A Day Like None Other

Resurrection Day was a day like none other in the history of mankind! John 20 tells us: “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.” The heavy stone which had been covering the entrance was rolled aside! The crucified Jesus was no longer buried within!

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

What a shock that must have been for the people who followed Jesus! He’d been buried in a tomb, a heavy stone was positioned and the chief priests set some kind of seal on the stone. For extra security (Matthew 27:65-66), Pilate permitted them to post a guard at the tomb. No one was getting in or out of that tomb!

Except … Jesus did! A day like none other. Continue reading “A Day Like None Other”

Christmas Wishes

At the Manger
Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay

From the Bible, Luke 2:

While Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem,
the time came for her to have the baby.
She gave birth to her first son.

An angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds,
and the glory of the Lord was shining around them ….
The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid.
I have some very good news for you –
news that will make everyone happy.
Today your Savior was born … He is the Messiah, the Lord.

Have a Merry Christmas! And may your New Year be one of meaningful blessings!

He Is Risen!

Resurrection Sunday … Christendom has celebrated this historic event for close to two thousand years. It is the pivotal point of history. After the crucifixion, they laid the dead body of Jesus in a tomb and sealed it with a stone (like the one in this picture).

www.LumoProject.com

Then Sunday came – Resurrection Sunday. But the tomb was empty! Women came to visit the tomb but Jesus wasn’t there! An angel appeared and proclaimed to the women:  “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” (Matthew 28:6) Absolutely the best news ever!

Have a wonderful day celebrating the risen Savior!

Imagine

In mid-March, a group of celebrities posted an online video singing their rendition of John Lennon’s classic song Imagine. The stated purpose was to “raise morale” as the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the globe. (Their effort was not well-received.)

In the midst of this situation, imagination isn’t our primary aim. Reality reminds us daily we’re smack-dab in a real-life global pandemic. Things changed overnight. People died and countless others have been hastily quarantined. We don’t have to imagine grocery shelves picked clean nor the bewilderingly low supply of items like toilet paper and paper towels.

With amazing prescience, Netflix released (on January 22, 2020) a 6-episode docu-series titled, Pandemic:  How to Prevent an Outbreak. Though I haven’t watched it yet (too soon), I’ll probably do so eventually. One reviewer called it “visually stunning” and “a great piece of storytelling.” The series features caregivers who work the front lines when crisis occurs.

Since the dawn of time, mankind has faced disasters, some caused by disease, famine or flood. However, if there’s anyone with personal experience in dire circumstances, the biblical record of God’s prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, lays it out perfectly in I Kings 17. Continue reading “Imagine”

Jonah’s World

Heavy-hearted today. Writer Marvin Olasky has posted a sobering article on the World Magazine site titled Blindsided. It’s a post that won’t show up in print until their July 11, 2015 edition. The article was posted early this morning (1 a.m.) prior to the Supreme Court announcement.World-1Olasky shares the heart-wrenching details of a San Francisco church congregation that was established in 1997. City Church began with about 30 people and a pastor whose vision it was to be salt and light in a community that has been compared to the ancient (and evil) city of Nineveh where God sent Jonah, the Old Testament prophet. Continue reading “Jonah’s World”

Fashioned In Clay

The youngest witness of Job’s ongoing agony and complaint has now made himself known in Chapter 32 of The Book of Job. Last week I posted about Elihu’s first comments. He’s a young guy and he admits he’s been listening to Job and the three comforters, and has heard their explanations for Job’s suffering.

FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake
FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake

In Chapter 33, Elihu goes on speaking. Elihu explains how Job has been calling for a judge to whom he can present his case and make his appeal. In essence, Elihu tells Job, I’m the man you want! Elihu establishes his common ground with Job, saying he also had been formed out of clay. With thoughtful arguments, Elihu will offer judgment on Job’s complaints. Continue reading “Fashioned In Clay”

Spring Blooms

Though I ended up working past dark (good thing I’m not afraid of the dark!), I completed my garden work this evening. All those tomato and pepper plants are safely ensconced in the soil – surrounded by a generous helping of Miracle-Gro garden soil – and ready to drink in the rain my Beloved tells me is expected overnight.2015-05-05 21.26.35

While I was working in the garden, my Beloved was also busy outdoors, spiffing up the shrub and flower beds around the house’s perimeter. When we next spoke, he surprised me … he had cut a stalk from the azalea bushes on the north side of our house and presented it to me! (See above picture.) Continue reading “Spring Blooms”

The Human Story

Everyone has a story to tell. Life doesn’t occur in a vacuum and although the details of one’s life may seem mundane, even boring, other people don’t always share that view. Yesterday’s poem-of-the-day email from Academy of American Poets featured a sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning begins “O Dreary life!” we cry, “O dreary life!” Who among us hasn’t felt that identical fatigue?story 2Stories energize us, convince us our personal experiences aren’t isolated … it’s comforting to know other people have felt the very same emotions as we do. A person boards a plane, train, or bus and starts a conversation that is often summed as:  this is my story, this is who I am. Each aspect of one’s story sets a basis for common ground, our points of connection with one another. Continue reading “The Human Story”

He Is Risen Indeed!

In its historical perspective, Passover (Pesach) is a week-long Jewish celebration to remember the liberation of the Israeli nation from their Egyptian captors. For clear understanding, the Book of Exodus (the literal meaning of the word Exodus is “going out“) offers an easy-to-read narrative that relates Moses requesting Pharaoh to “let my people go” out of Egypt where they had become slaves.cc_risen

The concept of Passover (with its spotless lamb) came years earlier in Genesis 22 where God instructed Abraham to take the son of promise (Isaac) and “offer him there as a burnt offering …” As Abraham and Isaac traveled to a particular mountain, Isaac observed they had fire and wood but no lamb. Abraham replied prophetically:  “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.Continue reading “He Is Risen Indeed!”

Crossroad of Church and State

Hatred is an insidious emotion. The recent massacre at a Kenyan university underscores hatred’s indiscriminate power to destroy the innocent. With a death toll of nearly 150, the pre-dawn terror attack focused on non-Muslim students, setting professed Muslims free. Certainly, hatred with a religious component is even more insidious because the perpetrators justify their actions by claiming religious zeal.

Kenya1
FROM: http://tiny.cc/rhilwx

The religious leaders in the first century were masters at stirring up the Hebrew people. As Luke 22:47-53 notes, a crowd (mob?) had come under the darkness of night to where Jesus had retreated to pray. In the crowd (leading the crowd?) were the “chief priests and officers of the temple and elders.” As they seized Jesus to take Him away, He observes how He’s been teaching “day after day in the temple” and yet “you did not lay hands on me.Continue reading “Crossroad of Church and State”