When it's raining out and you're stuck on campus, it looks like a boring day, right?
Wrong, some of our students decided it was a perfect day for Volleyball.
Look at this picture. You probably think it is one of the Zoom meetings that it seems like we just can't avoid.
It looks that way, but, wrong. A few of we oldsters recognize it as the opening picture for an old TV series, "The Brady Bunch."
Things aren't always what they look like at first glance.
Recently Alex Tavarez challenged us, based on some great models, to see things differently and do it in a way that makes a change for the better.
Daniel and his three friends (read Daniel 1) had been captured by a conquering army and taken hundreds of miles away to Babylon. They would never see family or home again. They lost their freedom. They had to adapt to a strange culture and learn the language of their enemies. Even their names were changed. Yet, these guys impacted their new nation-home for the God of the Bible. Though they had to leave their people, their story has inspired the Jewish people for two-and-a-half millennia. It still inspires God's people. Things aren't always what they seem, at first.
Let me modify a saying we use in the Mainland. "It is hard to soar with the Eagles when you spend your time with the chickens in the yard." That saying applies perfectly to Joshua. Joshua had just spent forty years with a bunch of losers--because of their unbelief and disobedience, they lost their opportunity to enter the Promised Land. Now Joshua was leading their children and grandchildren into their new home. Before they could move in, though, they had to move the old residents out. Unfortunately, the kids and grandkids had learned how to whine and complain from their parents and grandparents.
It doesn't sound like a very attractive job, does it?
Read what God told Joshua. “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”” (Joshua 1:6–9, ESV) The bold portion is our theme verse for the year.
One of the shaping influences in my life came from that great generation that fought in World War 2. I knew men who fought in Europe. I met a man whose toes froze in the Battle of the Bulge, and another who lost his sight. I knew a sailor who served on a battleship in this region. Another man I used to visit flew on a bomber out here in the Pacific. I visited my Uncle's grave in France. He came ashore at Normandy and never got home. These men modeled doing what you ought to do even when it is hard. I'm glad they did.
That's our challenge to you. Like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah make up your mind to serve the Lord (Daniel 1:8, "Daniel was determined. . . .") Like Joshua, "Be strong in the Lord" (Joshua 1:9). Like my Dad and his brothers, do something that will make the world better
Here is a song we used to sing when I was a child in Sunday School, only these young people sing it much better than we used to. It captures much of the thought that Alex has shared with us, DARE TO BE A DANIEL!
Live for Jesus. Pray for one another.
By His Grace,
The Prez. | 
