Happy Thanksgiving from Canada...

I do have much to be thankful for...so I am not complaining, but it really does feel terrible to have to work on Thanksgiving! This Canadian tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving in October just doesn't cut it for me. I am too American...Thanksgiving just isn't Thanksgiving unless it is celebrated the end of November. But since I moved up to Canada, I did it to myself. So now I sit in my office and know that I will have to miss Thanksgiving with my family and friends back in the states. I feel just a bit sad....

But I do have much to be thankful for...life, health, family, friends, a job, a home, a dog, and most of all, a loving Saviour. So even though I can't celebrate Thanksgiving with my family, I will celebrate it in my heart because I have much to be thankful for...

Would Jesus really wash his feet?

My principal caught me after class this morning and asked if I had known anything about the controversy that occurred in Seattle and Oregon the beginning of October regarding a painting by Lars Justinen that depicts several world leaders--and a world terriorist-- having their feet washed by Jesus. The painting was designed to advertise for a conference that was going to discuss the character of God. The enraged reaction from the public caused many to take down the posters and others to blog vehemently about the meaning presented in the poster. One man stated, "I guess the point is to show just how forgiving and loving Jesus is. He's so loving th[at] he'll even wash Osama bin Laden's feet! Sorry, I aint that kind of Christian. My Jesus would use nunchucks on Osama bin Laden. Or maybe rip his still beating heart out, Temple of Doom style. This is the South Park Jesus. The one who boxed Satan and only won because the Satan threw the fight..."

One of the leaders who commissioned the painting stated, "that the picture was meant to parallel the story of Jesus washing the feet of Judas. No one is Judas in the picture, but the meaning is that Jesus would stoop to wash the feet of his enemies. The meaning is that in that painting of powerful world leaders -- and one powerful terrorist -- the one with all the power is ultimately Jesus.”

This whole thing got me thinking... a lot of people are in a rage that people would kill others in the name of religion. They look with horror and disdain on these people yelling "how unChristian is that!" But then, they turn around and say that the Jesus they serve would not wash the feet of his enemies, but instead would annihilate them too. Sounds like what they accused the others of doing. My principal made the comment that there is only one false religion, but it takes on many different faces. Here, we see that both entities are wrong in their thinking. They are accusing each other of the very thing they themselves are guilty of.

And then I started thinking, Would Jesus really wash the feet of someone like bin Laden? Why not? Did he not wash the feet of his betrayer (Judas)? Did he not wash the feet of his denier (Peter)? Did he not wash the feet of the want-to-be annihilators (James and John referring to Luke 9:54))? I am confident that Jesus would. Granted Jesus wouldn't love the sin that is within the heart of the individual, but he would always love the sinner. That is why he chose to die--even for his enemies. Roman 5:8, 10 says that "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us...For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." And if Jesus would die for someone like bin Laden, why wouldn't he wash his feet too?

I don't think any of us can fully grasp the meaning of Christ's love. We view his love from a very selfish, human standpoint that holds grievances for wrong doing and that shows love only to the lovable. But Jesus demonstrated the very opposite in his life. His whole mission was to minister to the worst of society, to seek and save the lost of humanity.

And when I look at bin Laden or myself, what it all boils down to is that we are both sinners in need of a Savior. I am thankful that God is willing to stoop down to wash the feet of the worst of the worst. That's the type of God I serve!

Hurricane Force Winds...

Headline News...

Storm Day in BC
"The BC coast will be battered with strong winds and heavy rain for most of today. Wind and rainfall warnings are in effect for large areas of the BC coast. Winds are expected to be from 70-90 km/h with up to 105 mm of rain forecasted for some areas."

This was the weather forecast for the events we experienced yesterday. And it was an accurate prediction. I don't recall ever being in a wind storm as bad as the one that hit here Sunday night/early Monday morning. Here is what happened.

Sunday night we arrived late back at school returning from our senior outing to Radiant Living in Vancouver. It was cold and slightly windy, but nothing serious. I went out to feed Shanuk and thought that I would bring her inside with me just so I could spend some time with her without having to stay in the cold. (I don't usually bring her inside except when the temperatures are extremely low or she is barking at the bears and keeping me awake.) As nightfall came, the winds started to pick up and Shanuk started to get really nervous. Because I have a corner bedroom, the wind rips around the outside corner and makes horrible groans and screeches. Shanuk didn't like it at all. Several times I thought she wanted to go back outside, but whenever I opened the front door and she saw how terrible the wind was outside, she would run back in. So I just let her spend the night with me.

It was an absolutely restless night. Shanuk kept pacing around and several times throughout the night, I tried to let her go outside, but she wouldn't. I don't think I have every heard the wind like it was that night. It almost sounded like the house was going to blow away. A loose board on the outside paneling right next to my bed kept clapping at the house. The wind blowing around the outside corner shrieked and hollered. It was horrific sounding. It lasted all night.

The next morning, I finally convinced Shanuk it was time to go outside so that I could get ready for class. I stepped outside and looked over toward her doghouse just to realize there was no longer any doghouse there. Instead it had been thrown a hundred some feet into the orchard. Don't ask me how considering that doghouse is extremely heavy (it took three of us to lift it onto a truck bed to haul it away) and there was a full bucket of water in it that made it heavy too. (I am really grateful it blew in the direction it went because my car is always parked right in front of the doghouse. If it had blown the other direction, my car would have been majorly damaged.)



Anyway, I cringe to think what would have happened to Shanuk if she would have been in the house. Since she is tied to a rope, she probably would have been strangled to death had she been thrown with the house. In addition, it would have just traumatized her to wind even more than she already is. (When she was a puppy, a tornado threw her about 100 yards against a tree while she was in her house). I am just so thankful I felt impressed to bring her inside and that she refused to go back out throughout the night.

So now she is staying in my room until I can get her house fixed. I spent nearly three hours yesterday working with the principal's son trying to get it all put back together. It was so torn up from the wind, we had to take it completely apart and start from the foundation up.


In addition to trees down on campus, one of the roofs on a staff house was raised two feet, then moved back one foot and dropped back down on the house. The ceiling collapsed in part of the house. Amazingly, the couple had just been in that room and felt impressed to move right before it collapsed.

All I can say is that God is good and he cares for those who love him. May we always be thankful for his watch care in our lives.

On a silver platter...

What can I say? I just love my students! Especially when they come up with such creative ideas as the one that greeted me as I walked out of the café the other day. You see, my Bible 11 class has been working on a very large project where they are researching the events outlined in Daniel 2 from a purely historical viewpoint. I divided the class into the five different groups (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Pagan Rome, and Papal Rome) and had them see how history confirms the rise and fall of each of these world empires. My Grecian team was running into a fair bit of problems and begged for an extension in the due date of their project. Of course, being a softy to earnest pleas, I gave them an extension.

As I walked out of the café earlier this week, these four students met me in the doorway with their assignment. And I must say I have never had an assignment presented to me in that fashion. I laughed so hard! Here is how it came…






Yes, on a silver platter with rose petals. They insisted they wanted to put chocolate on the platter as well but couldn’t find any. They wanted to make sure that I would still forgive them for turning it in late and hoped that their elaborate presentation of the late document would help soften my heart! Of course it worked (although I never intended on penalizing them since I gave them an extension anyway). But still, I thought it was the most clever way to present a late paper. Most of the students in the café were so confused about what was happening… except for a fellow teacher. He picked up on it right away, and mentioned to one of my students, “I gather that was a late assignment?”

So for future reference, if you ever want a late paper forgiven, just submit it on a silver platter with rose petals!

______________
Oh, btw...did you know that a 2000 Nissan Altima can hold 18 people? Well, tonight I hauled 18 girls at once from the cafe to the dorm... Don't ask how we did it! But we all made it in once piece safe and sound!

"If I were a guy, I'd marry after 30..."

These are the words of wisdom spoken by one of my 15-year old seniors. She has commented to me before that she is surprised that I am not married yet. She says she would think that I would have had many guys take an interest in me in the past and how have I just avoided getting married? I assured her I have never been desperate to get married and I enjoy waiting on God. Well this week, she announced to me that if she were a guy, she would most definitely wait until she was thirty to get married. Her rationale is that too many young guys are so desperate to get married that they just settle for anyone rather than being patient and waiting for the best. And then she said, "But then all the really nice quality girls are the older ones like you, Miss O. I think the guys should wait till they're 30 so they can get all the great girls like yourself." Well, Ellen, thanks for your words of encouragement! And so to all my single "older" friends, just remember that things get better with age!

My Season

Yes, for everyone that ever wanted to know, this is my season! That is, the one that follows summer and precedes winter...AUTUMN! And with that comes all the changing colors of the leaves. Here at Fountainview, we have orchards all over the property and the leaves have slowly been changing colors from greens to yellows to oranges to pinks to reds. It is beautiful! Several students and I were in the orchards yesterday getting some last snapshots before they turn brown. Here is just a small selection of the photos... (I thought I would include some of Autumn and Autumn ;)...)











It is amazing to me that many of us think fall is one of the prettiest seasons of the year. But after the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, that first fall was a devastating experience for Adam and Eve. Mrs White comments, "As Adam witnessed the first signs of decaying nature in the falling leaf and in the drooping flowers, he mourned more deeply than men now mourn over their dead. The drooping flowers were not so deep a cause of grief, because more tender and delicate; but the tall, noble, sturdy trees to cast off their leaves, to decay, presented before him the general dissolution of beautiful nature, which God had created for the special benefit of man." {SR 55.2} How is it that today we have come to think of it as such a beautiful time of year rather than a time of mourning. I can think of two things: 1) God brings beauty out of tragedy. Though it is a reminder of sin, God tries to still cover it with his grace and bring a beauty out of it instead. 2) Though it is the beginning of a bleak, barren, harsh, and long cold winter to come, the fall colors almost give us a foretaste and glimpse of the beauty that will come to the earth during the new birth of spring when God makes all things new again.

So in our own lives: when we are on the brink of a winter experience in our lives, he shows us two things: first, that He can bring beauty where their is pain and ugliness and second, He will takes us through that experience to enjoy the rebirth on the other side where he makes all things new. May you remember that this fall.

Show me a mission, then evidence

Today we had a very interesting discussion in Bible class. We have been studying through the defense of the Christian faith and have finally progressed from the defense of God and the Bible to the defense of Jesus Christ. In class, we watched several news casts about Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda and his claim to be Jesus. This spurred an excellent discussion in class about the students' reactions to his claim. After analyzing different things he said that completely contradict what we know in the Bible, several students mentioned something very interesting. When the interviewer asked Miranda why he thinks he was chosen to be Jesus on earth, he says he doesn't know. The students commented that he seems to have no purpose, no mission, no goals. In fact, he doesn't even know why he is Jesus. We compared this with Jesus of Nazareth. He made it very clear from the very start of his ministry that he had a purpose, a mission, and a goal. He knew clearly why He was on this earth--to seek and save the lost. Everything in his ministry to others was with that mission in mind. He had focus and direction.

We then discussed that this man showed no evidence of his being Jesus. The interviewer asked him if he could perform miracles, walk on water, etc. He responded, "Not exactly." This launched us into a discussion of the role of evidence in proving a claim. One student said that if he didn't perform miracles then that proved that he wasn't from God. So I countered that with, "Then if he could do miracles, does that prove that He is divine? What about all the faith healers that perform all those so called 'miracles'? Just because they can do these things, does that prove that they are from God?" Of course they said no. So then I asked them where does "evidence" come into play and how can we know when that evidence confirms the divinity of the individual.

This led us to look to Jesus' example in how he used evidence in his ministry to prove his divine nature. We looked at Jesus standing before Herod. Mrs. White states that Herod was anxious to see Christ "prove His claims by working a miracle." While Jesus had done this on many other occasions, he refused to do it now. Herod insisted, "If Thou canst work miracles for others, work them now for Thine own good, and it will serve Thee a good purpose. Again he commanded, Show us a sign that Thou hast the power with which rumor hath accredited Thee. But Christ was as one who heard and saw not.... Herod promised that if Christ would perform some miracle in his presence, He should be released...." DA 729-730.

So here we see that Jesus refused to heal because it would only satisfy idle curiosity. In addition, it would prevent Him from fulfilling his mission to seek and save the lost because Herod would have released Him. Thus, any type of evidence shown would have gone against Christ's purpose--so he refused to do it.

Then we looked at the story of the man sick with the palsy in Matt. 9. I asked the class if Jesus' main goal was to heal the man physically or spiritually. Of course it was spiritually. So instead of healing the man, Jesus forgave his sins. But when the Pharisees cried blasphemy, Jesus knew he needed to give some evidence that he could indeed forgive. So he told them, "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." Notice why Jesus gave evidence in this circumstance and not in the one with Herod. Jesus had to emphasize his mission as one who could forgive sin. But since nobody can see whether sins are actually forgiven, Jesus then gave them proof that they could see--a healing miracle. We see this occurring over and over in Jesus' ministry: the evidence was always for one reason alone--to prove his mission, his goal, his purpose.

So that leads us back to the role of evidence. Evidence is never just for the sake of evidence--it is to prove mission. When you look at these faith healers, one must ask themselves "what is the mission? and how does this 'evidence' concur with the mission." The fact is that these healings seem to be for the sake of healings alone--not for the sake of the gospel message in healing the soul of sin.

So our class discussion concluded with one main idea that distinguishes Christ from all other so called 'Christs' and faith healers. He had a very clear-cut mission and purpose. And any evidence that he ever gave was only for the sake of proving that he could fulfill that mission.

Mrs. White sums it up beautifully in one final statement about Christ before Herod: "The mission of Christ in this world was not to gratify idle curiosity. He came to heal the brokenhearted. Could He have spoken any word to heal the bruises of sin-sick souls, He would not have kept silent. But He had no words for those who would but trample the truth under their unholy feet." DA 730

For myself, I am thankful that in the life of Jesus physical evidence was provided that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus could and did fulfill the mission that all this evidence pointed to--that He indeed can save and forgive my sin!