Garage Sale Grace by Tami Cinquemani

I just spent the last week with my daughter and her new husband. While I was there, they had a “Newlywed” Garage Sale. Their intent was to clear out everything they no longer wanted or had need for, so their prices were extremely low. Even though this was the case, as is normal with garage “salers”, there was still some haggling that took place.

There are really two different types of “hagglers”. For the first type, the price will just never be low enough. It doesn’t matter if you’re asking ten cents for a brand new iPod Touch, this person would insist there was something wrong with the item and tell you it really wasn’t worth more than five cents. After landing the deal they hoped, they leave feeling quite triumphant – unconcerned by the fact that they took advantage of someone who paid dearly for the item they so proudly now own.

The other type finds an item they desperately want but realizes they just don’t have what is needed to pay the price. Regardless of how cheaply the item may appear to be priced, it’s completely out of their range. It’s situations like these that I find the most rewarding when having a garage sale. The look on someone’s face when you say, “Why don’t you just go ahead and take it. The item is yours – free of charge,” is worth every penny you might have made on the sale. That person leaves with joy, and an instant relationship has been made.

Isaiah 55:1 says, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” The grace and salvation that God offers us is something we could never afford. It is a gift.

For some, this gift is received with arrogance. They haggle a “price” in their head that they’re content with – something they feel they have offered that “landed the deal” – good Christian performance, faithful tithe, etc. The realization of the price that was originally paid for the gift is irrelevant.

And then there are those who come broken, poor, and in full awareness of their pitiful condition. They understand that they are undeserving, and the magnitude of the gift is beyond imagination. Then Jesus offers them what they most desperately need and want as a free gift. They are filled with joy, and a relationship has begun.

Tami Cinquemani

The Importance of the Process by Chad Hess

When I was in high school, one of my friends who had been home-schooled the year before, had the Solutions Manual for Algebra 2. The Solutions Manual didn't just give the correct answer, it showed all the work and how to get that answer. This is very important in math because all math teachers want to know how you got the answer, not just what the answer is. When I had questions, I would ask him for help, and if he couldn't figure out the problem, he would look in the manual. Such a valuable book also had great potential for evil. My friend's roommate stole the book and used it to cheat in the class. He didn't care about understanding the process of how to solve the problem; he only wanted the answer.

I have wished many times for a Solutions Manual for theological questions. A book that would tell me how to solve the problem and provide the right answer. But I understand how such a book could easily be abused and actually prevent people from really knowing God.

Just like in math, the process of solving a theological issue is just as important as the answer (sometimes it's even more important than the answer). A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook, "To most Christians, the Bible is like a software license. Nobody actually reads it. They just scroll to the bottom and click 'I agree'." The problem is that this approach completely misses the point of the Bible: God. God is found in the process even more than in the solution. It is in the process that we really understand the complexity and depth of God. The process is how God changes our hearts, not just our beliefs. It's how we understand who God is.

Chad Hess

Religious Liberty for All? by Andy McDonald

With President Obama’s strong statement in support of the followers of Islam’s right to build a Mosque in New York near the site of the fallen twin towers, the issue is more in the news than ever. At the heart of the question is one of the treasured values of our United States of America, the very first amendment to our constitution:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

With all the rhetoric and fear mongering, it seems many no longer support this valuable and national strength-building piece of our constitution. It sounds like some, even Christians, wish for it to call for religious freedom unless you are Muslim. The early leaders of our “free” nation were all too familiar with state churches and the mandating of some religious test for holding office. In this new land of freedom, Jefferson was particularly interested in both “freedom of and freedom from religion!”

It is good that our nation never adopted a “state church” and instead has been a place where religious freedom was highly valued. Sure, there are religions and sects and spiritual teachings we may think we would be better off without, but our stance has been that religion’s free exercise is between a believer and their “god” regardless of anyone’s opinion.

Mosque, temple or church, local authorities can make it as difficult as they choose to build and occupy a facility. But as long as the codes are followed, and as long as they are applied equally to all, freedom must be maintained.

Undoubtedly, many who support the Muslim’s right to religious freedom simply wish those of that faith who are involved in the building of the structure might be more sensitive to their chosen location in NYC considering it was extremists from the Muslim faith who were responsible for the 9/11 attack.

This all reminds me of Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous, "First they came ..."

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me

and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Seventh-day Adventists have a long track record of being major supporters of “religious liberty.” Our eschatology predicts a day when religious freedoms will be repudiated with a return to a religious-political rule. Speaking up now in support of the First Amendment may help us not repeat Niemöller’s experience. Freedom for all!

Andy McDonald

Chosen by Tami Cinquemani

I remember walking home from school when I was about 16 years old. I happened to be walking alone this day. A young man called to me from the other side of the street and asked for my assistance. He told me that he was joining a fraternity and, as an initiation ritual, he had to find someone to throw a pie in his face. He wanted me to cross the street and come into the alley where he was standing next to his car and help him out. I grew up in Chicago, and my parents “didn’t raise no dummy.” I picked up my pace and got out of there.

Looking back at that story now gives me chills. I wonder if another teen wasn’t quite so cautious. Not every tragedy made it into the nightly news back in the early Seventies, so I wouldn’t necessarily have known. I look back at that moment now, and I have no doubt that it was listening to a combination of my parent’s tutelage and the Holy Spirit’s guidance that kept me safe. I believe that even though I wasn’t a Christian at the time.

The truth is, even though I didn’t become a Christian until I was an adult, I am confident that God didn’t let that small detail prevent Him from loving me and communicating with me. How I reacted and what choices I make in my life have always been at my discretion, but I believe God has always been by my side.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:11: “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,” and in Romans 5:8: “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We are ALL His “Chosen”, and each one of us were in Christ’s mind’s eye as he hung on that cross.

We are surrounded by people of all faiths – and no faith. Good people and bad people. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists, etc. Sinners and . . . well, more sinners. God has chosen us ALL. This means that every human being has the SAME value and importance to God with each person having freedom to respond differently to God’s love, grace and offers of relationship. As difficult as it is for me to comprehend, that’s just as true for me as it is for the next teen to pass that alley, and even the young man standing next to the car.

Tami Cinquemani

Going Home by John Monday

I grew up in Cocoa, about fifty miles from where I now live in the Orlando area. It’s close enough to go to the beach or to visit friends, but too far to go all the time. Each time we visit, I notice that the sky is bluer, the air is clearer, and the living is easier than in Orlando. It’s an observation my wife, Vickie, has heard many times.

Last week our family went to the Keys with a group of my high school friends and their families. The first leg of the trip was to Cocoa from Orlando; then south on I-95 to Florida’s Turnpike. As we drove south past Ft Lauderdale, then Miami, I began my usual conversation with Vickie. This time, in addition to my usual observations, I told Vickie that the sky somehow even looked bigger.

After years of listening and smiling kindly, Vickie looked at me and said, “Do you think it might have something to do with the fact that you’re leaving work, responsibilities, and obligations behind?” Honestly, that had never occurred to me, but obviously she’s right.

Orlando’s a great place to live. I’ve got lots of good friends and a job I love. But to be relieved of responsibilities just gives you a different perspective. That’s what God wants for us.

If your relationship with God is full of obligation and measured by what you do or how you perform, you might want to reevaluate. If going to God feels like going to work, please rethink God.

But if going to God feels like going home to freedom, if it feels like going to the Keys with old friends under a bigger, bluer sky, then you’re getting a taste of the relationship God wants to have with you.

John Monday