Seasons

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”  Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT

Our lives naturally run in seasons.  We see the variations that take place in weather cycles, and we experience the changes the years bring as we age. 

The Florida Hospital Church is taking an opportunity to enjoy a season of rest from our blog activity.  There are several reasons for this, and we wanted those of you who are regular and faithful readers to know this is being done with intentionality rather than disinterest.

Our first FHC blog was posted in 2009, and with few exceptions, we have posted a new essay every week.  We encourage you to look back over the past years’ offerings for words of inspiration and insight into how God seeks a relationship with us in our daily lives.

We’d also love to hear from you during this time.  Tell us what you liked about the FHC blogs or what you found frustrating.  As we consider future plans, we’d like to know why you read the blog or possibly why others may not have.  What topics most piqued your interest, and what issues fell flat?

Thank you for traveling with us on this journey.

Blessings,

The Florida Hospital Church Blog Staff

Please direct comments to tami@hospitalchurch.org

 Photo credit:  http://nalmes.deviantart.com/art/four-seasons-149221264

Should Some Things Change?

Increasing numbers of the members of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination are coming to understand the perils of our traditional governance structure.  The 19^th century model for managing our denomination has no chance of sustaining our global network. What got us to where we are today is not what will move us to where God intends for us to be in the future.  For too many decades we have treaded water with some kind of wishful thinking that everything will self sort because it is God’s work.

Our God is the creative God who has endowed his creation, humans, with the power to think and innovate, to will and to do. He not only equipped us with these gifts but he placed responsibility on us initially to have dominion and to rule. When here in person he commissioned us with a mandate that is a moral imperative to—go—make disciples—baptize them—and teach those disciples to observe all of what he commanded.

While obedience to this commission has been given voice, and even action in our denomination, today, in a 21^st century world, the system of governance meant to expedite the gospel commission is hampering mission fulfillment, and is at risk of killing it altogether.  The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s utilization of resources in today’s world is immoral if the gospel commission is a moral imperative.

The following data was gathered from the 2013 Annual Statistical Report, which was reporting the statistics as of Dec 31, 2011, prepared by General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research.  According to their global data there are 26,859 “Evangelistic and Pastoral Employees” and 27,788 “Administrative, Promotional, Office and Miscellaneous Employees”.   These are Full Time Equivalent employees. 

There is the ever continuing call from denominational leadership for greater financial faithfulness from the membership as the primary answer to church economics. There is no doubt that across our denomination members should continually be challenged to honor God with their money.  Also, there is little doubt that almost all of us could be more generous.

But with that said, a system that has a bureaucratic structure with these office to field ratios is not only unsustainable but should be unsustainable.  It would be unimaginable to visit any business anywhere in the world and have a manager standing behind every online worker.

A simple, and I realize it isn’t so simple, change of those ratios could serve as a means for becoming more faithful stewards of the resources we manage on God’s behalf.

Consider the possibilities based on the following assumptions:

• ·      An annual average cost of $50,000 per FTE
• ·      Office to field ratios shift from approximately 1:1 to 1:10
• ·      Give each office FTE 2 FTE assistants
• ·      New office to field is then  3:10

This would mean an annual savings of  $941,750,000.00!

If we only gave each office FTE 1 full time assistant the savings jump to  $1,090,950,000.00 in annual savings!!  Yes, that is one billion! And remember this isn’t a one time savings but an annual opportunity for reinvestment in fulfilling the Great Commission.

The amazing miracle of God’s blessing is that even with our current supervision ratios we are still managing to grow and somewhat maintain the denomination. But the clock is ticking!

May God inspire, give vision and courage that we might be faithful in making the tough decisions necessary now to be able to look back from a future vantage point and know that God’s work is stronger, healthier, and more just because we did the hard work necessary to be a God honoring Seventh-day Adventist Denomination.

Andy McDonald

Makeovers

The Today Show chooses a somewhat ordinary-looking woman who is sent off to another room and, a little later on the same two-hour show, is brought back with a whole new look: hairdo, makeup, clothes, and accessories.

Time magazine features an article describing the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It tells the story of Alive Harris of South Central Los Angeles.  She still remembers the day the good people from ABC volunteered to demolish her house.  In 2003, a flood had left the uninsured community activist and her family living in just one bedroom of their destroyed home.  Worst of all, the waters had ruined a stash of Christmas toys Harris had collected for underprivileged children.  Harris said, “I figured no one was going to come to Watts and help us.  No one had ever done that.”  But Extreme Makeover: Home Edition found her.  Its bullhorn-wielding host, Ty Pennington, shipped Harris and her family off for a week’s vacation in Carlsbad, California, while over 100 workers and neighbors tore their home down to the foundation and built a brand new and bigger one.  They replaced the Christmas toys and donated appliances, mattresses, and landscaping to her flood-stricken neighbors.  They even threw in a basketball court for the neighborhood kids.  Now that’s an extreme makeover.

So what does all this have to do with New Years?  Simply this—all of these extreme makeovers have something in common: an outsider comes in with a one-two-three program.  First, the outsider sees the possibilities the recipient couldn’t see.  Second, the outsider does what the recipient couldn’t possibly do. Third, the outsider pays for what the recipient could never afford to pay.

As you face 2015, remember that there’s an amazing God who is in the makeover business.  He’s in the business of transforming your life and mine.  He has a similar three-step program.  

One: He sees possibilities in you and me that we’re not apt to see in ourselves. 
Two: He is able to do for you and me what we simply cannot do for ourselves.  
Three: He’s able to pay the price for what He does.  We can’t afford the price so He paid it for us.  

However, God’s makeover is slightly different in one area.  The reality show makeover is an external job; God’s is an internal job.  He makes you and me a new person from the inside out.

As you face a new year, please, let Him do His work.  He’s really, really good at it.

Bill Crofton

The Gift of Receiving

I recently heard a story about a missionary who was working in a farming community of a very economically depressed country.  One day, one of the local men the missionary had gotten to know asked if he had a farm back at home.  The missionary lived in a large city and replied that he did not have a farm and then thought no more about it.  Several days later when the missionary was getting ready to return home, this man came to him and, with very sincere concern, told him that he and his wife decided to give the missionary some of their land since, because he had no farm where he lived, he was obviously in greater need than they were. 

As poor as this family was, their priority was to give of what little they had.  It would have been an understandable response for the missionary to refuse the gift, to assure the man that he had no need of the land.  After all, the missionary’s purpose was to give, not to receive.  Fortunately, the missionary understood the value for this couple in being able to give as well as receive.  His response was to thank this man for his generosity and accept the gift.  Wisely, before the missionary got on the plane to return home, he requested that the man and his wife do him a great favor and care for “his land” as their own since he would not be able to do it himself.

How comfortable are you with receiving?  I can only speak for myself, but I don’t do it very well.  Whether it’s a compliment offered after a project I’ve completed or a birthday gift given to me by one of my children, I tend to deflect.  “No, it was really nothing.”  “Seriously, you guys shouldn’t have done that.” 

As a Christian, I believe giving is a part of who I am called to be.  However, I think the unintentional message I may send when I don’t receive well is that those extending their kind words or gracious gifts actually don’t have anything of value to give me.  And that’s the furthest thing from the truth. 

The Christmas season is a time of gift giving, but it’s also a time of gift receiving.  God is the greatest Gift Giver, and the only appropriate response for the gift of Jesus is a humble, “Thank you!”  Maybe these are the only words needed as we learn to acknowledge the great need we have for each other as well.

Tami Cinquemani

Looking for Thomas Kinkade

I've always enjoyed the paintings of Thomas Kinkade.  Also called the Painter of Light, Kinkade is known for glowing warm light and idyllic picturesque settings.  Many of his paintings evoke in me a sense of cozy warmth and love, with family members gathered around a warm fire while the snow falls outside.  It’s an ideal Christmas setting, and one for which I find myself wishing at times.  

And yet, every year at Christmas, the reality is quite different.  Schedules are hectic, stores are crowded, and money is tight.  Family get-togethers are often busy and over too soon.  Even the music that I love so much can start to get old.

But before you label me a Scrooge, please understand that Christmas is actually my favorite time of the year.  I love the picturesque images from Thomas Kinkade and Norman Rockwell not because they are real, but because they are a glimpse of the ideal.  At Christmastime you can see acts of kindness towards strangers, gifts of love to family, and simple joy and wonderment in the eyes of a child.  You may have to look past the selfishness and greed that are also prevalent at this time of year, but it is there. 

Glimpses of divinity in the midst of human brokenness; a fitting description of what happened on the first Christmas 2000 years ago.

Chad Hess

Water - God's Signature

Great artists are usually associated to specific characteristics found in their masterpieces. These characteristics are used to distinguish them and associate the piece to the artist. For example, the structure of Michelangelo’s Pietà is pyramidal and the vertex coincides with Mary's head, sharing certain similarities with his Madonna and Child, which was completed shortly after. The long, oval face of Mary is a reminiscent of the Pietà. Mozart’s music is a wonderful representation of the Classical style; however, clarity, balance, and transparency are very specific characteristics of his work.

Interestingly enough, the same trend is also seen in science. The uniqueness of certain organisms are only found in specific species,  For example, the botulinum toxin, which is the most acutely lethal toxin known to man, is only produced by one species of the genus Clostridium, the Clostridium botulinum. Many people may not recognize that name at first, but mostly everyone has heard about Botox, which is a commercial product that contains the toxin in minute concentrations used as a wrinkle reducer.

Looking deeper into science, which by the way is my favorite subject, we can find the signature of the Creator everywhere in His creation; we just have to look for it! Let me open a little parenthesis here.  Being a scientist, I cannot (and emphasize the CANNOT) understand why scientists around the world and across generations do not believe in our Creator God or lose their faith, many times claiming that they could not find enough scientific evidence of His existence. On the contrary, the more I study science and living beings (from microorganisms to humans), the more I find God in His creation.

Water . . . so many people underestimate this simple substance. Water is composed of two molecules of Hydrogen and one molecule of Oxygen.  Very simple, right? Well, not really. As with the simplicity of Mozart’s work, we may underestimate the exceptional power of His finest masterpieces with simplistic notions of its delicacy. Water is so important that Jesus compared Himself to it (John 4:10-13, NIV), and He also said “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:5) The word “water” is mentioned more than 700 times in the Bible. The first mention of water in Scripture is found in Genesis 1:2 and the last in Revelation 22:17. In between those two books, water flows right through the pages of Scripture. Amazingly, there is no specific mention of when the water was created.  Water was there with God even before light was created. Genesis 1:1-2 (emphasis added) says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

A little bit more science . . . everyone knows that our cells are made of about 80% water, but that does not happen only with human beings. Earth is about 80% water.  All living creatures have about the same percentage of water, from a single cell bacterium to a complex body of a mammal. Therefore, we are basically water! Before creating the world, God was hovering over the waters, and after creating everything He still hovering over the waters. Just imagine the intimate relationship each creature can have with the Creator if we allow Him to hover over each cell of our bodies.

When God designed the living beings, including us, He placed His little signature, water. The composition of our body is so perfect that, by being made of water, we do not boil (literally) under the climatic conditions we have.  Animals can live under frozen lakes, rivers, or oceans because the water does not freeze completely (with few exceptions). In a frozen lake, the water below the frozen surface is always 4°C (39.2°F), which is suitable for life. In contrast, it is plausible to assume that the absence of water is, therefore, absence of life. There is a continuing debate in science about viruses; some scientists believe that they are living creatures and some do not. Personally, I believe that viruses distort the definition of life. Viruses lack most of the internal structure and machinery of cells, which characterize 'life', including the biosynthetic machinery that is necessary for reproduction and metabolism. In addition to all that, they lack water in their composition.

We also use the properties of water to teach children about the Trinity. Just like God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the same molecule of water can exist in three forms. We can get a little more technical and say that, as the Trinity, water can be three in one at the same time, and this is called the triple point of water. In thermodynamics, the triple point of a substance is the temperature and pressure at which the three phases (gas, liquid, and solid) of that substance coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium. The single combination of pressure and temperature at which liquid water, solid ice, and water vapor can coexist in a stable equilibrium occurs at exactly 273.16 K (0.01 °C) and a partial vapor pressure of 611.73 Pascal. We may have gotten too technical here, but all of that tells us that, if water can coexist in three different forms in equilibrium, why can’t God?

God uses simple things to show us that He is always present and that we can find Him in all creation because He was the One that designed everything. He is not an “unknown” artist. He wants us to know Him and understand Him through His marvelous masterpiece.

Fernanda Santos

PhD and Member of FHC