Archive for July, 2010
Pepperdine
Sandy’s life, and consequently mine as well, would have been very different had she kept her interview with Pepperdine University. It was 1997 and after four promising years of undergraduate studies, she suddenly found herself lost and unsure of her future…
Sandy was uncertain of which career path to take when she enrolled at Defiance College in the fall of 1993. She wanted a profession in which she could help others while at the same time earn a lot of money. She was considering the medical field until she sat through a required career survey class that first semester which happened to be taught by the main psychology professor at Defiance. She was really impressed by his insight and enjoyed how he turned teaching into a performing art. At the end of her freshman year she declared herself a psychology major.
The same professor who sparked her interest in psychology would soon become her mentor. She had most of her psychology classes with him and she was his student assistant for three years. He became the most positive influence in her life to that point. He had studied abroad and recommended Sandy apply to graduate schools somewhere other than her home state for the experience. One of the universities she applied to was Pepperdine in Malibu, California for a PhD in clinical psychology. The application process was very intensive and they were selective in extending invitations to prospective graduate students. After the formality of the interview process acceptance was highly likely. Within a week of Sandy receiving her invitation to be interviewed by Pepperdine the beginning of her last semester, her mentor abruptly left Defiance. She never learned the details of his withdrawal from the college but his departure was devastating to her.
Sandy had a few other teachers in her life that took interest in her as a person but her mentor invested himself in helping her grow in the field she thought would be her life’s work. To a person who never really had someone that seriously cared for her, his leaving the college shook the confidence he helped to build. She never replied to Pepperdine to schedule her interview and was unsure about the next step on her career path. She felt lost and was unclear about her future. Only having a bachelor’s degree in psychology greatly limits the job opportunities and she realized over the course of the next year that in order to have a satisfying career she needed to continue with her original goal of furthering her education. She had already been accepted to Eastern Kentucky University when she had applied to Pepperdine and since the reapplication process with them would keep her from enrolling for another year she decided to attend EKU. At this same time in her life she began searching for spiritual truth and through the providence of God she was invited to Grace Baptist Church in Middletown, Ohio where she heard the preaching of the gospel. Seven months later in the midst of her first year of graduate school she received Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour. At the end of that school year she left EKU to become a homemaker.
When we were in southern California this summer for meetings we spent a day in Santa Monica and visited Pepperdine University in Malibu after dinner. The campus is composed of classic Californian and Mediterranean architecture situated among several steep ridges that overlook the Pacific Ocean. It was the most beautiful setting of any college campus that Sandy or I had ever seen. Sandy would not exchange her life now for the career path she once worked so hard towards but standing in a place that could have very easily been a springboard for a completely different life was rather surreal. She could have received her PhD from a respected university on a stunning campus in one of her favorite parts of the country and had a distinguished career earning a six-figure salary. Ironically Sandy has since learned that Pepperdine University is religiously affiliated with the Churches of Christ, the religion she grew up in that taught a false plan of salvation in baptismal regeneration. Her life certainly would have been grander in material possessions and things of temporal value had she attended Pepperdine but in contrast her life spiritually would most likely have been wanting, and that with eternal consequences.
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” – Psalm 16:11
Life’s a Beach
Human nature is fascinated by the ocean. For some the ocean is an important part of their culture and is reflected in various myths and legends from around the world. Others make their living from the foods, medicines, and minerals that can be extracted from it or the goods that can be transported over it. In the first centuries of exploration and trade the ocean possessed an aura of mystery, adventure, and intrigue; it was a great barrier separating the familiar from exotic lands. Today nearly half of the world’s population lives near the ocean and it is a major recreational attraction.
The restless ocean stirs the imagination. The lapping of its waves against the shore is relaxing. Its beauty and power continue to be a source of awe. These are things that fascinate the curious stares of saved and lost men alike. Is it merely a coincidence that the antitype of the ocean in scripture elicits a similar response?
(For those not familiar with typology in scripture, “types” are spiritual “pictures” shown in the Bible that represent concepts or persons. The fulfillment of a type is referred to as its “antitype.” For example, the Passover lamb in scripture is the type of which Christ is the antitype.)
The ocean is a spiritual picture of death in scripture.
“When the waves of death compassed me” – 2 Samuel 22:5a
“Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up” – Psalm 69:15a
“I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.” – Jonah 2:2-3
Passing through water is featured prominently in many accounts of the transition between this world and the next. In Bunyan’s allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress a man named Christian seeks the celestial city of heaven. After many trials he arrives at the outskirts of the Celestial City but finds an unexpected barrier – the River of Death. Two Shining Men inform Christian and his companion Hopeful that they must pass through this river if they are to enter the City. The river, however, is not the same for every pilgrim. As the angel tells them, “you shall find it deeper or shallower, as you believe in the King of the place.” Hopeful’s crossing is easy, but Christian sinks into the waves until he bolsters himself with Hopeful’s counsel of taking comfort in his faith. Christian and Hopeful then emerge on the other bank of the River of Death and are admitted into the Celestial City.
Many view the journey across the “waters” like the lad in Bunyan’s allegory named Ignorance, who believes that he will be allowed into the Celestial City through his own good deeds rather than as a gift of God’s grace. After getting over the River of Death on the ferry boat of Vain Hope, Ignorance appears before the gates of the Celestial City without a “passport.” Without detailing more of the allegory, the passport obviously is faith in Christ alone and His work on the cross. Ignorance persisted in his own way that leads to his being cast into hell.
If I could add to the allegory there is another class of people who could be named Indifference. This great and wide “sea” remains a mystery to most of the human race. The realization that Jesus Christ is the only safe passage to the other side is lost upon them. Any contemplation of what lies beyond the “horizon” is quickly muted by the sights, sounds, and activities of life on the “beach.”
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee” – Isaiah 43:2
LEGOLAND
Isaiah has always been a builder. Sandy has been very conscientious in the education and development of our children and recognized early that he had a mind for putting things together. She had plenty of manipulatives (e.g. puzzles, stacking blocks, etc.) to help develop Isaiah’s fine motor skills in early childhood and so he naturally took to building various creations out of Legos. He will spend hours assembling hundreds of Lego pieces to make a helicopter or Star Wars space ship, etc. He hoped we would be able to visit LEGOLAND when we were in southern California for
meetings. Thanks to the generosity of Liberty Baptist Church in Las Vegas we were able to spend a day at the theme park in Carlsbad, CA. It was Isaiah’s favorite part of our trip out West.
The park is Lego themed with many of the rides appearing to be built out of Lego bricks. There is also a Lego miniland with model cities and landmarks from around the world made from millions of real Lego bricks that took dozens of workers hundreds of hours to build.
I was reminded of a builder in the Old Testament named Nehemiah. The restored Jewish remnant had been back in Judea over 90 years when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in 445 BC. The moral and spiritual conditions in Jerusalem had been drastically corrected by Ezra but when Nehemiah arrived the walls and gates of Jerusalem were still in ruins and the people were in great affliction and reproach. Nehemiah’s special objective was the rebuilding of the city walls.
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are closely connected. Both are in two main parts. In the first part of the Book of Ezra, under the leadership of Zerubbabel, we are concerned with the rebuilding of the Temple. In the second part, under the leadership of Ezra, we are concerned with the restoring of worship. Similarly Nehemiah is in two main parts. In the first part we are occupied with the reconstructing of the walls. In the second part we are occupied with the reinstructing of the people. Ezra is the book of restoration. Nehemiah is the book of reconstruction. Ezra is a book about communion with God. Nehemiah is a book about a wall of separation from the world.
The spiritual message of this great builder Nehemiah was concisely exposited by J. Sidlow Baxter as he wrote in Explore the Book, “There is no winning without working and warring. There is no opportunity without opposition. There is no ‘open door’ set before us without there being many ‘adversaries’ to obstruct our entering it. Whenever the saints say, ‘let us arise and build,’ the enemy says ‘Let us arise and oppose.’ There is no triumph without trouble. There is no victory without vigilance. There is a cross in the way to ever crown that is worth wearing.”
I pray our “little builder” will be like this godly hero of old and be resolute in his service to God and resistant to compromise and spiritual laxity.
“Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.” – Nehemiah 2:18