Adventist kids learn early that the story is going to end well.
We heard it before we could explain it. Jesus is coming back, and He will make this tired earth new. Revelation 21 promised that “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death” (KJV), and the grown ups around us seemed to believe it.
Every week we got a preview. On Friday evening the house slowed down. Sabbath brought long family meals, afternoon walks through the woods, and parents who finally had time to sit with us. That rest felt like a sample of the world we sang about.
And we sang about it constantly. Children’s songs about heaven filled our Sabbath School rooms. Pathfinders handed us knots, campfires and honors, while summer camp put us under the stars with counselors who talked about Jesus like a friend coming home soon.
The adults who raised us lived as if the future was good. That hope pushed them outward. Adventists built hospitals and schools around the world, and in 1956 the church began the relief work now known as ADRA.
None of this means the church got everything right. We have often missed the mark, because the church is made of humans who mess up all the time, and it has done a lot of growing with plenty still to do. The beauty we were handed remains real, and growing up inside that hope was a gift.
The story still ends well, and that ending has a name. The Second Coming is Jesus Himself returning for the people He loves, and every good Sabbath we knew was a small taste of being with Him.
Photo: “Connecting with nature,” students of Simi Valley Adventist School planting a native schoolyard habitat in California, March 2015, by Steve Henry, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Framed, starfield background and text added. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Connecting_with_nature._Photo_by_Steve_Henry_USFWS._(16252632964).jpg
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