A daily devotionaql.

[Gregory Matthews]

A million years ago, as an Academy (High School) student, I had a math and science teacher, John McConnell.   (He taught in SDA Schools for some 30years.)   With the passage of time, he retired from  teaching.  In that retirement, he began to write daily devotionals which he sent to a group of people who signed up to receive his s-e-mails.  His devotionals were short and typically contained some comment from the world of science.  As the years passed, those devotionals were collected into several books.  His daily e-mails ended with his death.  One of his  followers has collected them and posted them on the Internet.  If you would like to read them, you may access them at: 

 

http://www.morningglorydevotionals.net/john.shtml

 

They are posted in the four books.  Jut click on the icon.   That will give you a partial listing of titles.  So, from there either click on a title, or expand the listing of titles.

 

NOTE:  I believe that there are some 600 devotionals posted. 

 

The following is one of his short devotionals.

 

"In The Beginning

 

by John McConnell

 

December 14, 2012

 

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Gen. 1:1

 

It is not clear if the "beginning" refers to the universe or to creation week. It is obvious that God began His creating activities many eons ago. Presently, the age of the universe, based on our limited observations, is estimated at several billions of years. But astronomers have not reached the edge yet. So the boundary of the universe may be well beyond that estimate. It is estimated that there are a billion galaxies, each one composed of 100 million stars. Some have compared the number of stars as all the grains of sand on all the seashores of earth. Each one of these stars is unique in color, composition and size. They must have been individually crafted instead of en masse. No one can tell us how a star Is born as no one has seen it happen. Somehow a critical mass of stellar dust coalesces and ignites into a nuclear fusion reaction that produces huge amounts of heat and light. Also, stars seem to have a definite life cycle. They evidently start out as medium sized yellow stars, expand due to internal pressure into red giants, and eventually run out of fuel and collapse into blue-white dwarfs or neutron stars, or explode in a final dying burst into a cloud of luminous gas called a nebula.

 

As the climax of His creative career, God desired to create a unique race of beings akin to Himself. One with which He could communicate face-to-face in intimate fellowship. But He needed a special habitat for this new species, so He sent out the Holy Spirit to find it. The Holy Spirit selected and "hovered over" a planetary blob "without form and void" that was the third planet in a solar system in the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy. It seemed to have the best potential for the new creation. God ignited the previously dark sun and set the earth to spinning. Then in six days, He proceeded to form the blob into a suitable habitation for man and filled it with all manner of plants and animals, and as the crowning act, He created man in His own image. Some would consider this a fanciful tale, but one day the earth will be restored to its original pristine beauty, and man will again have intimate communication with his Maker as it was "in the beginning."

 

© 2012 John McConnell

[Gregory Matthews]

Here is another one of his devotionals:

 

"

White Hot Christians

 

by John McConnell March 11, 2006

 

"Those that are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever." Dan. 12:3, NKJV.

 

As one gazes into the starry heavens, one sees myriads of points of light that vary in brightness and color. They are like jewels set in black velvet. Some are ruby red; some are topaz yellow; some are amethyst violet; some are sapphire blue; and some are white like diamonds. Each one has its own individual characteristic color and brightness. It is an awesome thought that the light from some of these stars has traveled through space for billions of years before we see it; that these tiny photon particles of electromagnetic energy finally arrive here on earth and are converted into a visual image which we call light. Astronomers believe the different colors are an indication of their temperatures. It is analagous to what happens to a piece of iron that is heated in a forge. As the temperature increases, the metal begins to glow red hot; as it becomes hotter, the metal glows brighter until it becomes white hot. Similarly, stars go through an evolutionary cycle in which the star ignites as a glowing red giant such as Antares. This red stage can last up to a billion years before gravitation forces it to contract into a smaller, hotter and more dense yellow star such as our sun. As the star matures, it becomes hotter and more dense and changes to a blue star. Finally, the star becomes a white dwarf.

 

A white dwarf is not only very bright, but it is also very dense, and it has a very strong gravitational field. Though this star is lovely to behold and quite spectacular in its brilliance, the strong attractive force can sometimes be catastrophic. If left to itself, a white dwarf will burn for eons of time. But occasionally it will pull a nearby star to itself, and the collision and added mass will upset the nuclear equilibrium so as to cause the star to explode in what is called a class-A supernova. The resulting explosion is so great and the energy so intense that for a short time the nova becomes the brightest celestial object and then it disappears forever. However, this is a very infrequent event; the last supernova in our galaxy occurred 300 years ago.

 

Christians have been likened to stars as they shine forth in the blackness of this dark world of sin. They shine with the light of divine truth as a beacon or as a city on a hill which gives hope and comfort to weary travelers. Just as there are different colored stars, so also there are different hues of Christians. Those new in the faith glow in the warmth of the first love. The more mature Christians shine as amethysts, sapphires, and diamonds. Occasionally one of the brightest lights will allow pride to extinguish their light as in the case of Lucifer, the bright and morning star, but those that turn many to righteousness will be like the stars that shine forever and ever. These shining lights could be called "white hot Christians."

 

© 2009 John McConell

[aka]

 

oh, I do like what I just read from John McConnell. 

That is really good of you Gregory, to start this as a devotional topic thread.

My mind gets cluttered up with such junk of bad memories flash-backs, or recent disturbing unpleasant interactions with some persons, or just absorbing the visuals in the secular enviroment, that I truly try to turn in to those places of spiritual uplift available for reading.

I can imagine I will be visiting this thread often.

 

(wave and smile to my million age old fossile friend called Gregory    )

[Gregory Matthews]

I do not mind you accepting me as a million year old fossil as long as you look upon it as a million years of wisdom.

   

 

If you would like to learn more about the life of John McConnell, see:  http://www.morningglorydevotionals.net/moars1.shtml

 

Memiors Of A Rocket Scientist or from Cal Tech to Iwo Jima with love by John McConnell

While some pages may be short, you will have to read through several pages.  He had an interesting life and gave 30 years to teaching in SDA schools.