CONNECTED Adventist

We're starting to Google EVERYTHING. Symptoms, people, factchecking, science and everything else that we need to get answers about! But that scares me! What if Google gets it wrong? We seem to be blindly making Google the Canon- for life and faith. So what's the alternative? I know what's worked for me, and I'm very confident it will be helpful to you. But to be honest, I'm still googling a lot of things, because I don't know a lot about a lot of things, I just don't Google things relating to my faith.

The second coming can be super abstract to some, and even a little fictional to others. As Christians, we live our lives holding on to this day, when everything will come together and finally, we'll go to heaven and live in a perfect world. All our hopes will be fulfilled. And all our struggles will disappear and it will 'all be worth it'. But one thing that was made very clear to me this morning, was that the presence of God's glory at the second coming will be revealed to us in a way that we've never experienced before. It will bring an overwhelming feeling of excitement, joy and to some of us, the second coming will give us a much needed sense of peace and relief knowing that all suffering is finished and that God- remained true to His promises. This point about God's glory and the overwhelming sense awe at seeing our Saviour, was revealed to me after I watched Aus Table Talk's latest video, yep I know- random, but you have to listen to the episode for it to all make sense, i hope!

Spiders shed their exoskeleton in oder to grow! I know, some fo you didn't know that, neither did I until last night. An encounter with a spider last night gave me some solemn thoughts about growth. Its hard work, its painful (I didn't ask the spider but it looked like it was in pain lol), its draining and it makes us extremely vulnerable to predators. Personal growth is the same. It's not an easy stage of existence, but it's crucial nonetheless

Our physical appearance can impact much of what we believe about ourselves. The hard thing is though, that what others think about us can become what we believe about ourselves. Society, media and our peer groups can determine whether we value and accept our appearance or whether we criticise our appearance and live life trying to change how we look. Some of us carry the scars of childhood teasing, bullying and discontentment all the way into adulthood, without finding any more acceptance for who we are outwardly than when we were a child.

Everyone knows what a fairytale ending is like, the main characters run away and get married, the evil villain dies or goes to prison for the rest of their life, the sick person gets better and those who were lost are found and reunited with their loved ones. Why does humanity long for happy endings? And more importantly, is that the only reason that Christianity is so popular? Do Christians base their life on a fictional story that has no truth in it but simply makes them 'feel good' about life?

STOP telling people to be vegetarian! Ok, I prayed for gentleness and tactfulness with this episode lol The health message is so much more than eliminating meat from the diet. Yet, it seems that's all most non-SDA people associate with Adventism- second to the sabbath. What if people thought 'Oh, Adventist, they're so fit!' or 'Adventists, have such a great work-life balance' or even better 'Adventists reflect God's goodness and seem to have mastered wholistic health'. We could be known for so much more than just vegetarianism and keeping the sabbath.

There's two kind of the drivers, the ones that overtake a slow vehicles on the highway and those that patiently follow the slow drivers. Within Christianity we also see a distinction between those who 'make' God's will happen and those who patiently wait for God's will to come to fruition. Now, I'm not saying we should all sit at home on the couch waiting for things to 'happen' in our lives, but rather inviting us all to rest in God through the delays and the obstacles in our lives, while remaining faithful to what God placed on our hearts to do.

Competition is one of those aspects of life I don't like. I don't like seeing people lose and let's be honest, I don't think anyone likes or enjoys being the 'loser'. But competition can sometimes bring out the best in some people. Competition can give other competitors a much clearer awareness of the 'winner's' capabilities and as a result, competition can push people to their potential in a way that may have never happened if they were racing alone.

Gratitude is one of those habits we try and instil in our children at an early age. But as adults, life and unfilled expectations seems to make gratitude a habit that is harder to cultivate and maintain in our daily life. But I want to challenge the mainstream philosophy of "being thankful", by asking you to not just be thankful for things, situations and outcomes but rather, be thankful in spite of things, situations and outcomes. I believe that basing our daily gratitude on God and His goodness, will set a strong foundation for us to also be grateful for all the other things we count as worthy gratitude because in the absence of these things- God is still God.

Walking away isn't easy, whether it's walking away from a friendship, a family member, a relationship or your local church. Depending on our personal opinion, walking away can be seen a 'weakness' or avoidance. But making a choice to 'walk away' can often comes with high risks and great loss. Other people regard 'Sticking around' as a'weak' response to avoid offending or creating disruption. So, what are you going to do, leave or stay?