a six-week evangelism campaign, but she hadn’t attended. Does she have enough money to pay the required tuition? I thought, then stopped myself. This is God’s school, and He sends the seekers. Just then, one of her sons came running by.
“Then [Jesus] said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ ... Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’” (Mark 11:14, 21, NIV).
Here is an odd story about Jesus. Hungry, Jesus sees a fig tree with leaves because it was out of season. Finding it has no fruit, He curses the tree, and it dies. Why does Jesus do that? Doesn’t it seem unreasonable? Why does Mark tell this story?
The gospel accounts are not collections of random stories of things Jesus did. Each gospel book is a revelation of who Jesus is. So either Mark wants us to think Jesus is an unreasonable tree killer, or something deeper is happening here.
Story by Tamyra Horst
Representatives from Conewago Construction, Tilden Township, Blue Mountain Academy (BMA) and the Columbia Union Conference recently joined Pennsylvania Conference members and staff for the groundbreaking ceremony of the new conference office—the Mission and Evangelism Headquarters.