“Never” is an unbiblical word!  How is it an unbiblical word?

“Never is unbiblical for those who are followers of Christ when discussing future plans!

“Never” is a word one who follows Christ should never use when talking about the future.

I have learned this in my short 33 years. Let me share with you a few stories.

When I became a Christian, I said, “I will NEVER ask anyone to become an Adventist.” i.e. “I won’t be an Adventist preacher.” Here I am loving every day as a preacher within the Adventist denomination, and obviously I am okay with folk becoming Adventist.

Happy Sabbath everyone!

I came from a fairly functional family, my parents had their issues and fights, but in the big picture my home life was stable. I over the years have teased my parents about some of the problems I have had in my life, and implied that they were to blame, though never really were. But they are responsible for some things I believe I have done right or at least I am attempting to do right. 

1. My parents showed a lot of affection towards one another as I grew-up. They hugged, they kissed, they walked down the street holding hands, my mom sat on my dad’s lap when they talked at times. I felt secure as a child because of this type of interaction. Their behavior then and even now has helped me in my marriage. Christina and I see my parents as a model of two people who though very different can work together through anything and at the end of each day be one another’s best friend! I believe I am a better husband and have a better marriage because of what my parents did right.
2. My parents never shied away from saying, “SORRY”. I never remember a time that I was wronged by one of my parents where they were not quick to say sorry. If they yelled at us kids unnecessarily, or punished us to severly, they always said sorry. I learned from them that it is okay to admit when I am wrong, and sorry is a very easy word for me to use.
3. My parents said I love you a lot! I was a kid that was very insecure and got into an abundance of trouble, I was the black sheep of a great family. I did most the things parents never want their kids to do, I never, ever felt I did anything that decreased their love! I believe their unconditional love, eventually helped me to accept God’s unconditional love!
4. My parents taught me respect for authority. If any past teachers are reading this, they may disagree:) But though as a young person I showed very little respect to anyone, the lessons were still planted and I know this has allowed me to accept and value God’s Lordship, His authority over my life, even when I don’t always understand what He is doing!
5. My parents did not fight my battles. I had to learn to be strong and understand that life isn’t fair, that people can be mean, and that my response to these situations is very important. I wonder whether kids are still learning this? It seems that parents are always quick to blame teachers or a kids peers, or another kids parents. Parents are quick to go in and fight their kids battles and I am afraid we will find as the years pass a progressively more immature, and a more delinquet society!
6. My parents believed in character over talent. My dad and I had so many battles during my sports years. I remember us breaking down every single play following basketball and baseball games. We would fight on the golf course and at the batting cages, etc.. Here is the thing though, I never remember verbatim any of those confrontations (probably b/c they weren’t as bad as I’ve created in my head), but I do remember verbatim the time he caught me disrespecting a teammate, and the time he caught me giving a cheap shot to an opponent in a basketball game. My dad wanted me to win, he wanted me to play well, but more than that he wanted me to play with honor. I have tried to keep that in mind with every decision I make in life. The most important thing for me is to do things with honor!

I have great parents and these are just a few of the many things they did right for me and I am trying to do right for my boys.

Hello Blog World.  I thought I would share with y’all an e-mail I sent out to my church family tonight about my health:

Happy Sabbath Church Family–

I decided to sit down tonight and write a quick note to y’all in regards to my health. I haven’t preached for two Sabbaths in a row (I am preaching tomorrow) and several individuals have asked if my absence has been due to my health, since I made a brief comment about it a couple of Sabbaths ago.  The answer is “yes” and “no”. Yes, I didn’t preach two weeks ago due to my health. No, this last Sabbath was just a planned week off. But let me share with y’all the story as quickly as a preacher can:)

Back in February I began to get some rather severe headaches, I am not one prone to headaches so I was a little alarmed, especially when they didn’t go away and began to get worse. I spoke with the resident doctor of our family my brother-in-law Chad and he told me I needed to go see a neurologist, he gave me a number…but that was the end of that.  In mid-April the head aches began to subside some and so I thought they were just a random seasonal thing.  Then in May they came back and around the same time I also began to experience regular short bouts of dizziness.  Again my family urged me to the go to the Dr., but again I ignored them and kept on.  Christina kept telling me I needed to go, she has actually been telling me to just get a regular check-up for years!!! I asked her “when do I have the time?” and always assured her, “I am fine.” Well several Sabbaths ago I experienced a couple of those dizzy spells while preaching. A little alarming, but they are 30 seconds or less, so no big deal. Then that next week I about when down while picking something up and I thought, “that could be one of my kids I was trying to pick up.” That day I was up in Fresno and I had some time to kill, and I saw a sign for a walk-in urgent care and so I dropped in. The individual that examined me told me I probably had an inner ear infection and sent me on my way.
That night at house of prayer my head ache was just raging and so I decided to ask Dr. Eller who was there what he thought. He did the right thing, HE SCARED ME:). He told me it didn’t sound like an inner ear infection and I needed to get to a Neurologist. Well, through the suggestion of Dr. Eller, I got made an appointment with Dr. Soloniuk-Tays.  She got me in right away and in that visit we discovered a perfect storm of symptoms.

Headaches, Dizziness, right side weakness, right side reflex deficiency, forehead numbness, left ear hearing loss.

Like I said it was the perfect storm of symptoms and even as I was being checked I realized this wasn’t looking good. All the symptoms together pointed to something very bad. I was told not to drive and to rest. And for the next 24 hours Christina and I mentally prepared for the worst. Praying and praising God for whatever would come.
Dr. Bouitt and Jon Jacques got me into an MRI ASAP and at the end of that MRI we discovered that I wasn’t gonna die, at least not yet:)!  But obviously things were still wrong. So I’ve been back to see the Neurologist a couple times and to see Dr. Soloniuk again, had some labs, gone to PT, yada, yada, yada.

Here is what we know:

I have a pinched ulnar nerve in my right arm. I have mild carpal tunnel in my right wrist. I am definitely hearing deprived in my left ear, we don’t know why yet. I have muscle weakness on my right side, I have an MRI on my neck to check for a possible bulging disc after I get back from camp meeting. I have a muscle in my neck that is a difficult muscle to work with but something is wrong with it and it is what is causing my head aches, the numbness in my forehead, and possibly the vertigo since it attaches right behind the ear and has been known I was told to cause dizziness. My total cholesterol is too high, and my bad cholesterol is way to high. We also discovered I do have some extra tissue in my brain but nothing to worry about! I told one member this and they asked if it was then okay to call me fathead? 🙂 All the persons I have seen have been wonderful and I feel blessed to have had such great care.  They have all given me much wonderful insight and one common piece of advice, “You need to take better care of yourself.”

I am a naturally intense and passionate person, it is my personality, that I probably won’t be able to change much. But my diet, my sleep, my exercise, my time with my family I can control and it is in these places I seek balance and I ask you for your prayers in as well.

Some things I learned in all of this:

• That Dr. Eller, Dr. Soloniuk-Tays, Dr. Bouitt, and Jon Jacques are awesome!!!!! (I really already knew this about all of them, but it was just confirmed) I love y’all!
• I learned that folk without God and without a church family need Him and a church family desperately! I LOVED!!!!! and felt so blessed to have our prayer partners praying! To be able to call up brothers and sisters in Christ here locally and across the country that hit their knees in prayer for me. I felt the strength of those prayers! My heart literally aches for people that don’t have that.  I think of all the individuals that go through what I went through on a daily basis and in many cases their results aren’t excellent like mine. And yet they have no God that they can turn to and no family that will petition the Almighty for them! We can’t rest ’till everyone has had a chance to be a part of God’s family!
• I realized that though I would not want to go through on a regular basis, it is a good thing to have to stop and take moment or 24 hours to think about the fragility of life. To take account of ones life and where we are at with the Lord is a blessed reality!
• How awesome is the assurance of Salvation! I pray each of you know that if your last breath were tonight that you are saved by our loving Savior!

So that is my story. Thanks for listening. Please continue to pray for me, the dizziness has been a little better. Maybe that is b/c I have been trying to slow down a little. The head aches remain pretty constant but not agonizing, just the minute awareness that something is a little off on a continual basis. I pray it goes away, but I have told the Lord whatever He sees as best. I may need a thorn in my flesh.

I love y’all and let us all continue to reach people for Kingdom Growth!

Pastor Chad