Life-lessons in 13.1 miles

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." -- Hebrews 12:1-3

Last week I participated in a half marathon. The run took place in Boyds/Germantown Maryland, a picturesque spot with sunny horse farms and big, shady trees overhanging the road. As I was running, I couldn't help thinking of Paul's words in Hebrews 12, where we should run the race of life with one Goal in site. As I was reflecting during the run, I thought of several life-lessons that can be deduced from a simple, endurance run.

1) As we were setting off, a torrential downpour met us, and from then on we had intermittent showers along the way, this kept us runners refreshed and cool. Whenever the sweat of the world is covering us, God sends us "showers of blessing" to refresh us on our journey.

2) Every two miles us weary runners were refreshed by water and Gatorade, and as we run our race of life we are revived along the way with the Water of Life and the bread of God's word.

3) At the time when it was most needed, trainers, bystanders, or other runners would shout out words of encouragement. This would cheer us all and we would in turn send words of encouragement to others. In rough times on this earth God sends us messeges of hope to us, to "look up, it's not far now" and "keep going, one step at a time". These make us all the more willing to press on and build others up.

4) To be honest, there were miles that I was in great pain, and other miles that I just wanted to give up, yet I kept in mind how I wanted to finish the race. In the same way when we run the race of life there are times when we are discouraged or just want to give up, but keep pressing on towards the goal of being with Jesus.

With our great Trainer by our side, no matter what difficulty may arrise, God will be able to pull us through and give us a crown of glory when we meet our goal.

Humorous God

God has a sense of humor.

Last week I felt that I really needed some solid time in prayer. Even though I believe that we should always be engaging in prayer, this time I particularly felt that I needed some uninterrupted time with my Lord.

I knelt down and began speaking earnestly with God. Just then, my dog, Tinka (who had been resting peacefully by my bed), decided to get up and start grumbling at me to pet her. Unwilling to be distracted, I continued my prayer, but this time asking God to avert the distraction.

Tinka thought about it for a while, and since she did not get the response that she wanted, promptly lay down on my legs! Now I was virtually "pinned down" to praying! God changed the distraction to a blessing, and in a way that made me laugh! He has such a sense of humor!

Only two years

A few weeks ago a lady came to Fredheim. She is about fifty years old, and has a big, friendly smile, and brilliant, twinkling eyes. When you look at her, you wouldn't realize that she has only, at most, two years to live.

I have never met a person with such love of others and bright outlook on life, even when her own is slipping away. I often sit at her table during mealtimes, and never a day goes by without the whole table bursting out with laughter because of jokes she has made.

The most impressive thing that I have seen is that she is such a strong Christian. She always speaks about how God has transformed her life, and that one day Jesus will come again to save the whole world. She always mentions that whatever happens, whether she lives or dies, God knows the end from the beginning and He will make sure that everything will "work together for good, to those who are called according to His purpose."

She really lives a life worthy of her Savior and Friend, Jesus.

The Savior and the Rock

I am gulping for air, my head is sinking under the foaming waves. I begin to disappear in the murky depths. I cry for help.

I hear a voice! A strong, friendly hand reaches down and pulls me out from certain death.

He sets me on a solid Rock. He holds my dripping self close to Him, and tenderly promises never to leave me. As long as I want Him there, He will stay with me, and keep me on the solid Rock, no matter how the waves crash about it.

He has saved me. No, I will never leave.

I agree

"If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes."

-- Charles Lindbergh

I agree

"Only a tiny sparrow"

I am only a tiny sparrow,
A bird of low degree;
My life is of little value,
But the dear Lord cares for me.

I have no barn nor storehouse,
I neither sow nor reap;
God gives me a sparrow's portion,
But never a seed to keep.

I know there are many sparrows;
All over the world they are found;
But our heavenly Father knoweth
When one of us falls to the ground.

Though small, we are never forgotten;
Though weak, we are never afraid;
For we know the dear Lord keepeth
The life of the creatures He made.

I fly through the thickest forest,
I light on many a spray;
I have no chart nor compass,
But I never lose my way.

And I fold my wing at twilight
Wherever I happen to be;
For the Father is always watching,
And no harm will come to me.

I am only a little sparrow,
A bird of low degree,
But I know the Father loves me;
Have you less faith than we?

-- "A Christian's Secret to a Happy Life" Hannah Whitall Smith

Appearances

She was pudgy and always had acne on her face. Because of this, she was never popular at school. As she studied, other kids whispered about her "ugly" looks. She had a tender heart though, and always stuck up for other kids that were laughed at. She was a friend to all those who needed one...

She was slim and spent several hours each morning putting on makeup and doing her golden hair. She knew she was "beautiful," and wouldn't acknowledge other "less popular" people. As she walked, people would whisper about the "beauty" that just passed...

My question about these two analogies is: "what makes a person beautiful"? Is the amount of makeup, or the nice clothes make you more beautiful than others? If you are not popular, does that make you of less worth than others that are?

1 Samuel 16:7 states: "For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

The Bible states that our outward appearance will be changed when Jesus comes anyway. Our inward appearance is something that we will have for eternity.

I would like to propose to my blog readers to spend less time trying to make your outward appearance more attractive, but try to adorn your heart in such a way that it is pleasing to God.

A prayer answered

I yawned and rolled out of bed onto my knees. As I began my morning prayers, I mentioned to God that I really wanted to have a meaningful conversation about Him to someone that day.

I worked in the morning, and that enabled me to go for a walk with the guests to the mountains. It was extremely icy, so I walked with our oldest guest in order that he would have help on the slippery parts so he wouldn't fall.

His name is Hans Olaf, and he has been a regular at Fredheim for as long as any of us can remember. He is 93 years old and goes out skiing everyday, unless it is summer, when he swims. In the summer, he lives in a small cabin about a mile from the nearest house. During the winter though, he makes his residence here at Fredheim. My boss always introduces him to the news guests as "Fredheim's mascot".



As we walked, Hans Olaf and I talked about many various things: How the weather was, where he liked to travel, his favorite foods, ect. We then decided to rest awhile on the steps of an old house, built in the 1600s. The snow was beautiful, sparkling in the bright Spring sun. Not a cloud was in the sky, and it was such a dark blue, that my photos couldn't even register the color.

I mentioned to Hans Olaf how wonderful God was, creating such a beautiful earth. He heartily agreed, then continued to speak more about Creation, and what days each thing was created. We spoke about the New Earth, and how even more glorious it would be. There we will have no more crying or pain, and everything will be created anew with even more beauty than we can imagine! We will not even need the sun, because God will be our light! Even though there is 73 years difference between Hans Olaf and I, the years seemed to dissipate as we both excitedly talked about our mutual Friend, Jesus.

I felt such a blessing through our conversation, and praise God that He does answer prayers!

"No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; but you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory." -- Is. 60:19

They're coming! He's coming!

I can't believe my parents are coming!!!!!!!!!!!! The day is fast approaching until they arrive, and on Friday afternoon I will be on my way to the airport to pick them up! My parents have been my mentors, educators, and best friends for as long as I can remember, and I am so happy that they are coming here to visit. I am on the edge of my seat in anticipation of their soon arrival! As each day is marked off the calendar, I think of the preparations they are making to come over, and their excitement matched with mine as they board the plane tomorrow. You can be sure that I am busily getting prepared so that they can get the "real Norwegian experience."



I couldn't help thinking how Jesus must feel as He prepares to come and take us heaven. Do we look with eager anticipation for Him? Does He look down and see us all in a flutter getting things prepared for His arrival? Or does He see us lackadaisically going about our everyday life? Are we prepared for His coming? I pray that as each day is marked off on our calendar, we will be even more eager for Jesus' return, knowing that it is one less day until He comes!

My friend Jesus

I recently had a test in Norwegian.  We had pages of naming things, verb tenses, dictation, and various other related topics. Then I got to the last page -- essay. The directions were to write about a friend.  Simple enough.  I quickly scrolled through a list of my friends in my mind, thinking about how cool they are, and how much I could write about each one.  One friend stuck out in my mind, though.  I tried to brush the thought aside, thinking of other friends that I've studied with, grew up with, and played with, but no, none of those were right for my essay.  I needed inspiration.  The former thought kept pressing on my mind.  "No," I thought, "no one here is even a Christian, my teacher would just laugh and put a bad mark on the test".  "You must," came the thought "they are just looking at your Norwegian, not the content, you can be a witness for Me too..."  Finally I gave in. "Only if You help me," I prayed.

Picking up my pencil, I started to write about my friend: Jesus.  

I wrote about how He came to this earth to live with us and show us what love is.  He healed the sick, and taught many wonderful things, yet many people still didn't like Him, and even killed Him.  However, He did not remain dead.  He arose again, and went to heaven where He is now. In John 14:1-3 it says that He will come again to take us to live with Him soon.  He loves both you and me very much; He is the best friend anyone can ever have. 

God's promises

"'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool". -- Is. 1:18



"Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." -- Ps. 51:7

Norwegian class and the Bible

I recently started a Norwegian class in downtown Kongsberg. I am really enjoying my time there. We are certainly an international class though. Iraq, India, Bulgaria, Chile, Portugal and USA are the countries we represent (I'm the only one from the States). I love being with such a multicultural group, and enjoy talking to the people about their countries.

Our class starts at 8:30 am, and I usually catch a ride with Jan Robert into town as he goes to his school. Sometimes he goes very early in the morning, so I wait in the SDA church in Kongsberg until it's time to head to class.

A few days ago, I went into Kongsberg church early. I had about an hour before class started and I settled down with my devotions. I prayed that God would show me someone that day that needed to know about Him, and that He would give me words to say to encourage him or her towards Jesus. After my prayers, I settled down to read. Somehow though, I felt an urge to leave for school. Picking up my things, I headed out down the street. There was no one at my class, so I pulled out my Bible to read again. A short time later my Hindu classmate showed up for class, also early. Sitting down next to me, she leaned over and asked what I was reading. I told her what it was, and she asked me why I was reading it, because "not that many young people read the Bible nowadays." Silently offering a prayer to God for help, I gave a testimony of what the Bible meant to me and why. She seemed quite interested, later she asked me to come over to visit her sometime.

I was so glad that God had prompted me to go to the right place at the right time, so that I could share just a little about God's great gift to us, His inspired Word.

Dare to be a Daniel

Standing by a purpose true, heading God's command

Honor them the faithful few all shout for Daniel's band

Dare to be a Daniel

Dare to stand alone

Dare to have a purpose true

Dare to make it known

I've been reading Daniel recently in my devotions, and I must say that I was struck at how Daniel stood up for what he believed in, even when it seemed like the whole world was working against him.  So often as we walk through life we take the easy road out.  "Just go with the flow," is a saying often repeated.   

I have also been reading in the Great Controversy, and it brought to my mind how strong some of the early reformers were.  Under great persecution, in the flames of the stake, they still would not back down, but would proclaim the strait truths of the Bible.  

We have it easy here in the western world.  We have no death sentences against those who read the Bible, but what happens when they do come?  Will we stand strong like the reformers?  Will we "dare to be a Daniel"?

"For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us; If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot deny Himself" -- 2 Tim 2:11-13

Sabastian

He heaved himself up onto the seat with a little effort, flipped the hymnal to a random page, opened his mouth and sent out a wailing heard across the church. Later during intercessory prayer, I could hear him mumbling serenely with folded hands and tightly closed eyes. Sabastian is only two years old, and it is very enjoyable to see his sincere devotion to Jesus, doing what he can to sing and pray like the "big people".

Then I began to think what it must be like for Jesus to see His little ones singing and praying before Him. Even though I can't understand Sabastian's garbled Norwegian, I can just imagine God the Father and Jesus leaning forward to catch every little word from the little boy's heart. I bet they are delighted to listen as he joins his voice with the rest of the congregation in hymns to his Maker.

Sometimes we are ashamed to pray aloud, or we don't want to sing, in case someone would criticize us. We should take our inspiration from seeing little children lifting up their voices to God. It doesn't matter what people think, or what others may say, the only thing that matters is that we offer our best for Jesus, just like little Sabastian.

***** Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! *****

Hurrah for snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is supposed to snow 20 cm tomorrow here at Fredheim! What we got today was a little appetizer! Here are a few more pictures of the winter signs! I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

well dressed

This morning I worked in the kitchen as a slight variation to the doctor's office.  Yulia put me to work on the salad dressing.  I dutifully poured in the soymilk, oil, and yeast, trying to figure out what ingredients to mix in to make it flavorful yet healthy. Humming a little Greig to myself, I pushed the buttons to "high".  The blender worked beautifully, and I was tallying up the benefits of garlic as I turned off the machine, my dressing almost complete.  I just had to throw in a little dill, and it would "smakte veldig godt!" 

The lid had a mind of it's own though.  I pushed.  I pulled. I pushed and pulled.  Pulled and pushed.  Finally with a zing it came off.  Next thing I knew, salad-dressing was flying everywhere all over the counter, onto the floor, all over my apron, and down my shirt.  Even if the dressing wasn't meant for external use, I must say after that episode, that I was pretty "well dressed".

 

Seventh-day Adventist's message

"So what's different in Adventism?"  She narrowed her eyes as she asked the question.  I was having breakfast with the Norwegian guests. We spoke about the upcoming election, America and various other issues that Norwegians like to discuss with Americans.  Then suddenly one lady popped up with the question.  

"I've heard about the Sabbath, but what else do you believe that is different than Lutheranism?"  I began sharing a few different things that we believe, praying all the time that I say the right things, pointing out the truth, yet not bulldozing her over with doctrine.  Presently she stated "I think that the Old Testament is a bunch of junk" (she actually used some more pointed words, that I am not going to repeat).  "The God of the Old Testament was vengeful, unforgiving, and killed everyone."  

Wow, she brought in a whole new aspect, but I jumped at the chance to explain my God to her.  

I have read through the Bible several times, and it seems that the more I read through it, the more I see that the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New.  I shared with her Bible verse after Bible verse in the Old Testament showing that God is a loving God. I explained that God had blessed the Israelites over and over again, but they would not heed God.  They would prefer to go down their own course and disregard God's love for them.  By straying away from Him, they would often fall into the hands of their enemies, but as soon as they cried to God, and turned away from sin, He would save them.  I related the story of Hosea and Gomer, and how Hosea bought Gomer back to him, even though she had wronged him terribly.  This is exactly the way that God loves His people.  He was willing to die Himself that we could understand how much He loved us.  

This is the real message of Seventh-day Adventists.  God loves us tremendously, so much in fact that His Son was willing to die for us, that we might believe in Him and be saved.  Praise the Lord for His goodness towards us, and that He shows us a true picture of Him in both Testaments, as a loving, forgiving God.

"Fredheim bonding weekend"

Last weekend I went on a "Fredheim bonding weekend."  Most of the staff at Fredheim went about two hours north of here to a cabin, owned by one of the nurses here. We had a great time getting to know each other better and goofing around. These are a few pictures of our weekend.

Our cabin

Berit and Bjørnar, our hosts

Some of the men with natural forrest mustaches 

All of the girls of Fredheim

Farf

My Fathers father (or Farf, for short), has been such a blessing to me.

Over the past ninety years he has gathered much experience and wisdom.  I love to hear him as he speaks about his childhood in Denmark, the years of hardship during World War II, the emigration to America, or his mission experiences in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  There are so many miracle stories of how God led them.  His stories are always intriguing, and make me want to sit listening to him for hours!

Friday nights with Farf and Farmor have always been a joy to me.  Farf would sit at the piano and play the Danish hymns flawlessly by memory. The rest of us would sing along, wanting to sing our best for the Lord.  His music always makes me think of what it will be like in heaven.

Farf is so loving towards his wife, children and grandchildren.  I love watching my Farf gently tease my grandmother, and her blush, like they are in the young stages of romance.  He always refers to her as "my sweetheart".  You can tell that they are still very in love after 60 years of being married.  

I could write so much about Farfar, but the one thing that immediately comes to my mind that underlies everything that Farf does, is his love toward God. He always has something to say about what God did for him that week, or what he studied in the Bible.  You can tell that Farf has chosen Who he will follow, and as a result, he has become more like Jesus every day.  

Thank you Farf, for being such an awesome role model for us, and showing us how to be more like Jesus.

Hilsen fra Norge!

Hilsen fra Norge! (Greetings from Norway) Recently I came to Norway to work as a student missionary at Fredheim Health Center.  I have been working mostly in the doctor's office, and helping out in the kitchen, but I must say that my favorite part is being with the guests. 

 

The guests come for a 10 day period and learn how to live a healthy life: eating right, exercising, and getting out into the fresh Norwegian air.  Most of them are in their late 60's and 70's, but we get all ages (including two 90 year olds last guest period, and a few people in their 40's and 50's). They all enjoy listening to health lectures and worships, and teaching Norwegian to me. :) 

I've been having a great time here, and I will try to keep my blog updated more often with pictures of the doings and sayings around here.