Be Still Know Southern Adventist University
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BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS FROM Collegedale, Tennessee • 1.800.SOUTHERN • southern.edu SOUTHERN ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV). Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Editor BE STILL Janell Hullquist, ’05 Contributing Writer Laura Hörger, ’04 AND Layout Editor KNOW Ryan Pierce Please enjoy this collection of inspirational thoughts and beautiful nature representing Student Editorial Assistants Southern Adventist University and our THAT I AM Rachel Beaver, ’19 surroundings. May it bring you closer to our Trisney Bocala Savior as we await His soon return. Natalie Boonstra GOD Tierra Hayes Oksana Wetmore, ’18 Student Design Assistants Elena Anunciado, ’19 Caleb Cook, ’19 Alexandra Dye SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS FROM ©2020 Southern Adventist University SOUTHERN ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY 2 3 God speaks to His children in many ways. We read the biblical stories of God communicating audibly to Abraham, Elijah, Moses, and others, and if you’re anything like me, you feel a twinge of jealousy. We wish for the clarity of His words spoken directly to us. Yet God is not silent. His written Word, which is of inestimable worth, speaks across the centuries, as relevant today as when the verses were first penned. Additionally, as Martin Luther once said, “God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.” In crashing storms and silvery starlight, in the delicate honey bee and the playful river otter, God speaks. Nature is full of His handiwork, along with special messages that He intends for us. He also finds other ways to communicate, if we will only stop long enough to listen. In an increasingly hectic world, I challenge you to accept His call to “Be still, and know that I am God.” David Smith, president 4 5 HE SAYS, “BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD; I WILL BE EXALTED AMONG THE NATIONS, I WILL BE EXALTED IN THE EARTH.” THE LORD ALMIGHTY IS WITH US; THE GOD OF JACOB IS OUR FORTRESS. Psalm 46:10-11 6 7 ith large white blossoms resistant to most diseases and pests. As the size of dinner plates, an added bonus, its bark has been used Wthe magnificent southern as an herbal remedy for anxiety, asthma, magnolia tree is the unofficial symbol of malaria, and rheumatism. the South. Growing to a height of up to Another remedy for our fear and 80 feet with a branch spread of 40 feet, anxiety is the Bible. Sometimes it quietly its leaves are a deep glossy green and, whispers God’s love, while other times it like its blossoms, give off a citrusy scent practically shouts His fierce protection. when crushed. His Word gives us resilience in the face of For all its beauty, the southern this world’s danger and disease. magnolia is unexpectedly resilient. “Therefore put on the full armor of When hurricanes and other foul weather God, so that when the day of evil comes, pummel every building and living you may be able to stand your ground, thing in their paths, the magnolia has a and after you have done everything, to significantly low rate of damage. It is also stand” (Ephesians 6:13). 8 9 Connecting With Purpose By Natalia López-Thismón, assistant professor, School of Journalism and Communication ince I am the classic example of a photos on my phone. I love connecting “people person,” I always accept with kids because God speaks through Sopportunities to connect with others their honesty, sincerity, and kindness. and be a part of their lives, even for just a I saw this especially through Mateo, a moment. In March, I had the opportunity little boy about 8 years old, whom I met to travel to El Salvador as a sponsor on at the Vacation Bible School program a Southern mission trip as we partnered we held at the local Seventh-day with Adventist Development and Relief Adventist church. Agency. Being the only fluent Spanish We enjoyed singing together about and English speaker on that trip, I took Jesus, and he loved listening to the story on the role of translator for our group. of David and Goliath. On the last day Our team of 17 Southern employees of VBS, Mateo bounced up and asked, and students served with a pop-up medical “Same time tomorrow?” Telling him that clinic, where we saw more than 500 it was our last day was heartbreaking, but patients in just one week. It was fulfilling knowing that we had planted a desire to be able to connect with so many people for him to continue learning about Jesus and help them voice their ailments to the filled me with joy. students and doctor who provided them God used my longing for human with medical care. connection and spoke to me through In all my travels, I have learned that the children. He reminded me to have a kids are kids, all over the world. My time heart of simplicity and to come to Him in El Salvador reminded me of this, as as a child, open to learning and ready to children crowded around me to look at receive His love. 10 11 SPLENDOR AND MAJESTY ARE BEFORE HIM; STRENGTH AND JOY ARE IN HIS DWELLING PLACE. 1 Chronicles 16:27 12 13 n a world of “now,” of instant 24/7 delivers a swift, fatal blow with its bill. everything, there is hardly a want Now more than ever in this fast- Ithat cannot immediately be met. paced life, practicing patience is Great blue herons, however, are not important. Parents spend countless part of the on-demand crush. They have moments coaching their children to wait no meal delivery program to sign up for instead of screaming “Now! Now! Now!” in exchange for $59.99. Instead, the God also coaches us—His children—to long-legged bird waits oh-so-patiently, wait: “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious carefully stalking its prey in the shallow to you; therefore He will rise up to show water. When a frog, fish, or other you compassion. For the Lord is a God potential meal makes a miscalculation, of justice. Blessed are all who wait for the heron’s patience is rewarded as it Him!” (Isaiah 30:18). 14 15 BUT ASK THE ANIMALS, AND THEY WILL TEACH YOU, OR THE BIRDS IN THE SKY, AND THEY WILL TELL YOU; OR SPEAK TO THE EARTH, AND IT WILL TEACH YOU, OR LET THE FISH IN THE SEA INFORM YOU. WHICH OF ALL THESE DOES NOT KNOW THAT THE HAND OF THE LORD HAS DONE THIS? IN HIS HAND IS THE LIFE OF EVERY CREATURE AND THE BREATH OF ALL MANKIND. Job 12:7-10 16 17 I Will Praise You in This Storm By Rachel Beaver, 2019 public relations graduate t was the end of the second week of off, leaving me to fend for myself. later, the downpour returned. I said aloud, my summer internship in Charlotte, To keep myself awake, I listened to “Okay, okay, Lord, I get it!” and I turned INorth Carolina, and after finishing an audio book, but I was so afraid, and it the book off. Almost as soon as I did, the work at 6 p.m., I began a long five-and- was so difficult to see, that I finally turned rain stopped again. I spent the last three a-half-hour drive home to Tennessee for it off and found myself singing the song hours of the drive home just talking to the weekend. “Praise You in This Storm” by Casting God. I spoke to Him and He spoke to me, The trip back and forth to Charlotte Crowns. After that song, I sang another and we just spent time together. through the mountains is usually and another, with prayers in between I truly believe that God has a sense of incredibly beautiful, but not that night. songs. I did this for a while, and it wasn’t humor sometimes. In quieting the storm, That night, the mountains were covered long until the rain began to calm and I He got my full attention and wanted me in a torrential downpour that had me could see again. to know that this was His time. He also driving completely blind. The backroads I thanked the Lord for clearing the wanted me to know that even through were narrow, curvy, and pitch black with rain and continued on. After a few my fear, He is greater than any storm I all the rain. All I could do was drive minutes, my exhaustion caught up to might face in my life. He will always be slowly and watch the lights on the car in me again, and I decided to turn on my there to clear the way and help me find front of me, but they eventually turned entertainment again. Not even a minute my way home. 18 19 I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small; Jesus Paid Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.” It All Refrain: Jesus paid it all, Seventh-day Adventist All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain; Hymnal, #184 He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power, and Thine alone, Can change the leper’s spots And melt the heart of stone. And when before the throne I stand in Him complete, I’ll lay my trophies down, All down at Jesus’ feet.