"For God So Loved the World"
I've been involved in a lot of big projects at work, and this past week we were doing our onboarding for our most recent one, the Student Data Warehouse. As we were in the meeting, giving the timeline of where the charge to have the warehouse came from, we got to the part about actually deciding what went into the warehouse.
The SDW houses student information that we pull from PeopleSoft and put into a safe environment where only a select few have access to view and query off of it. It takes a lot of pressure off of our office, because usually all requests for any information have to go through us, and it can be a lengthy process, as only a handful of us query. We were charged with creating the SDW the beginning of 2013, and have been working on it since. The first step was to sit through a dimensional building seminar with a professional and see what exactly their system could do. As we got past the initial training, we sat down to determine what would go into the Student Data Universe. (I did not join the building process until July of this year, so I did not get to participate in the initial building of the SDW, nor in the decision of what went into the SDW).
You see, we can have multiple universe's in the tool, and as our office governs the student records, we had to determine what information was needed in the student universe, and what was not. Tim, our presenter at the meetings, described how it was a new system, we had never done anything like this before, and as we have gone along, we have discovered different components we missed. He explained how a year from now we would know a lot more than what we do now, how it is a learning process, and we are all in this together.
As I sat through the presentation of this information multiple times this week, it wasn't until the third time that this part really started taking a different meaning to me, and then hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday at the temple.
When God created the earth, He prepared for every possible situation. He didn't just throw down a world and send us here to try to succeed. He gave us night and day, animals, water, trees, vegetation, a man and a woman to multiply and replenish the earth (we could not have continued if he had put just two men here first, or two women. We needed to have one of each... just food for thought), and most importantly, He gave us Christ.
He had prepared before we even voted on whether to come to earth or not a way for us to return to Him. He knew we would fall. He sent us to earth, where our mortal bodies would not only be tempted by the natural man inside each of us, but also by Satan, our enemy. We would never succeed on our own- we cannot. If you do not believe that piece of truth, you need to go read the scriptures again. We would never be able to return to the presence of God without Christ and the atonement. He knew this. He knew we would need a Savior, and He prepared Christ to come. He sent Him at the exact moment in time when it was right. He prepared Mary and Joseph to be parents to Jesus.
He knew Christ would be crucified, and knew that there would be a great apostasy. He knew a 14 year old boy would go into a grove in Palmyra, NY, hundreds of years later, and the true church would be restored.
He knew exactly when to send people to earth. He knew what would be best for us- whether trials, joy, sickness, health.... He knew exactly what He was doing! Before we even decided which plan to follow- God's or Lucifer's- God knew what was going to happen. He is all knowing, all seeing, all loving, all good, all truth. He knew many of His children would choose to follow Satan, whether in the pre-earth life, or in this life. He knew many of His children would stop believing in God, or in Christ. He knew those who did believe would be mocked, scorned, belittled, and even martyred. He knew this before He sent us here.
He also had had practice in creating other worlds. God has the power to create worlds without number. He had created many before this. He did exactly what needed to be done to our earth to allow us to become the best people we could become, and to return to live with Him.
God didn't send us down here not knowing whether He had all components figured out- He knew it all! He had a plan for everything. He'd thought of everything, and when He sent us He didn't have a doubtful outlook on earth; He was confident in all of His creations. He knew He had given us every tool to get through earth life and have a way possible to return and become just like Him!
How grateful I am for a loving Father in Heaven who has everything figured out. I am so glad I do not have to depend on mortal men to get me to the next life. I am so grateful that we can all depend on God, who will never let us fail if we put our trust in Him. He loves each of us and wants us to succeed!
During this Christmas season, remember the goodness of God in sending His son, Jesus Christ, to allow us to reach our full potential. Remember what Christ has done for each of us, and why we need Him!
Remember that we are part of something bigger than our own selfish desires, and that we have the potential to be like God! Merry Christmas everyone, and thank you Heavenly Father, for loving us enough to send your son, Jesus Christ. He really is the true gift of Christmas.
The SDW houses student information that we pull from PeopleSoft and put into a safe environment where only a select few have access to view and query off of it. It takes a lot of pressure off of our office, because usually all requests for any information have to go through us, and it can be a lengthy process, as only a handful of us query. We were charged with creating the SDW the beginning of 2013, and have been working on it since. The first step was to sit through a dimensional building seminar with a professional and see what exactly their system could do. As we got past the initial training, we sat down to determine what would go into the Student Data Universe. (I did not join the building process until July of this year, so I did not get to participate in the initial building of the SDW, nor in the decision of what went into the SDW).
You see, we can have multiple universe's in the tool, and as our office governs the student records, we had to determine what information was needed in the student universe, and what was not. Tim, our presenter at the meetings, described how it was a new system, we had never done anything like this before, and as we have gone along, we have discovered different components we missed. He explained how a year from now we would know a lot more than what we do now, how it is a learning process, and we are all in this together.
As I sat through the presentation of this information multiple times this week, it wasn't until the third time that this part really started taking a different meaning to me, and then hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday at the temple.
When God created the earth, He prepared for every possible situation. He didn't just throw down a world and send us here to try to succeed. He gave us night and day, animals, water, trees, vegetation, a man and a woman to multiply and replenish the earth (we could not have continued if he had put just two men here first, or two women. We needed to have one of each... just food for thought), and most importantly, He gave us Christ.
He had prepared before we even voted on whether to come to earth or not a way for us to return to Him. He knew we would fall. He sent us to earth, where our mortal bodies would not only be tempted by the natural man inside each of us, but also by Satan, our enemy. We would never succeed on our own- we cannot. If you do not believe that piece of truth, you need to go read the scriptures again. We would never be able to return to the presence of God without Christ and the atonement. He knew this. He knew we would need a Savior, and He prepared Christ to come. He sent Him at the exact moment in time when it was right. He prepared Mary and Joseph to be parents to Jesus.
He knew Christ would be crucified, and knew that there would be a great apostasy. He knew a 14 year old boy would go into a grove in Palmyra, NY, hundreds of years later, and the true church would be restored.
He knew exactly when to send people to earth. He knew what would be best for us- whether trials, joy, sickness, health.... He knew exactly what He was doing! Before we even decided which plan to follow- God's or Lucifer's- God knew what was going to happen. He is all knowing, all seeing, all loving, all good, all truth. He knew many of His children would choose to follow Satan, whether in the pre-earth life, or in this life. He knew many of His children would stop believing in God, or in Christ. He knew those who did believe would be mocked, scorned, belittled, and even martyred. He knew this before He sent us here.
He also had had practice in creating other worlds. God has the power to create worlds without number. He had created many before this. He did exactly what needed to be done to our earth to allow us to become the best people we could become, and to return to live with Him.
God didn't send us down here not knowing whether He had all components figured out- He knew it all! He had a plan for everything. He'd thought of everything, and when He sent us He didn't have a doubtful outlook on earth; He was confident in all of His creations. He knew He had given us every tool to get through earth life and have a way possible to return and become just like Him!
How grateful I am for a loving Father in Heaven who has everything figured out. I am so glad I do not have to depend on mortal men to get me to the next life. I am so grateful that we can all depend on God, who will never let us fail if we put our trust in Him. He loves each of us and wants us to succeed!
During this Christmas season, remember the goodness of God in sending His son, Jesus Christ, to allow us to reach our full potential. Remember what Christ has done for each of us, and why we need Him!
Remember that we are part of something bigger than our own selfish desires, and that we have the potential to be like God! Merry Christmas everyone, and thank you Heavenly Father, for loving us enough to send your son, Jesus Christ. He really is the true gift of Christmas.
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