A New Normal

May God bless you wherever you may be reading this. First, I want to thank God for inspiring me to give this past Sabbath’s message. I also want to thank the incredible pastoral staff at Meadow Glade Church for allowing the youth to be so involved.

This past Sabbath I spoke on Psalm 23 and how God calls us to walk through our valleys, not sit, but walk. This Biblical teaching brings to mind the story of the Israelites; they were a people who literally had to walk through a valley or a desert. Scripture tells us that the Israelites hated the desert so much that many of them would have preferred returning as slaves to Egypt than enduring the desert.

God gave the Israelites what they wanted: freedom. Why then were the Israelites now dissatisfied with their freedom and desiring their chains once again? I recall that some of the things I was praying for God to change in my life changed amidst the pandemic. God did what I asked Him to do, but then, I found myself missing the things that I asked Him to take away. The Israelites complained because it is truly hard being uncomfortable. It is truly hard being removed from what we are use to in our daily lives and being removed from our comforts.

I have found myself wishing that everything could just go back to normal. It is really easy to look back. However, as Christians, I think it is important that we should keep looking forward, not backward, to a new normal. Just like the Israelites, what lies ahead is better than what is behind us. There is a promised land ahead and the Good Shepherd walks with us along the way.

My prayer for all of us is that we may endure this desert, endure the discomfort, that we may keep walking, walking forward to a new normal.

—Josue Mendez

God of the Hard Things

Sometimes people say things they shouldn't, and that night, I thought he did. You and I don't say things like that. Our points are always on topic and meaningful, but other people do this all the time. I had somewhere I wanted to go with the group that evening, so when he made that comment that just seemed a little out of the blue, I snapped at him. One impatient heart and one quick, correcting remark, and we were "back on track."

I moved on.

But God didn't. Over the next few weeks the pressure grew like someone was slowly tightening a vice grip around my skull. I had behaved poorly and should make it right, but I really didn't want to. It was too hard. Eventually the pressure was too great, and so, with trembling, I went out into the yard, pulled out my phone, and dialed his number.

"Hello? Pastor Jonny here. I have something I need to tell you."

It was hard to get going, but once I started, it got a little better. I confessed what I did. I confessed where my heart had been. I confessed my disrespect, and how that wasn't the kind of pastor I wanted to be. When I said the words, "I'm sorry," it was like a pair of dark goggles was removed from my eyes, like someone lifted a backpack full of rocks from my shoulders. When he said, "I forgive you," it was icing on the cake. What came after the hard thing was worth the difficulty.

This is the Advent message. This is the Christian story.

The whole New Testament is a community's response to trauma followed by an unforeseen, unimaginable goodness. In Matthew 26:36-44, we see Jesus struggling with the hardest thing, the weight of human evil and the mission of the cross. It seems he wanted to "move on" like I did, but Jesus pushes through, and a few days later, after a painful trial and execution, Jesus resurrects and God is vindicated. God is only resurrected after the crucifixion. Without the hard thing, the wonderful relationship and hope we have would not be possible.

Right now, is a hard time for us, but let's remember our resurrecting God. Let's remember and put one foot in front of the other. Let's remember and show kindness to that parent, teacher, student, administrator, coworker, spouse, child, friend, boss. Let's remember and join that group (see below) or do those lunges (see below), and show our hope that, beyond this difficulty, the God of the resurrection has unforeseen and unimaginable goodness.

—Pastor Jonny

Second Coming

When I first became a Christian there was an urgency in my soul to tell the world about the coming of Christ. When I understood the prophecies, I became excited that I would soon see the One who had mended my soul. This past Sabbath I asked if I was the only one who had experienced this? Throughout the week, I have received many messages and emails with stories that testify of the transformational power of hope.

I was not the only one. Many of us, at one point, opened the Scriptures and felt the moving of the Spirit in our souls, the healing hand of Jesus, and the embrace of God. And with joy, we accepted the Gospel and rejoiced in the coming of our Lord.

But life happens. And the passion slowly fades. Not purposefully, or consciously … it just happens. No one makes a conscious choice to not admire and stand in awe of the beauty and mystery of a starry night. We just quickly run inside because we’ve seen starry skies countless times. We know it’s beautiful, and we do not expect anything new. The same happens to our faith. It’s the slow fade from exciting to mundane which is most dangerous. It is the wise who constantly pray for God to ever fill their souls with awe, wonder, and gratitude.

Ellen White said, “The promise of Christ’s second coming was ever to be kept fresh in the minds of His disciples.” (AA p.33) Paul desired the Thessalonian Christians to encourage each other with the hope of the coming of Jesus. I want to challenge you to take a moment and contemplate the coming of Jesus. It will be like medicine to the soul: to feel hope awaken once again deep within your soul.

Grace and Peace,

—Alex Portillo

More Like Jonah than Jesus

Last week, as Lauryl and I drove along a Georgia highway, we were able to listen to our Meadow Glade Sabbath School discussion lead by Shelly Opdycke, Shelly Williams, and Alex Browning. It was such a blessing to hear these ladies break down the book of Jonah in ways I had never thought of before.

As Alex read the last chapter of Jonah, these words really hit me as never before.

Jonah 4:1-2

'Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, “God! I knew it — when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready, at the drop of a hat, to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness!"'

Jonah had a unique view of God’s character (being in the belly of a whale will do that), but somehow he was unable or unwilling for that God to show up in Nineveh. We can speculate about his motivates for not wanting to go, but at the end of the day he didn’t want the God of mercy, he wanted the God of wrath and judgment.

Jonah may have been spat out of the great fish, but he really never left there. Even while he walked around the city of Nineveh, speaking God’s message, he was still running from God.

So he sat outside the city waiting, wanting destruction and chaos. His heart was set in one direction. What scares me is that after all Jonah had been through and after all that he had seen, he was still unable to allow God to be God.

When we look at the ministry of Jesus and His interactions with the religious leaders, I see shades of the spirit that was in Jonah. Many could not accept Jesus because He extended grace and mercy to those whom religion found unacceptable. The words leveled against Jesus should give us all pause - “He eats with sinners". Let that sink deep into our hearts today.

As Seventh-day Adventist Christ-followers where do we find ourselves? Are we more like Jonah than like Jesus? The question is simple and I hope it leads us to take an honest look at our calling to live-out and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

—Pastor Jackie

The Gift of Remembering

Part of the preparation for ordination in the Oregon Conference is something called "Theological Review." The ordination candidate writes a theological reflection on a distinct piece of Adventist theology, shares it with the ministerial department, and then sits with some ordained pastors in the conference who ask the candidate questions about their theological views and sense of calling. When I sat for mine, God did something really special.

The opening prompt was, "Tell us about your journey with God and how God has grown you."

I talked about my childhood, my ministry, my traumas, my scars, my successes, my learnings, and I shared about how God, through all these things, woke me up to my need for Him and how He meets that need. All of this filled me with a joy I did not have walking into the room. Remembering the ways God has acted in our lives actually changes us. Perhaps this is why the fourth commandment is set aside as a time to remember God as Creator (Exodus 20) and Savior (Deuteronomy 5).

I want to share remembering with you. Take a couple of minutes today and jot down the high points of your journey with God. How has God sustained you? How has God been a friend to you? How has God stirred you up to growth and action? Then shoot me a line about what happened to you as you practiced remembering. I'd love to hear your story.

—Pastor Jonny Moor

Bartimaeus & Paul

This past Sabbath we studied the difficult decision Bartimaeus had to make. Would he remain blind, but have guaranteed income as a beggar? Or receive his sight but lose his income? It was a lose-lose situation. Bartimaeus chose to receive his sight! Although his healing would bring new difficulties, for him it was worth it because at least he would see Jesus! (Luke 18:35-42)

Bartimaeus' story brings to mind a famous passage, Philippians 4:13. In context, Paul speaks about how his financial support had plummeted, which caused him much suffering. But through it all, he learned that “in whatever state I am, to be content” (v11). He finishes his thought by saying: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

But what are these “things” he can do? The context tells us: he is referring to suffering. He is saying, “In all situations, whether they are of need or plenty, I am physically able to get through them because Christ strengthens me.”

We often use this passage to encourage ourselves when we are not content, but this passage is ALL about contentment. It is about learning to be content with whatever we have, in whatever situation we find ourselves. It is about trusting that Christ is enough in our time of need and that He will strengthen us in order to weather the storms (Psalm 46:1).

In his healing, Bartimaeus embodies the true meaning of Philippians 4:13. We do not know what came next, but as we saw last Sabbath, it probably was not easy (“because the healing hurts more than the initial injury”). But we can be sure that with Paul, in his new difficulties, he said “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Although there may be new difficulties in our healing, Christ is with us, strengthening us all the way.

—Pastor Alex

Good Grace

Grace - this incredible gift from God. This abundance of forgiveness, love, acceptance, and joy all bundled into this one word. Sometimes I am afraid we use it solely to talk about forgiveness of sins. It is that, but oh, so much more. Grace is the good gifts of God poured out on us. Here are a few places that I have seen God's grace in our church and community just in the past few weeks.

1. A full pastoral complement! In my years as a pastor, filling the open positions on a staff takes months, at the least. Our process truly started in March, and by July we have two new, amazing pastors, making us a fully staffed church. This is absolutely God's grace at work.

2. Caring for others - I have heard story after story of this community finding ways to care for others. In this society that says "me first", I have seen God's grace through you all. Choosing to live by God's standards, instead of this worlds, is absolutely only possible through grace.

3. Finances - These are hard times. And yet, through these times, you have stepped up. Those who can, have reached out and offered to help those who are struggling. Those who have let us know that they're struggling, because of you, we can help. And, as we have let you know that we continue to be significantly behind in our overall church budget, you stepped up, and in June, for the first time this year, we made budget (even exceeded it by a small margin!) - something that doesn't always happen in summer months under normal conditions. Grace, grace and more grace. Thank you!

I could go on! Does acknowledging God's absolute grace mean these aren't hard times? Um, no. These are hard times. And, God's grace also means that we will continue to be cared about and loved through it all. I am so grateful.

—Jana Lee