Worshipful Eclipse Watching: A Guest Blog Post

NOTE:  The following guest blog post was graciously provided by permission of its author, Claire (Grazier) Bolha, of Dayton, Ohio.  Claire is a Biology-Math graduate of Cedarville University (1995).  Her post is adapted from her Facebook reflections on the recent eclipse on April 8, 2024. 
As you read Claire’s reflections, we hope you will join in reverent praise to Christ, our Creator and Savior.

I wanted to capture a few thoughts I had about the eclipse for when these memories come up over the years ahead!

The weather was such an answer to prayer!  The kids and I had been praying for days that God would keep the clouds away so people could see His power.  I’m so thankful for a beautiful day!  In Ohio we don’t take that for granted, lol.

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens…
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?”  - Psalm 8:1, 3

We really were in awe of God’s infinite design in creation when we thought about how perfectly proportioned the moon’s diameter is compared to the sun’s diameter; and how it is the perfect distance away so that total eclipses are possible. Not a coincidence!

Experiencing a total eclipse was a much more impactful experience than I ever expected.  I’ve seen partial eclipses, and I thought they were neat, but I couldn’t imagine traveling for just a scant few minutes of totality.  

 

But WOW!  I see now why people do it!
It was amazing!
People were setting off fireworks and cheering!

We saw a solar flare! This is not my picture, but rather a picture Dawn Bouchard posted in Dayton Weather Spot, but you can see the flare down on the bottom!   And we saw both Jupiter and Venus on either side of the darkened sun!

It was amazing how much light/heat the sun puts out when just a tiny sliver is showing!  It was like a somewhat cloudy day, compared to it being like twilight/dusk in totality.  It was amazing how quickly after totality ended that it looked more or less like a regular day again.

Again, I’m so thankful we could experience this solar eclipse!  It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience!

                                       *      *      *      *      *

Claire and her husband, Bob, are parents of ten lovely children.  Claire teaches biology and chemistry at Providence Extension Program, a homeschool program with campuses in Dayton and Cincinnati.  Bob is  a retired Air Force Lt. Col., and currently works as a contractor at Wright-Patterson AFB. 

Where Are You God? -- “I AM”

Sixty years ago, the era of television arrived in our home.  This magic box introduced us to larger-than-life personalities like Wyatt Earp, Matt Dillon, Walter Cronkite, and Fulton J. Sheen.  I was especially impacted by “Deacon Earp” whose deadly aim wounded the bad guys but didn’t kill them.  If that were not enough, Earp’s choice of beverage was milk.

Our TV antenna was supported on a metal tower anchored to our chimney.  When our TV produced a snowy picture, we knew the problem was in our reception, not the broadcast signal from Cleveland.  The problem usually cleared up when we rotated the antenna in the right direction or adjusted the TV.

Broadcast and receiver must work together, hand-in-glove.  The same is true of communication between our modern TV’s.  Each has an internal receiver that is responsive to an accompanying “remote.”  Therefore, both the TV broadcast station and the remote send out signals to the TV, but unless the TV receiver detects these signals, there will be no response.

The relationship between a broadcast signal and a receiver illustrates the relationship between our Creator God and us as His creatures.  Why is it that some men and women, or boys and girls, have a relationship with God, and seek to please Him according to His Word given in the Bible; whereas, others are not responsive to God?  According to the Scriptures, a person can only have a living, dynamic relationship with their Creator if their spirit is attuned to God’s Spirit.  When we yield our will to God through faith in Christ, God’s Spirit assumes residence in our lives and gives us the ability to respond to the “broadcast signal” from God’s Word or from other people.  Also, through God’s Spirit, we can commune with God though prayer and with others of like faith.

In Genesis (meaning “origin”), the first book of the Bible, we have the account of God’s creation of Adam, and the intimate relationship that God established with Adam:

Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground.  He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person (NLT). – Genesis 2: 7

The Bible gives no record of the first conversation between God and the human He created according to His own image (Genesis 1: 26).  Instead, we learn that God breathed His very own “breath of life” into Adam’s nostrils.  The man’s first “life breath” through his nostrils was through an inspiration—that is, an entry of air into Adam’s lungs--“God-breathed” air from the very breath of God—“and the man became a living person(Genesis 2: 7).”  Although many generations separate us from our father Adam, we should be in awe of the fact God gives us every breath.  In so doing, God sustains each minute of our very lives. 

Can you imagine? God’s Spirit is as near to you as your next breath.  You and I are unique from all other air-breathing animals.  Only humans as God’s image-bearers received the very life-breath of God when He created them.  Imagine that for awhile.  Indeed, the ability to imagine and perform other kinds of abstract thinking and creativity are all expressions of the fact that we bear God’s image.

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers considers God’s creative work as recorded in Genesis, Chapter 2 as an expression of His wisdom and love:  Here [God] forms, and builds, and plants, and breathes into His work, and [He] is the companion and friend of the creature He has made. It thus sets before us the love and tenderness of Jehovah, who provides for man a home, fashions for him a wife to be his partner and helpmate, rejoices in…[the] intellect [of man, His image-bearer, and then shows honor and respect to Adam’s intellect by bringing]…the lower world to him to see what he will call them….

Adam was given richly and abundantly all that he would need to live and flourish. On top of that, he was commanded to exercise dominion over creation by caring for creation as a steward of all God created and possessed as Owner.

Because we cannot see God, we wonder at times if He is really REAL. To Adam and Eve, there was no doubt.  Genesis 3: 8 records that Adam and Eve were familiar with the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.  They evidently enjoyed regular opportunities to “walk with God” in the Garden of Eden.  We have no record of their conversation before Eve was tempted by Satan.  However, I would like to suggest one early conversation that Adam might have had with God (in some language other than English):

ADAM: “God, what is Your Name?”
GOD:  “I AM”
ADAM: “I know you exist, but what is Your Name?”
GOD:   “I AM WHO I AM”
ADAM: “I am Adam.”
GOD:   “Indeed, you are.  And notice, you used a similar action word (a verb), “I am” with your name.  Adam, you live and you exist; but, unlike Me, you need a point of reference.  I AM that reference.   When you say “I am Adam,” it means you exist only because I AM created you.”
ADAM: “Do you mean that ‘I am’ because of You, the ultimate ‘I AM?’”
GOD:   “Yes, it is as you say.  You exist because of Me—only in reference to Me.  But, I AM the God Who is.”  I AM Who I AM without any reference to any other--or to time or space.  My Name is an action word (verb) because I AM eternally “being” and “acting” sustaining My creation from the tiniest atom to the expanse of My heavens; allowing your every breath and beat of your heart; and before a word is on your tongue, I know it.”
ADAM: “My soul is warmed within me as I walk with You.  I am filled with Joy when I commune with You.”
GOD:   “That is as it should be.  I love you, Adam, with an everlasting love.  I AM love, joy, and peace.  These are yours when you walk with Me.  And My Spirit communes with the spirit I formed within you.”
ADAM:   “Bless You, I AM!   Bless You, Lord O my soul, and all that is within me, bless Your Holy Name.”

My soul is inspired by composing this conversation as it might have been had I been walking with God.  But, unlike Adam and Eve, I have never walked with God in the garden in the cool of the day.  What’s more, I am a corrupted son of Adam.

According to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve gave in to the temptation of Satan based on the cunning serpent’s distortion of God’s character.  As a son of Adam, …I was born a sinner--yes, from the moment my mother conceived me (Psalm 51: 5 NLT).  But, I am saved through faith in Christ the Great High Priest Who can “sympathize with our weaknesses” because He has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4: 15-16).

As a sinner, saved by God’s grace, I can now have fellowship with my Heavenly Father through God’s Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to send to us just before He was betrayed and crucified.  When His disciples were fearful and confused, Jesus spoke these calming words:

These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. – John 14: 25-27

My access to daily fellowship with God’s Holy Spirit is made possible as I read and meditate upon God’s Word, the Scriptures.  Just as God breathed into Adam the breath of Life, so the Scriptures say that All Scripture is inspired (God-breathed) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3: 16-17).

So, I must ask myself; and ask you as well.  How receptive am I to the broadcast of God’s love and truth through His Holy Spirit to my “signal receiver”—my spirit.  If you have never surrendered to the claims of Christ and asked Him to forgive you and be your Savior, I refer you to Steps to Peace with God which will explain how you can become a Christ-follower.  Without Christ, you are dead in sin and are facing eternal separation from God.  Romans 8: 6-7 states that without making peace with God, you remain hostile toward God [and your mind is not "tuned" to the Spirit of God].  In fact, according to Romans 8: 7-8, you are not even able to do so...  

Maybe you have received Christ but your spirit (your "receiver" or "antenna") needs to be tuned again to the voice of God's Spirit speaking to you through His Word, or friends, or circumstances.  Just as I used to turn our old antenna to get a TV signal, perhaps you need to turn again to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1: 9).  Then, as a Christ-follower, when you open your Bible and read, God’s Spirit will go to work to make your spirit and mind receptive to the Scriptures, and to give you understanding of the truth you are reading.  Then, as you are receptive to that truth, God’s Spirit empowers you to respond to the Scripture for reproof, for correction, [and] for training in righteousness.  

How is your spiritual receiver?  Are you receptive to God’s presence through His Holy Spirit who loves you and wants to commune with you each day along your challenging path of life?  If you have questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you.  Just post a “Comment” below or e-mail me at silviusj@cedarville.edu

“Public Servants” and Citizens--Both Stewards of Freedom

We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people.
-- Ronald Reagan,  January 20, 1981

In his first inaugural address, President Reagan reminded us that government is to be a servant of the people.  That is, “civil servants” are to be “servants” of the people, and to exercise stewardship of the power granted to them.  At the same time, we as citizens have a responsibility as stewards of the freedom and opportunity afforded to us by our founders.   We exercise our stewardship by holding elected officials accountable as stewards of the privileges and responsibilities of their offices.  All of us are ultimately stewards of the rights endowed by our Creator.

On this Independence Day, 2011, one of my U.S. Senators from Ohio, Sen. Sherrod Brown, e-mailed a statement which prompted me to reply to him online.   His statement is below followed by my response to him:

Two hundred and thirty-seven years ago, farmers, merchants, laborers, and soldiers celebrated a new nation – fixed in freedom and equality. They faced tough odds, but they were armed with the vibrant American spirit and rock solid patriotism that has carried our nation forward since its founding.  – Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

Senator Brown,

Thank you for your e-mail reminding us to celebrate Independence Day.  In your opening statement, you have emphasized two important ingredients that have been valued by Americans for centuries--"freedom and equality."  Please allow me to respond in the spirit of the Founding Fathers as expressed in the Declaration of Independence which states (emphasis mine)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.

The intent to our founders was to establish a nation in "freedom from" the tyranny of the King of England whose policies no longer respected individual freedoms.  To the Founding Fathers, "freedom" was based on "truths" that were "self-evident"; namely, that basic "rights" are "unalienable" and exist as an endowment from a Higher Power, not simply from man-made laws.   Based on this foundation, our Constitution encouraged individual initiative, entrepreneurial spirit, and investment in business and technology that has made possible a standard of living (including a health care system) unequaled in the world.

Senator Brown, you also used the word, "equality."  However, wouldn’t you agree that the Founding Fathers meant to give us a system of government that provides more than "equality?" Wasn’t their aim to assure "freedom" under the law so that each person would have "opportunity" for the "pursuit of happiness" as stewards of their individual abilities and opportunities?  The Founders understood what many of us have forgotten; namely, that each person is endowed genetically from his Creator and is nurtured by his environment (parents, family, and local community) to achieve at a given level in a vocation (or "calling") that fits his or her abilities. Not all can be doctors, or farmers, or NBA stars, or United States senators.   But as much as possible, each should have the opportunity to "earn" their way to a fulfilling way of life.

Yes, there are injustices in America today.  But these can be corrected by enforcement of the law, not by taking from those who have worked hard to gain an honest living and "giving" to those who have less as if to "create” equality.  This merely creates dependence and a dehumanized class of Americans that also happens to be a voting constituency for politicians who, like drug dealers, promise them another "fix" (at an ever increasing cost).   Those such as yourself who are in positions of power must steward that power by being protectors of individual freedom.  Government assistance is needed to meet acute needs, but government should also create an environment that constantly promotes individual self reliance.

As a U.S. Senator in our American culture that seems to have forgotten the importance of individual responsibility and initiative, you may soon have an opportunity to vote for or against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  In the spirit of offering “a fair share” of “affordable health coverage” to all Americans, this legislation fails on at least four counts. 

First, it is “unaffordable” by our nation which is already trillions of dollars in debt.  Second, as far as I can tell it does not provide health and nutritional incentives to Americans, many of whom have undisciplined lifestyles and eating habits.  Thus, it would require those of us who are individually responsible for a healthy lifestyle to subsidize those who make bad nutritional choices, or who unfairly take advantage of health care because it is “affordable.”

Third, it will further “shelter” health services from a “free market” environment wherein healthy competition could both improve quality of care and reduce costs.  However, if enacted, the proposed legislation would promote the same deterioration in health care that we have witnessed in our public educational system.  Can we not learn from the failed attempts of government-managed education as well as Social Security and Medicare (both deeply in debt)?   Government has been unable to “compete” with “free market” approaches to providing goods and services—whether it be transportation (recall Amtrack), postal service (U.S. Postal Service versus FedEx), or recent attempts at “green energy” in which taxpayer dollars were poorly invested (Solyndra).

Finally, it appears that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will further erode the doctor-patient relationship which has been historically crucial to the quality of health care in America.  As Ronald Reagan stated in a radio address, July 6, 1977, “…wouldn’t it violate everything we believe in to adopt a system based on the idea that the patients have a right to a doctor’s services without regard for his right to say how and on what terms those services will be delivered?”

And so, today, as my U.S. Senator and “public servant”, I invite you to join me in celebration of “freedom from tyranny” and celebration of the fact that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  I also commit to pray that you and your colleagues in the U.S. Senate will reexamine these principles and recommit to enacting legislation that will respect the limits of government and protect the rights of the individual and local community.  After all, human health in America has historically rested upon a Judeo-Christian moral code that has guided our families, communities, and institutions; and inspired our health care professionals who need the freedom from bureaucracy to provide for the health care needs of their patients.

Respectfully,

John Silvius
Cedarville, Ohio

The Greatness of God as Seen in the Kosmos

Have you ever experienced the reality of the greatness and awesomeness of the God of Heaven? Last Sunday, our worship opened with a lively choir number and a powerful instrumental accompaniment that lifted us as if to heaven but also brought us to our knees in humility before Him. As I considered God’s power, position, and personal nature, several words came to mind to describe Him – Almighty, Everlasting, All Wise, Infinite, and Omnipresent.

Then, I thought of His works. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1:1). Genesis 1:31 records that God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. God Almighty judged the created order and all that was in it as “good” because it was a perfect representation of His wisdom and plan.

The Apostle John declares in John 1:3 that All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. John uses the Greek word, kosmos, to denote the created order which God through Jesus Christ brought into being out of nothing. It is the kosmos that God delighted in revealing to Adam when He invited Adam to study its order beginning with the task of naming the creatures and to learn his place in this great cosmic order (Genesis 2: 19-25). The psalmist declares O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions (Psalm 104:24).

From the farthest star at untold millions of light years away to the smallest subatomic particle, there is an unmistakable order that our science has begun to discern and unify into theories. Yet God is above and beyond even the greatness and immensity of the kosmos. In fact, John declares that God so loved the kosmos that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). He goes on to write that God did not send the Son into the kosmos to judge the kosmos, but that the kosmos might be saved through Him (3:17).

What has been your understanding of God’s regard for His created order, or kosmos? How have you viewed the scope of God’s redemptive plan? Did Jesus die on the cross to redeem mankind alone? How do you reconcile the concept that Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18) with John’s claim that God so loved the kosmos that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)? Careful contemplation and meditation on the answer to this question returns us to our worship of the Great and Awesome God Whose plan of redemption is much bigger than we often realize or consider in our daily lives. Feel free to reply with your thoughts in response to these questions.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name;
Bring an offering and come into His courts.
Worship the LORD in holy attire;
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved;
He will judge the peoples with equity."
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
Before the LORD, for He is coming,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
And the peoples in His faithfulness. (Psalm 96: 8-13)

On Being a Thankful Steward

We greet the New Year with a contribution from a guest blogger, Jessicah Zehring, Assistant to the Director, Center for Bioethics at Cedarville University:

A new year is upon us, and as we celebrate the occasion with loved ones, we often reflect on the material, physical, and spiritual blessings of the past year with a sense of thankfulness. It is easy to feel thankful for various events and opportunities we've had in the past. But what role does an attitude of thankfulness play in our stewardship of the environment?

Being thankful for an object implies an awareness and appreciation of that object. Both Christian and secular environmentalists share an awareness of and appreciation for the natural world. Awareness that an object exists is a prerequisite to appreciating or valuing that object. In turn, our appreciation for an object deepens as we come to a greater understanding of its' role and function. Christians and non-Christians alike can appreciate the beauty and complexity of the natural world, and value the organisms that interact in our earthly environment.

But there is another component to being thankful, one not shared by many secular environmentalists. That component is an attitude of grateful esteem to the Creator of the universe. The secular environmentalist who does not acknowledge God as Creator and Sustainer of the universe and Who has a purpose for both His creation and our part in it can only view the natural world as a product of chance events. In this naturalistic view, there is no object for his or her praise and thankfulness. Although he or she can be aware of and value natural processes, he or she doesn't share a feeling of gratefulness to a creative being Who set the world in place and Who has invited mankind to exercise stewardship of it.

Christians recognize that God is the creator of the natural world. We acknowledge that the goldfinch outside our window, or the lowly Draba verna plant growing in our yard is no more a product of random chance than we ourselves. Instead, they are creatures of great value and purpose because God choose to create them for His glory and pleasure. He crafted the Earth and all the organisms in it, and appointed human beings stewards over his handiwork. David writes in Psalm 136:3-6:

Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
His love endures forever.
To Him alone who does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
Who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
Who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever. (New International Version).

Here, God’s written Word and His creation together give testimony to the power and wisdom of the Designer. It is to this God that we can be thankful because He has revealed our unique role as stewards of creation. His revelation also enables us to place correct value on ourselves and on our fellow creatures. As we enter a new year, let us strive to execute our stewardship role with thankfulness, both toward the Creator and His creation.