Pastors' Blog

There is a quiet reality on our campus. Students who attend their classes but skip their meals.
Families who stretch one box of cereal across a week. Graduate students who carry family expectations and hopes in addition to their full course loads and empty pantries.

Food insecurity is not somewhere else. It is here. On our campus. In our classrooms. In our pews. And that should matter to us.

In Luke 3:11, John the Baptist said, 

“Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

It is not complicated theology. It is discipleship in human flesh.

Centuries later, another preacher, Basil of Caesarea, wrote in his Homily to the Rich:

“The bread which you hold back belongs to the hungry; the coat which you guard in your closet belongs to the naked.”

In both John the Baptist’s and  Basil’s agrarian world, excess was rare but it was life-threatening for someone else. The line between surplus and survival was thin.

We live in a technological society where scarcity is less visible. We can order delivery for dinner while someone down the block or the dormitory hall quietly rations ramen. We can stockpile without ever seeing the face of the one who lacks.

Fasting Reorients the Heart

As Adventists, we don’t typically observe Lent. Yet, many around us are leaning into a season of intentional fasting and self-denial. The intention behind the fast is to reorient the heart and life around Jesus as a routine discipline in their spiritual lives.

In Matthew 6:16–18, Jesus assumes we will fast. He doesn’t say if you fast, but when you fast. And he warns us not to perform it for applause. No ashes, gloomy faces or theatrics. Instead, it should be secret and sincere.

Fasting is not a health fad. It’s a deliberate dependence on God.

Sometimes we fast from things that are detrimental to our physical or spiritual health. Sometimes we fast from good things that have quietly crowded out our need for Jesus. 

Food. Busyness, Media. Noise. Achievement. Money. Or, even, Ministry.  

Fasting exposes dependence. It reminds us that we are not self-sustaining creatures. When we feel the ache of hunger, we remember that we are sustained by God’s grace alone.

But Fasting Must Move Beyond Us

While fasting might be what you need to reorient your heart to God. It is also an opportunity to serve those less fortunate. To fast is to stand, even briefly, in solidarity with those for whom hunger is not a discipline but a daily reality. In fasting, we choose what others endure and live in embodied empathy. 

While fasting, some take the money they would have spent on meals and give it to those in need. Others take the time they would have spent watching the next episode on Netflix and invest that time in service. Some take their excess and give to those seeking basic sustenance. 

There is no prescribed method but, the point is movement from self to neighbor.

Manna Food Pantry 

On this campus, one tangible way to live this out is through the Manna Food Pantry. 

Manna exists because food insecurity exists here. There are students balancing tuition, rent, textbooks, family obligations, and unexpected emergencies. When budgets tighten, groceries are often the first thing reduced. Hunger becomes normalized. Stigma keeps it quiet.

But no student should have to choose between bills and dinner.
No student should try to concentrate in class while wondering how to stretch the next meal.

If you are considering a fast, consider this: what if the money saved became groceries on someone else’s table? What if the hours reclaimed became volunteer time sorting and distributing donations? What if our private discipline became public mercy?

If you are interested in aiding those dealing with Food Insecurity a donation guide is listed below.

Drop off locations:

1. The Counseling & Testing Center, Bell Hall Suite 123

2. Campus & Student Life office (Campus Center main floor)

3. University Towers front desk

We’ve had a few teasing days of sunshine here in Berrien Springs. The snow melted just enough for us to spot grass and the brave little plants underneath. It felt like winter had finally loosened its grip.

And then… more snow.

The cold that seemed to be packing its bags decided to stay a little longer. It makes you wonder: Will winter ever step aside and let spring take over? Were those sunny days just a preview of something better — or a false alarm?

We know how this works. Spring follows winter. Summer comes next. Then fall. Then winter again. The cycle is predictable.

And yet, when we’re in the middle of a season, it’s amazing how quickly we start wishing for the next one.

In the heat of summer, we say, “When will those cool autumn evenings come? I can’t wait to see the trees change color.”
Or maybe it’s more desperate: “I’m so done with these bugs! Please, let the cold come and take them away!”
Then in the fall, we’re tired of raking leaves every other day and start dreaming of a quiet snowfall covering everything like a clean white blanket.

Before long, we can slip into a pattern of living in one season while constantly wishing it away — always waiting for the next thing.

Let me ask you: Is that a healthy way to live?

Don’t answer too quickly. Sit with it for a moment.

I think there are reasons we might say both yes and no.

Think about the Israelites during the Exodus. Under the leadership of Moses, they left Egypt — a place of slavery and bondage, yes, but also the only life they had known. They had some security and routine. But now, they had seen God’s power. They had witnessed miracles. They were free!

And yet… they were in the wilderness.

Day after day, walking through the desert. Not in bondage anymore, but not yet in the Promised Land. It’s not hard to imagine how discouraging that must have felt. Some even said, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?” (Ex. 14:12). A few wanted to go back. Many were simply weary.

Here’s what I find beautiful: in that in-between season, God gave them manna.

Not a year’s supply.
Not a month’s supply.
Just enough for that day.

If they tried to store it, it spoiled. They had to wake up each morning and trust Him again.

What a lesson for us.

God didn’t rush them straight from Egypt to “a land flowing with milk and honey.” He sustained them daily in the wilderness. The manna kept their focus on what God was doing that day — while still trusting what He would do in the future.

Jesus echoes this in the book of Matthew: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”

Do we see signs of the times for us now? We know hard seasons will come. We also know they don’t last forever, and a better season is also coming. The same God who holds the future is holding today.

Look at the life of Joseph. The God who gave him dreams and a coat of many colors was the same God who was with him when his brothers sold him into slavery. The same God was with him as he worked in the house of Potiphar, in the prison, and later in the palace serving under Pharaoh.

Joseph didn’t waste his prison season waiting for the palace. He served faithfully wherever he was. He understood who he ultimately worked for. He made the best of each season without losing sight of God’s promises.

He even told his family near the end of his life, “God will surely visit you.” He trusted that the story wasn’t over — but he also lived fully in the chapter he was given.

Maybe that’s the balance.

Yes, it’s okay to long for spring when it’s cold.
Yes, it’s natural to hope for better days.

But we don’t have to put life on hold while we wait.

Winter has its beauty. So does the wilderness. So does the prison before the palace.

May we live with quiet confidence in whatever season we find ourselves. May we trust that God is not only preparing our future, but actively working in our present. And as we move forward, may we keep “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” — not passively, but faithfully, right here and right now.

I was looking through the window, marveling at the snowflakes and the beautiful winter scenery, and I found myself thinking, "how much longer will this cold winter last?" We are in the middle of January; therefore, we probably still have a few cold months ahead of us. It will be tremendously important to stay warm during this time. Have we made provisions for that?

Then I remembered a Japanese proverb: “One kind word can warm three winter months.” What a precious thought! Let’s put it into practice and keep warm! Yet, we don’t need to look only to Japanese wisdom; we know biblical proverbs that speak powerfully about the importance of words. I would like to share a few of them here.

Proverbs 15:23 “To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!”
Whatever season of life we are in, whatever winter we may be going through, let us use kind words with one another.

Proverbs 16:24 “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”
If we want to remain healthy this winter, let us choose gracious words. And there is even more about our health:

Proverbs 15:4 “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”
We may need a “windbreaker” when we go outside but let us not break one another’s spirit.

Proverbs 15:1 “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Let us be peacemakers and use words that do not provoke anger.

Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
What a tremendous power we have been given. Let us use it to encourage, to build up, and to help one another stay warm during the winter.

May all of us keep warm this winter. May we use kind words.

Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

If you have ever had the privilege of reading the parable of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10:25–37, you likely know the beauty and wonder behind an incredible individual giving their absolute all to the cause of another. If you have not read it, I encourage you to do so and allow the brilliance of this passage to illuminate your life. For in this story, we see Jesus depicting the character we ought to have if we desire to live eternally with Him.

Without reserve, the protagonist in the story draws near to the critically injured man on the road, and Scripture says that when all others neglected him, this Samaritan “came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him” (Luke 10:33–34).

You can already see quite easily that Jesus is referring to an individual with a self-sacrificing character as the standard to live in accordance with the melody of heaven, for anything else would be a discordant note. The Samaritan, however, does not stop here, but the story continues: “The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have’” (Luke 10:35).

The Samaritan did not do this out of obligation to his own kin; in fact, it was understood that the men did not share a common background. There was no expected benefit in giving all his time, energy, and financial resources to this man. The Samaritan did this out of a glad and cheerful heart, out of an overflow from something beyond him, a spring of water welling up into eternal life.

Matthew 25:40 says, “‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

Harbor of Hope has only been able to live this out because of the strength and leadership of Pastor Jharony Gibbs and several other leaders. Because of this, Harbor of Hope has become a beacon of hope in the community and has raised awareness of life-giving messages and lifestyles.

This season, the Harbor of Hope Church, the Benton Harbor community, and I, Pastor Jonathan Garcia, thank her for all the self-sacrificing time, energy, and more that she has poured out in furthering the kingdom of God. When there was someone hungry, when there were those who thirsted, when a stranger was in need, Pastor Jharony was there and present.

So for this, we say thank you. As we press on into a new year, let us hold a zeal in our hearts to have the spirit of heaven and to minister to those around us.