After 12 days and over 3,000 miles of travel, glorious weather, and a heart full of special memory-making moments, we’re home. Sigh. I looked forward to this trip for months, savoring the anticipation, but now it’s in the past and “normal” looms before me. Sigh. Have you been here? What happens next? Well, like any … More Finding Purpose in Life
What a life! The Nuthatch comes to my feeder, selects his lunch (or in this case, breakfast) and swoops to the trunk of a nearby tree. He then faces downward and starts cracking the nut, pinning against the tree. Over and over again, he comes and repeats the exact same habit, except perhaps to eat … More Upside-down Lunch
My mother-in-law was Swedish and she lived her roots in her baking, nick-knacks, Christmas and even color schemes. Blue and yellow were her favorite colors! Even her pens came from Sweden, but one of our children was blessed every Christmas and birthday with Brio, the Swedish made wooden train track. As I played on the … More Lessons from Brio
Thank you, dear Potter, for choosing this lump of clay. Thank you for molding me into Your creation. Your design will be perfect, completely according to Your plan. Thank you for Your tender touch. I know the push and pressure of your gentle hands will make me better—more of what You envisioned for me. I’m … More The Pot’s Prayer
The world may rush on by today not remembering why they have the day off, but Christians know, or at least they should. Good Friday—the day the Son of God died—is truly good because it was on that day that Satan’s chains of death were broken. All eternity hinges on this day—the day our sin-debt … More Six Hours—When Time Stood Still
When we read of Jesus’ agony and prayer in the garden—the start of his passion (as Dr. Pettit points out in his message)—and then read of all the agony, sheer torture, grief, mocking, pain and everything else He suffered, I realize that only a god THE GOD of all gods could carry such a burden … More “God, forsaken of God”
—Isaiah. 53:4,5/Matt. 8:16,17 Suffering Vicariously (Our Delegated Substitute!) Isaiah 53: 3,4 He is despised (hated, reviled, loathed, shunned, scorned, derided [antonym is beloved: how heartbreaking that the beloved Son of God bore all this FOR ME!]) and rejected (disallowed, forbidden, banned, excluded, vetoed, prohibited) of men; a man of sorrows (distresses, troubles, burdens, disappointments), and … More March 26
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. Psalm 41:9 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. Mark 14:10 And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, … More March 23
Zech. 9:9/John 12:13, 14 Triumphal Entry Some may scoff and say that Jesus staged the whole thing, but the amazing prophecy actually begins in Matthew 21:2 where Jesus tells His disciples, “Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring … More March 21–Week 3: PROPHECIES CONCERNING JESUS’ DEATH
—Matt.21:33-41 The Parable of the Vineyard Characters in this parable: Householder/landowner—he planted the vineyard, put a wall around it, and dug a winepress and tower Husbandmen/vine-growers—the householder rented it to them Servants/slaves—householder sends HIS servants to the vineyard that THEY might receive the fruit Husbandmen took the servants and beat, killed, stoned them (This action repeated … More March 15
