Stories & Commentaries

Before the pandemic, the last mission trip by a medical team of the Guam Seventh-day Adventist Clinic was in November 2019. They traveled to Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia to provide primary care. The return to missions began in November 2022 when the clinic’s eye care team went to the Republic of Palau, followed by a medical and dental trip to Rota in the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in January 2023.

I had a good relationship with my father. He always made time for his family no matter how busy he was. But once I started school, I would see him for only an hour or two before I went to bed. I remember my father always being busy, either in church or in his home office. I remember playing with my toys at the foot of his desk just to be near him. But that all changed when he got ill.

"To go or not to go?" That was the question! We had just been informed that John, my husband, had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a terminal disease, and he had anywhere from six months to two years to live. After collecting our breath (literally), and crying together, we refocused our future on the eternal. It seemed clear that the Lord was leading us to serve as AVS volunteers in Malawi.

"Message" magazine is published by the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, and printed at Pacific Press Publishing Association. "Message" is one of several sharing magazines geared toward members being able to share them with their family members, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. "Message" magazine is the second to be featured in our series.

Not long ago I attended a seminar during which the presenter asked, “What are you famous for?” I don’t remember details about the presentation, but I remember this question. Perhaps because it made me uncomfortable. And for some reason, that question has stuck in my mind. What am I known for?

The North Star serves a fixed compass in the night sky, guiding the pathway to the dawning of a new day. The history of African American Seventh-day Adventists is filled with numerous “north stars” who have contributed to the betterment of society for all people. Fortunately, this growing list continues into the twenty-first century.

Motorcycle Ministry Sabbath took place on Aug. 6, 2022. Earlier last year, when Michael Cerda, pastor of the Baton Rouge Seventh-day Church, first shared with the congregation that the Southwestern Union asked tmhe to host “bikers” from all over the country, there was a unified laugh followed by thoughtful silence. Members weren’t sure how to host bikers.

On this Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, as we reflect on what he stood for and fought for, may our actions bring to fruition daily that we are one family created in God’s image with inalienable rights of freedom and equality. May we use our voices, platforms, and our spheres of influence to lift the marginalized, the disenfranchised, and the least among us.

The Pacific Press Publishing Association, the printing and publishing house of the North American Division, produces several sharing magazines. These magazines are geared toward members being able to share them with their family members, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Vibrant Life is the first to be featured in our series.

Joelle Chinnock, whose father served as a dean on campus, was born and raised at Pacific Union College for the first 22 years of her life. “Growing up Adventist, I didn’t really know another option, and I didn’t understand the principles and beliefs for myself until later in life,” shared Chinnock, who moved to Paradise, California, about 20 years ago with her husband.