Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2015

Additionally, as you read the Gospels, you find Jesus devoting Himself to His disciples for three years. From the time He called them out of their relatively obscure lives, every moment was fraught with intentionality, whether it be in the guise of a parable, a meal shared with sinners, or with a washcloth and a basin full of water. Every moment with Jesus had deliberate meaning, all toward the end of preparing them for His commission to go into all the earth and make disciples. Finally, the Apostle Paul had a three-year waiting period of sorts, writing in Galatians that he “went away into Arabia and returned again to Damascus,” and “after three years I went up to Jerusalem” (Gal. 1:17–18). While we do not knowwhat happened to Paul or exactly how long his “wilderness experience” was, it is possible that God had a deliberate purpose in mind that prepared Paul for his unashamed ministry of the Gospel. Whether it be living in the midst of Babylon, walking in Galilee with the Messiah, or dwelling in the desert, 1,000 days is a significant amount of time, and one that God can and has used to shape a person for His kingdom purposes. As Providence would have it, Cedarville University also has its undergraduate students for about four years, amounting to just more than 1,000 days once breaks and holidays are considered. With the Apostle Paul, we want to intentionally develop our students for God’s mission in their lives, to teach them to look carefully how they walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time (Eph. 5:15–16). At Cedarville, we have deliberately shaped the 1,000 days students have on this campus toward this formative endeavor. From the classroom to the residence hall room, each facet of the Cedarville experience is framed to set students on a Gospel trajectory and help them “understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17). At the heart of their 1,000 days at Cedarville is chapel. Students, faculty, and staff set aside 10 a.m. each weekday to gather with the Word of God at If you look at Scripture, you see a pattern of 1,000 days used for the purpose of personal formation. For instance, in the opening chapter of Daniel, we find King Nebuchadnezzar commanding Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring the best and brightest of the conquered Israelites before him. For three years, these “youths without blemish” were acculturated into a Babylonian worldview. They read Chaldean literature, learned their language, adapted their diets to Nebuchadnezzar’s personal meal plan, and received new names in order to remove any explicit connection to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This intentional training resulted in a useful citizen for the Babylonian king. 1,000 Days by Thomas White 2 | Cedarville Magazine