2009 Initiative - "365 Holy Days": The week upcoming is a week packed with holidays! We have Earth Day and Administrative Professionals' Day on Wednesday the 22nd, and Arbor Day on Friday the 24th.
- In September of 1969, John McConnell, a newspaper publisher and activist, proposed the idea of a worldwide holiday, where everyone in the world could forget their differences and recognize the universal need to preserve and protect the environment. This is Earth Day.
- Arbor Day is a day that is set aside every year to promote tree planting and to spread awareness of the importance of trees. J. Sterling Morton, a Nebraska journalist and politician originally from Detroit moved to the Nebraska Territory in 1854, and was struck by the treelessness of the area, so he started planting, and encouraged others to do so as well.
- Administrative Professionals' Day is an unofficial secular holiday; it is observed the Wednesday in the last full week of April; it originated in 1952 as the first week in June, then in 1955 the last week in April. This day's observance began through the work of Harry F. Klemfuss of Young and Rubicam in an effort to get more people interested in secretarial and administrative careers.
Lesson: Because the focus today is on three different observances, the lesson should feel like a kind of braid, in which we jump from one to the other in a rhythm. Also, the opening of the baseball season happened recently in the U. S., so the title is intended to allude to both the holidays and the sport of baseball: The Ball (Earth Day), The Bat (Arbor Day) and the Designated Hitter (Administrative Professionals' Day). Hope that all wasn't too confusing!
The key phrase for this lesson is: "Resourse stewardship". The focus on holidays like Earth Day and Arbor Day is the proper care of our precious natural resources. The Lord cares about this as well. In Genesis 1 we read about how God created the earth and the trees.
In Genesis 2 we read about the Lord utilizing trees to bring about life and a decision.
In Deuteronomy 21:22, 23 we read about a curse being on people that are executed by way of somehow hanging on a tree. Our Lord Jesus Christ hung on a tree, the cross. He took upon Himself the curse that our own sin brings about; but He Himself had no sin.
Now Jesus Christ is the ultimate Administrative Professional! He did only what the Father told him to do! See John 8:27-29. Also in John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 we find that everything was created by way of Jesus Christ. As in typical office situations, if the secretary, or AP, doesn't do it, it doesn't get done!
In the end, the earth will be done away (see Revelation 21:1). Even most of the trees will be gone, but there will be a tree still standing, the tree of life (see Revelation 22:2).Life application: As Christians, we find in Matthew 28:18-20, we are charged with being AP's to our Lord Jesus Christ and to His Father, also our Father, and all by the power of Their Holy Spirit. To be good stewards of the precious resources like the planet and the trees on it, we must be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
back to Crosstrainers main page
back to "For Christ's Sake!" main page