Reasoning for Life -- 1. Before There Was Any Thing

“Where did I come from?” 

Do you remember asking this question as a child?  The answer may have been, “From mommy.” We may have been surprised at her answer.  Maybe it satisfied us, at least for a while.   But later, we learned that mommy had been asking bigger questions of her own.  She was asking questions like, “Where in the world did humans come from?” and “Is there a Creator who makes Himself known and seeks a relationship with me?”

Born to Ask Big Questions
As humans, we are prone to ask big questions because we are unique among all the creatures.  When a squirrel finds a fallen acorn, he or she may “wonder” where it came from.  But the animal’s curiosity is satisfied when it glances upward and sees an oak tree branch bearing more acorns waiting to be eaten or stored for winter.  As far as we know, squirrels have no curiosity about oak trees and forests beyond the fact that they provide food and shelter.  Nor do squirrels know they are residents of a planet that orbits the Sun within our solar system which is only a small part of the Milky Way and the starry universe beyond.

But we humans are curious creatures.  We ask big questions because God created us to think rationally and abstractly--and to seek answers.  As a result, we have gained a wealth of knowledge about the natural world that spans all the way from the subatomic particle to the a distance of light years into outer space. 

Answers from the Creator
Thankfully, God offers us answers to our most fundamental questions.  According to Psalm 19 and Romans 1, God speaks to us through the natural revelation of His created world, and though the special revelation found in His Word, the Bible.

God’s creation speaks a wordless but universal “language” about His wisdom and creative power (e.g. Psalm 19: 1-4).  On the other hand, God’s revelation in the written languages of the Bible speaks clearly about our personal relationship and moral responsibilities to God (e.g. Psalm 19: 7-14).  Together, these two major revelations answer the fundamental questions each of us are bound to ask:
 
Reality:   What is true?
Identity:  Who am I?
Morality:  What is good and evil?
Justification:  What is my purpose and destiny?

Without definite answers to these fundamental questions of human life, our view of the world around us, our worldview, remains undeveloped or stunted.  We are worse off than the squirrel who at least thinks and acts according its purposes.  Sadly, millions of children and adults, whether they realize it or not, are seeking answers to these basic “worldview questions.”  Because they either do not know or do not respect the objective truth claims in God’s Word, many people deny that we can know truth, or distinguish “good” from “evil.”  Instead, they surrender to subjective claims based on personal opinion that are often contrary to reality.   

As noted earlier, we humans are created to be curious.  God has equipped us well intellectually to discover and invent.  According to Genesis 1-2, God gave these abilities so that humans could exercise dominion over His creation as submissive stewards for His glory, not for prideful human purposes.

As an early exercise of human dominion and stewardship, God gave Adam, the first man, the ability to investigate His creation.  Then, God asked Adam to name the creatures according to his growing understanding of their interrelationships (Genesis 2: 19-20).  Adam’s naming assignment prepared him to receive God’s gift of woman as his complement and helpmate (v. 21-25).  But now, as Adam and Eve’s descendants, we still grapple with the question, “Where did I come from?”  And, “Who was there at the Beginning?”

WHO Was Before the Beginning?
God not only created us to be curious about our origins, but He also aims to satisfy our curiosity by providing some answers in His Word.  Two major books of the Bible help us answer our questions about “the Beginning.”

Surprisingly, the first verse of the Bible does not give us the earliest account of “the Beginning.”  It states, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1: 1).  Here, we learn what happened “at the Beginning” of creation.  However, the New Testament Gospel of John takes us back even further!  The author, John the Apostle, opens with these words, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1: 1).  John is telling us that “the Word” which “was God” was already present before the Beginning of creation!  Verse 2 follows with additional information, stating that “He (the Word) was in the beginning with God.

Who is the Word who was already with God before creation?  John answers us in John 1: 14: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us… referring to the incarnation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ.  Not only was Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God present before creation (John 1: 1), but He was the Agent through which God created the universe as Genesis 1: 1 has stated.  That Jesus Christ is Creator is affirmed in Colossians 1: 16 (emphasis added):  For by Him (Jesus Christ) all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him (Jesus Christ) and for Him.  And John adds, …and without Him (Jesus Christ) was not any thing made that was made.”

WHAT Was There Before the Beginning?
Take a moment and ask yourself, “What did things look like “before the Beginning?”  You may already have realized that before the Beginning, there were no things to imagine!  So, what was there?  Was there an infinite space with darkness throughout?  Or blazing light throughout?  Or, did three-dimensional space itself even exist?  Questions remain.  But the Bible assures us that One Person was there “before the Beginning.”  It was “the Word,” Jesus Christ (John 1: 1).

Why, we might ask, wasn’t the Apostle John more straightforward in how he began his Gospel?  Why didn’t he begin by stating what he later made obvious?  Something like this: “In the beginning was Jesus Christ…”?  The answer is twofold:  First, John wrote under the inspiration of God’s Spirit just as Moses did in authoring Genesis and the next five books of the Old Testament.  What we read are the words God wanted John to use.

Second, theologians tell us that John’s readers in the first century and even now consist of both Jews and non-Jews.  So, John begins with words that attract the interest of both sectors of his readership.  In the beginning… would be familiar to the Jews who knew these opening words of Genesis.  Meanwhile, In the beginning was the Word… conveyed special meaning to his Greek readers who, instead of seeing our modern English, “the Word,” they would see the word “logos” which had special meaning in Greek logic and wisdom literature.

Logos:  Reasoning for Life
Much has been published on the intended meaning of logos.  To the Greek philosophers, logos meant what we now refer to as logic.  Heraclitus (535-475 BC) defined logos as the cosmic principle, ordering force, or current that underlies and sustains the universe.  As Matthew Boffey wrote, “The world exhibits order because it reflects the nature of the logos that structures it.” 

C.L. Johnstone wrote in Listening to the Logos (2009), “The logos is to the world as nomos (“the law”) is to the city.”  Both represent the underlying basis that “gives an account” for the observed order.  It follows that reasoning leads to the truth when consistent with the logos which gives an account for the order of the universe—i.e. reasoning ought to be “logical.” In this context, the Word, the logos, may be translated “reasoning for Life” or “Reason for living.”¹

If logos represents the communication or revelation of God’s truth, it makes sense that speech should be the mode by which truth is conveyed.  The writer of the Book of Hebrews opens his epistle with a powerful message that complements the opening of John’s Gospel.  This Scripture also highlights the “spoken word” as the manner by which the truth is conveyed (emphasis added):  On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.  The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word (Hebrews 1: 1-3a).

Notice the emphasis on God “speaking.”  Just as God “spoke creation into being” as recorded in Genesis 1, so He has spoken His special revelation through the word of the prophets recorded in the inspired (“God-breathed”) Scriptures, and ultimately through “the Word,” the logos, Jesus Christ….  God still pursues us with His Gospel message of love, repentance, and redemption, spoken through the character, Word and work of God the Son who is the Word of God.  Some would teach that Christ the Word or logos of God, is to the Triune Godhead what speech is to thought.²  The question is, who will respond to the Word, the “reasoning for Life?”

Believe, Choose Life!
We began by comparing the inborn curiosity of humans with that of animals like the squirrel.  Children will soon express curiosity to know their “Beginning.”  On the other hand, squirrels are born with curiosity to know where food and shelter can be found.  Both humankind and squirrel-kind live and learn to function within the natural order of creation.   If this claim is true, then when we each think back on our own early development, it ought to be clear how fundamental it was for us to receive proper nutrition and the mental and emotional stimulation necessary for our development as a person.  And, because of our inborn curiosity about the world around us, we needed one or more adults to help us learn how to answer the question, “Where did I come from?”  If we had been left to fend for ourselves for food and for learning, our subjective understanding of the world around us would have left us groping in the darkness and stunted in our pursuit of truth.

Thankfully, many of us have been nurtured to understand “our beginning.” We learned that the Word of God, the logos, was there at “the Beginning” … and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1: 1b-3).  Yet we also know that many children and adults around the world have not heard of God’s love and pursuit of them.  That fact ought to compel us who know Christ, the logos, the “reason for living” to recommit to our role as witnesses of God’s love and grace.  And we should also remember that the Living Word, the logos, who transformed our lives and now lives within us, has the power to awaken saving faith within the souls of our fellow humans who were created with the ability to respond to God’s passionate love when our witness of God’s Word, the logos (spoken to us) is spoken through us and lived out in front of them.

Just as the effulgence of the morning sun pierces the predawn darkness day after day with its rays of light, so God has never lessened His passionate pursuit of His creation including mankind as His image bearers.  We close with our paraphrase of John 1: 1-3, as follows:

Your Turn. Your Thoughts?

Maybe you have a question or wish to correct a perceived error in what you have just read—please feel free to use “Comment” link below.   Or maybe you have not thought much about how the world originated, where you came from, your identity, what is true and what is not, what is good and what is evil, or what is your purpose and destiny.  If you would like to explore answers to these questions from a biblical worldview, we recommend that you obtain a copy of the booklet, Ultimate Questions, by John Blanchard (Click HERE to order; or click HERE for access to a text-only version.).  The author answers “big questions” like those we have stated above and explains clearly how you can surrender your life to Christ, gain peace with God through His Life, and begin to see the world and your life from God's perspective through His Holy Spirit dwelling in you.   If you have additional questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you.  Just post a “Comment” below or e-mail me at silviusj@gmail.edu
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¹ The origin of this definition of the logos is not clear but we want to acknowledge our hearing and understanding of it though our fellowship with several brothers in Christ at West Hill Baptist Church.
²  This interpretation of the logos is based on Lewis Sperry Chafer’s commentary on the logos contained in his 8-volume Systematic Theology on the subject of Christology as shared with us by our brother in Christ, Doug Cotterman.
³ Hebrews 1: 3

 

A Year Older: What Do I Know?

Last week we celebrated my birthday.  Seventy-five more candles have been added to my birthday cake since the time when there was only one candle—figuratively speaking, that is.  Otherwise, at my current age, we would have needed a burning permit.

Seriously, I am very thankful for my many blessings during more than three-quarters of a century of life-- the blessings of love in marriage, loving family and friends, opportunities for meaningful service to others, material sufficiency, and religious and political freedoms for which I owe the blood, sweat, and tears of many.  But there’s more.

Greater to me than any material and relational blessings is God’s gift of faith to believe in His provision of salvation and Eternal Life through Jesus Christ which I received, in 1972 (Ephesians 2: 8-9).  Since then, each spiritual blessing has only made more obvious to me “the goodness of God” (Romans 2: 4).  But strangely, my blessings and successes have tended to draw me away from dependence upon God.  It is through the trials that God teaches me to realize my need to rely upon His help.  This principle is affirmed by New Testament writers like James (James 1: 2-4) and Paul (Romans 5: 1-5).

This blog is the result of my personal “birthday reflections” on “things I know.”  It is also about who I’m hoping to know more clearly—especially, God and myself.  To all who choose to read further, I hope my ponderings will be helpful and seen as humbly expressed.  [Find my last years’ “Reflections at Age Seventy-five” by clicking HERE.]

Firm Foundation in a Changing Culture
Back to the lone candle on my first birthday cake: when I imagine myself as that lone candle, I can feel the increase in temperature with each added birthday candle.  Like the proverbial frog in a gradually warming pan, the change in temperature is hard to detect.  But, during the past decade, it seems that the culture is approaching the boiling stage.  Each day’s news suggests a new challenge to the moral foundation upon which America was founded.  The boiling water in the pan has become like angry waves pounding against the shoreline.

Although the waves of change have been eroding our moral and political foundation for years, the COVID pandemic has seemingly increased the rate of change in our culture.  During the past three years, we saw the erosion of our individual freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, and freedom to make individual health choices.  All of these changes we later learned were imposed while many were being denied access or persuaded to ignore reliable scientific reporting. 

At the same time, online teaching during the pandemic informed parents of the morally and historically inaccurate content to which their children were being exposed.  Now, as children struggle to regain their social and emotional footing from the lockdowns, they are more easily confused and influenced by media and peer pressures related to gender identity, distorted accounts of American history, and woke ideology.

I can only imagine how the current moral confusion would have affected me as a child.  Even as a mature adult, it is unsettling for me at times.  Yet, I am encouraged to remember that history records many traumatic periods.  The psalmist David wrote:

"For, behold, the wicked bend the bow,
They have set their arrow on the string

To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.

“If the foundations are destroyed,

What can the righteous do?”  (Psalm 11: 2-3)

Many in our world can relate to David’s response to the uncertain and fearful situations in his world of 1,000 BC.  Yet through the inspiration of God’s Spirit, David gives us a reassuring answer to our frustration and fears:
In the LORD I take refuge…
The LORD is in His holy temple;
the LORD’S throne is in heaven;

His eyes see, His eyelids test the sons of mankind (Psalm 11: 1, 4).

When David felt the foundations crumbling beneath him, he knew where to turn for refuge: “In the LORD I take refuge.”  

Of course, the “foundations” of which the Scriptures speak are not entirely physical.  They are also mental and spiritual in nature.  The Apostle Paul was very aware that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6: 12).  Paul’s answer is to challenge us to “put on the full armor of God which includes the “helmet of salvation,” the “belt of truth,” and the “sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6: 14, 17).  All of these armaments are intended to protect our minds and how we think.

How do we maintain our mental, emotional, and spiritual health in a culture in which the spiritual foundation crumbles and "ancient boundaries" are ignored?  The Apostle Paul’s answer was to “put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6: 11).  He wrote to Timothy with this testimony:  I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to protect what I have entrusted to Him until that day.  Note the highlighted references to “knowing, believing, and entrusting.”  All of these involve our minds and reasoning.

Being prepared with God’s mental and spiritual armor to live in a spiritually crumbling culture means we should be a people who “know something!  We ought to know the truth about God, about ourselves, and about the world in which we live.  How about you?  What can you say for sure that “you know?”  Here are some “things I know” based on my recent birthday reflections:

These Things I Know:

I Am Seen
Although there have been many times when I thought I could run and hide from my parents, and later in life, from God Himself, I learned that trying to hide is pointless.  David expressed this so well in Psalm 139: 11-12:

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
   and the light become night around me”—
even the darkness is not dark to You,
   but the night shines like the day,
   for darkness is as light to You.

In Genesis 16: 14, we are introduced to the “God who sees” (El Roi).  God saw and had compassion on Abraham’s dismissed handmaid, Hagar.  When she and her son, Ishmael, were dismissed to make their way in the wilderness, Hagar is comforted and nourished by God whom she called El Roi.   Even if I am in the remotest part of the sea, David reminds me that, “even there His hand leads me, and [His] right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139: 10)?   God not only sees me but, through the revelation of His Son Jesus Christ, He is “the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world (John 1: 9).” 

Before 1972, as a student at Malone College, I was walking in darkness, dead in my trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2: 3-5).  My life was much like that of now beloved theologian, R.C. Sproul, who was on his way to party the night away when he ran into one of the captains of his football team at Westminster College.  The captain showed him Ecclesiastes 11: 3 which states, whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.  Sproul was convicted by the Word and Holy Spirit, saw himself as that fallen tree, dead and rotting on the ground.  He went home, was convicted that he was a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness and salvation, and called on God to save him.  Like Sproul, I too was dead and in darkness, but God found me.

I Am Not Alone
I know that I am not alone in this world.  I have a wonderful network of family and friends who love me.  But we’ve all experienced those times, either in a crowd or by ourselves, when a sense of aloneness and loneliness rolls over us.  We ask ourselves, “Does anyone really care about me?  Does God care?  Does He really see me now?”  Or, “Is there really anyone out there with whom I can continually relate?”

In times of our loneliness, the answers come from One who is never far away from us.  Although the Risen Christ ascended into Heaven, He promised His followers, as John 14: 16 records, that He would leave us “a Comforter” (also called “a Helper” or “an Advocate”).  He is the Holy Spirit of God who comes to abide within the life of every Christ-follower.

In his book, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Suffers, Dane Ortlund writes, "Our tendency is to feel intuitively that the more difficult life gets, the more alone we are.  As we sink further into pain, we sink further into felt isolation. The Bible corrects us. Our pain never outstrips what He Himself shares in. We are never alone. That sorrow that feels so isolating, so unique, was endured by him in the past and is now shouldered by him in the present (p.48).”  Ortland concludes, "If you are in Christ, you have a Friend who, in your sorrow, will never lob down a pep talk from Heaven. He cannot bear to hold himself at a distance.  Nothing can hold him back.  His heart is too bound up with yours (p. 50)."

But God’s Spirit comforts us.  To “com-fort” is to “COMe with FORTification of faith,” by means of the Word of God.  Someone has said that the Spirit is the locomotive of our faith, but we must be “on the train tracks” of God’s Word for us to know the blessing of the Spirit’s power.  For me, God’s Spirit brings to mind Scriptures that have become real to me.  Here are some of those for your reference:   Psalm 1, 5, 12, 23, 31, 32, 42, 46, 62, 65, 84, 90, 91, 130, 131, and 139; John 1, 14, 17; Romans 5: 1-8 and Chapter 8; 2 Corinthians 1: 1-7; 4: 5-7 and 16-18; Ephesians 1: 1-2: 10; Philippians 3: 4-14; Hebrews 10: 19-39; 1 John 2: 1-2; 3: 1-3.

I Am Kept
Admittedly, most of us are comforted by the likelihood that our food and water will be there when we need it; law enforcement is there to protect us (barring many of our urban landscapes); and, many of us have a savings account and retirement funds.  But none of these are our ultimate “keepers.”  Only God is powerful and all-knowing enough to make and keep His promise that He “will never leave or forsake you ((Hebrews 13: 5).”  In the Gospel of John, chapter 10, Jesus presents Himself as the Good Shepherd.  Jesus says the sheep, representing those of us who know Him personally, they “hear His voice” (v. 3), “He calls them by name” (v. 3), “knows His own” sheep (v. 14), “lays down His life for the sheep” (v. 11), and He gives “eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of [His] hand” nor His “Father’s hand” (v. 28-29).

What can be more assuring to us who know Christ than to have a personal relationship with a God who is good, righteous, and faithful to His promises.  Many of you can testify as I have just done that God (El Roi) sees us.  He is near unto us at all times as our Comforter and Advocate, and He keeps us as our Good Shepherd.  But, beyond these three assurances is the fact that God invites us into personal relationship with Him.

I Am Invited
Because of His unfailing love, since the Garden of Eden, God has sought to restore fellowship with the fallen descendants of Adam.  I am one of Adam’s fallen sons who, by His grace and mercy, God called and I responded in faith to come.  

In the Old Testament, God called through His prophet Isaiah, Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters… (Isaiah 55:1).  In the New Testament, God came as Emmanuel, “God with us.”  Emmanuel, as Jesus, stood on the great day of the feast, and cried out with the same words He spoke through Isaiah centuries earlier, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink (John 7: 37). 

Jesus’ audience knew the severity of physical thirst and some responded to His invitation to come and have their spiritual thirst quenched.  Jesus still offers His loving invitation, but the human tendency is to disbelieve, reject, and run from Him.  Truth is, we don’t like what we see in ourselves.  And, we are afraid God won’t like it either.  Yet the Bible makes it clear from Genesis to Revelation that God loves His creation and He loves us. 

I Am Loved
I believe God loves me.  But, do I love myself?  And, what is there that God knows and loves in me that I ought to know and love?

The Bible endorses self-love as long as it is not a selfish love of self.  According to Jesus, the “Great and Foremost Commandment” is to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (Matthew 22: 37).  Jesus adds that the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (v. 39, emphasis added).   Let’s follow the logic of “loving God and loving ourselves.”

Applying ‘Love Logic:
1) I cannot love my neighbor as God commands if I don’t     
    love myself.
2) If I don’t love myself, I'll tend to hide or run from God. 
3) In spite of what I know and think about myself,
    God knows (Psalm 139) and loves me (John 3: 16).
4) I must come to know God who knows and loves me so
    that I can know myself more nearly as God knows me…
5) … which, in turn, will give me more of God’s love to
    offer back toward Him, toward my neighbor, and toward
    myself.

It seems clear that loving God and loving ourselves are bound tightly with knowing and loving God, and knowing and loving ourselves.  To understand and apply this knowledge, I’ve been digging deeper.  Please stay and follow me as we dive deeper.

Knowing God, Knowing Ourselves
So far, we have discussed “things I know” as a part of my relationship with God.  Because of God’s nearness and love, I know that I am seen, I am not alone, I am kept, I am invited, and I am loved.  All of these assurances point to one purpose of God toward me:  That I might know God; and, the more I come to know God, the more I love Him and want to please Him (1 John 3: 22), and love and enjoy what He loves and enjoys; namely, myself and others. 

In The Gift of Being Yourself:  The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery InterVarsity, 2015), David G. Benner writes, "Christian spirituality involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known… There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self, and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God. John Calvin wrote, "nearly the whole of sacred doctrine consists in these two parts: knowledge of God and of ourselves (p. 22)."

Ignore Knowing Self
Some of us have emphasized “knowing God” while minimizing the importance of knowing ourselves.  But Benner warns against this view: “One consequence of our tendency to focus on knowing God and ignoring knowing ourselves is that we "may produce an external form of piety, but it will always leave a gap between appearance and reality. This is dangerous to the soul of anyone--and in spiritual leaders it can also be disastrous for those they lead (page 22)."

Benner concludes, "Knowing God and knowing self are therefore interdependent.  Neither can proceed very far without the other. Paradoxically, we come to know God best not by looking at God exclusively, but by looking at God and then looking at ourselves-- then looking at God, and then again looking at ourselves. This is also the way we best come to know ourselves.  Both God and self are mostly fully known in relationship to each other (p. 27).”

Continue in the Word
But what does it mean to "look at God?" Jesus gives an answer in terms of our discipleship.  In John 8: 31-32 (emphasis added), Jesus invites those Jews who had believed Him, If you continue in My word then you are truly disciples of Mine and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.  The emphasis of Jesus's instruction is continuing in, abiding in, and submitting to God's Word as a disciple in order to know the truth.  Ellicott interprets Jesus’s invitation in terms of Jesus’s intercessory prayer for His disciples, "Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth (John 17: 17).”  And where do His disciples look for truth?  We look to Jesus who said to Thomas, "I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14: 6)."

The Apostle Paul pictured “knowing God” as the spiritual transformation (and transfiguration) that comes from actively looking at God (emphasis added):  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3: 18).  In reference to "beholding the glory of the Lord," Jackie Hill Perry, in Holier Than Thou: How God's Holiness Helps Us Trust Him, 2021, B&H Publishing), asks the question, "but where do we look?  What can show us such glory that we might be changed by it?  

Where we look is simple, accessible, and not hidden from us.  It is the Holy Scriptures that put forth a constant picture of God, as He is to be seen and understood.  Inspired by the Holy Ghost, preserved by Him, and interpreted with His illuminative help too, it is there, in the pages scattered with narratives, songs, poems, and letters, that we can behold Christ.  Perry cites the wonderful account of the resurrected Christ opening the Scriptures to the two confused men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 27).  In this account, our Risen Lord shows how the light of truth from the Word of God can shine forth the glory of Christ.  After Christ had opened the Old Testament Scriptures to them, the men exclaimed, Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us (v. 32)?”

In summary, when we become His disciples and accept Jesus’s invitation to “continue in His Word,” our lives are transformed because we come to know the truth—truth about God, and truth about ourselves.  Maybe you noticed the repeated association between “truth” and “light” in the Scriptures above.  As we are transformed by continuing upon God’s truth, the Word brings light which dispels spiritual darkness.  Or, as Jesus promised, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8: 32)."

Ellicott, explains beautifully the transformative power of truth and light: “The light of truth dispels the darkness in which lies the stronghold of evil.  Sin is the bondage of the powers of the soul, and this bondage is willed because the soul does not see its fearful evil.  When it perceives the truth, there comes to it a power which rouses it from its stupor, and strengthens it to break the fetters by which it has been bound.  Freedom from the Roman rule was one of the national hopes bound up with Messiah's Advent.  There is indeed a freedom from a more crushing foe than the legions of Rome.”

My Birthday Gift
Thanks to you the reader for staying with me for my birthday ponderings.  I hope they have been as spiritually encouraging to you as my study and writing of these things have been to me.  If you are a Christ-follower, I hope you are encouraged by the promises of Scripture that you are seen, not alone, kept, invited, and loved by God.  And, above all, that you have a new resolve to come to know God more, and in so doing, to love and enjoy Him; and, to love and enjoy what He loves and enjoys; namely, you, other people, and His creation in which you live.  Please use the “Comments” link below if  you’d like to share insights or questions; or, you may contact me at silviusj@gmail.com .

If you do not have a personal relationship with God through Christ that gives God’s love, joy, and peace, I urge you to contact me at silviusj@gmail.com . To learn more about the Good News (Gospel) of Christ and His Salvation, check out the simple outline, “Steps to Peace with God” by clicking HERE. It provides helpful Scripture and a prayer.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  -- John 17: 3 

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Acknowledgement:
Our thanks to God’s Spirit for His inspiration in writing this blog; hopefully, it reflects His will and truth.   Thanks also to our granddaughter by marriage, G.S., for the gift of David G. Benner’s The Gift of Being Yourself; to our granddaughter, Kiara, for the gift of Jackie Hill Perry’s Holier Than Now; and, to Steve, our son by marriage, for the gift of Henri Nouwen’s The Selfless Way of Christ. 

Minding the Children – 3. What Can I Do?

“What Can I Do?” This question is being asked by parents, grandparents, teachers, pastors, and medical health professionals all over America and beyond.  Each of them play a role in one of the greatest challenges of our age—stewarding the health of children and young adults.  Health professionals across our nation report a desperate need for an effective approach to stem the tide of poor mental health outcomes and suicides.  In fact, addressing mental health is one of the top three health concerns in all medical centers nationally.

We thank many of you who have already read the first two articles entitled “Minding the Children.”  If you are now asking even more strongly, “What Can I Do?”, we thank God for your compassion and concern.  It is just like our Creator to love and care about “our neighbor,” especially “these little ones” as Jesus called them (Matthew 18: 1-6).  Compassion and restoration is the motivation of Robb and MaryEllen Fogg, directors of the Community Health Initiative, and co-authors of this article.

We have presented a complicated issue with lots of moving parts in both defining the problem and in offering a path to restoration.  So, this final part of our series will simply serve a sort of GPS to everyone who is asking, “What Can I Do?”  We hope it will lead you or someone you care about to begin the good journey toward restoration.  You will be guided through a series of stops along the journey starting with identification of the problem faced by so many children, adolescents, and even adults—hormonal dysregulation and resultant emotional dysfunction.  Then, we will expose the real roots of the problem and point you to a series of online videos and other resources needed for overcoming the dysfunction.

As you navigate through the links below and become more informed of the problem and the program’s path toward restoration, try to identify characteristics and behaviors you have observed in yourself or your family and friends. If you are a person of faith in God, pray for a mind of understanding and a heart of love and compassion.  None of us have reached a perfect physical and emotional state.  But we are called to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Galatians 6: 2).  For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself (Galatians 5: 14).”   

We hope the resources below will equip you and/or loved ones with the understanding and practical tools that will bring flourishing where there has been dysfunction, frustration, fatigue, and despair.  The “Acorns to Oaks” program itself is available online free to enrollees, and comes from people who understand from their own experience what hormonal dysfunction is and have a passion to be of help. 

INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM • “Minding the Children   1.  What Can I Do?” A brief holistic view of childhood education starting in the womb and including the necessities for proper childhood development.  We explain the influence of childhood trauma (Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACE’s, on mental, emotional, and physical health.	Go HERE
EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM • “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health across a Lifetime” [VIDEO of a TED Talk by Nadine Burke Harris, MD Pediatrician]	Go HERE
HPA-Dysfunction  • "Animated Tour of the Brain Showing Dysfunction" [VIDEO Animation] • "Negative Effects of HPA-Dysfunction,"  by Robb Fogg [Technical Paper] • Dysregulations That Come with "Fight or Flight" [VIDEO by Robb Fogg] • Brief Explanation of How to Turn Off "Fight or Flight" [VIDEO by Robb Fogg]	Go HERE Go HERE Go HERE Go HERE
INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRAM • “Minding the Children” 2.  Path to Restoration” Robb and MaryEllen Fogg share their personal testimony and explain their free online program called “Acorns to Oaks.”  This program allows children and parents to cooperate in an interactive manner to assess the current health status of their child or adolescent.  Users of the program who give disciplined attention to improving their health scores on each of five biological baselines (Hydration, Nutrition, Sleep, Breath, and Play) will progress in improving their physical, mental, and social well-being.	Go HERE
ENROLLMENT IN THE PROGRAM • This link allows children and adolescents, supervised as necessary by parents, to enroll in “Acorns to Oaks.” Each enrollee in invited to complete the Daily Health Survey which will generate a score for each of five biological baselines: Hydration, Nutrition, Sleep, Breath, and Play.  Each enrollee is then given access to the unique Interactive Tracker which reports scores for each of the baselines.  As enrollees make progress in improving their baselines, they will be able to see their scores with color coding on their own personal Life Fuel Dashboard accessed through their “Acorns to Oaks” phone app.	Go HERE
INCENTIVES FOR ACHIEVEMENT One incentive is the gift of "getting one's life back" and the experience of "living in the present" rather than bearing the weight of past adversities and being anxious about the future.  Plus, achievers will be afforded a "Nature Imersion Experience" in a beautiful outdoor setting where personal disciplines and biological baselines can be further enhanced.

Now, the Readers' Turn:
We have discussed the alarming prevalence and consequences of adverse childhood experiences among adolescents, young adults, and parents.  Robb Fogg has launched a multi-faceted program to address HPA Dysfunction and to bring freedom and restoration to those locked in a cycle of cognitive, emotional, and spiritual turmoil.   If you or someone you know appears to be struggling under the effects of dysfunction and wants to find help, we urge you to avail yourself of "Acorns to Oaks" using the appropriate links above.

Finally, we hope you sense that we have a personal interest in helping those who are struggling.  We urge you to share your experiences, questions, and ideas using the “Comment” link below.  Your insights and experiences that will further add to the value of this discussion.  You may also e-mail us at silviusj@gmail.com . To contact or offer financial support or expertise to Robb and MaryEllen Fogg, directors of the Community Health Initiative, please contact them at robb@10000atoms.com