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Hope

Hope

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“Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen.
Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,
saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
And they remembered His words…
Luke 24:6–8

Cold. The Winter of 2014 was cold. So long it seemed unending. Hard on people cooped up at home, curtains drawn to block the cold, and in the process blocking out the light as well. In many ways, the winter just passed resembled a cold, dark tomb. Dead and lifeless. Devoid of light.

Even so, I had hope that it would end.

How long? I wondered with eyes searching the landscape for signs of spring. How long will this go on? How much longer will we wait for warmer days filled with light? 

As winter’s icy fingers stretched far beyond Ash Wednesday and deep into Lent, my thoughts turned toward the men and women who ministered to Jesus’ body, buried Him, and watched the authorities seal the tomb. Though Jesus had prophesied His death and resurrection, His followers didn’t understand. Therefore, they weren’t waiting for Him to rise from the dead. They were mourning a loss they thought was permanent.

They were without hope.

They didn’t ask, How long until He comes back to life? They asked, How will we live the rest of our days without Him?

Those questions consumed the thoughts of the women who visited the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. No wonder they were terrified when they saw the stone rolled away. No wonder they bowed low before the two men in dazzling white who asked, Why do you seek the living One among the dead? No wonder they were speechless as they comprehended His prophetic words: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

No wonder they began to hope again.

They didn’t say, How can this be? for the Word of Christ, the Word who is Christ resonated in their hearts.

The light of truth flooded the empty tomb. The winter in their souls relinquished its icy hold. New life stirred their hearts and still stirs the hearts of all Christ’s followers: He is who He says He is. He is who our hearts know He is. He is the God who has power over life and death!

Their hope, and ours, is everlasting and eternal.

So this Easter season of new life and light and springtime, we join the saints from throughout the ages and proclaim the joyful truth: Our God lives! Christ is risen! Alleluia!

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Will We Obey?

Will We Obey?

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Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and that He had said these things to her.
John 20:18

I love the resurrection story in John 20. Maybe because we’re both women, I identify with Mary Magdalene’s emotions.Her initial despair when she sees the empty tomb.
Her determination to carry Jesus’ body all by herself in a vain attempt make things better. Her joy when Jesus said her name, and she recognized the resurrected Lord. Her immediate obedience when Jesus commanded her to tell the disciples.

Then again, I’m not very proficient at the immediate obedience thing. If I’d been in Mary’s place, Jesus’ command to proclaim the resurrection of a man who three days ago had been declared dead, dead, dead would have stopped me cold. Because I would have made an excuse out of what Mary surely understood back in her day.

Without proof or the collaboration of other credible witnesses, no one would believe her claim that Jesus was alive. Besides, she was a woman, and before Jesus came along, women didn’t count for much. Especially not to the Jewish leaders who sent Jesus to his death and wanted him to stay dead, dead, dead.

How did Mary find courage to obey? I think the answer is found in verse 17 where Jesus calls her by name. “Mary,” he says, and she responds, “Raboni.” Then, she clings to the One who rose from the dead, the One who turned her despair into hope, the One who restored purpose to her life.

When the One who called her by name commanded her to spread the word, she held onto hope implicit in his resurrection. Clinging to hope, she made no excuses. She stood firm in the truth. She refused to water down the message.

She ran to the disciples and announced, “I have seen the Lord!”

Today, with Easter music still ringing in our ears, the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection lifts us up. Jesus bids us cling to the hope found in the empty tomb. He calls each of us by name and commands us to announce the truth to a waiting world.

Jesus is risen!
The tomb is empty!
Death has lost its sting!
Our Savior lives!

In the wake of Easter, with the empty tomb behind us and a world perishing without hope before us, will we follow the example of Mary Magdalene? Will we obey and proclaim what we know to be true?

We have seen the Lord!
He lives!

Photo Credit: www.freedigitalphotos.net

Knowing God

Knowing God

Easter

Grace and peace be multiplied to you
in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
2 Peter 1:2

Don’t quote me on this, but my gut feeling is that Simon Peter didn’t coin the phrase “Good Friday.” For him, that Friday was not his best day. Not only did the man for whom he risked everything–home life, a fishing business, and his reputation–die on the Friday before Passover, but Peter bore a boatload of guilt. While he watched Jesus die on the cross, conversations from the previous day must have played in his mind.

The slave girl asking, “You’re not one of this man’s disciples are you?” To which Peter replied, “No, don’t know him.”

The question the soldiers asked when he stood with them by the fire. “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” And his quick response, “Nah, don’t know the guy.”

And to the slave who thought Peter had been in the garden with Jesus, the disciple replied, “No, not me. I don’t know the man.”

Three times Peter denied the truth.
Three times Peter denied knowing Jesus.
Three times Peter denied knowing the Son of God.

Which could explain why Peter hammers home the importance of knowing God in the first eight verses of 2 Peter. In verse two, he prays for grace and peace to be multiplied in believers in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. In verse three, he says that the divine power to live godly lives comes through the true knowledge of Him who called us. And in verse eight, he says the qualities of faith, virtue, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love will increase our true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

All this from a man who denied knowing God three times. A man who, through Christ’s death and resurrection, through the forgiveness granted him by his risen Lord, and through the power of the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost, came to know the truth of words penned by Paul to Timothy: if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

Once Peter knew the truth of God’s faithfulness, he became fearless. Bold. Courageous. Confident. Unstoppable. He proclaimed the truth to beggars, Pharisees, prison guards, and rulers. He refused to quit talking about the God he knew and who knew him. The God who loved the disciple who denied him three times. The God whose power turned the blackest day in human history into Good Friday.

God’s transforming power should make us long to know God as much as Peter longed for us to know his Savior. It should make us long to know the God who loves us despite our sin and shame. It should make us long to be changed from sniveling deniers of God into bold proclaimers of his glory. Peter’s transformation should make us long for lives redeemed by the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.

Like Peter, we should pray for desire to know the God who can turn our worst days, through the power of Christ, into Good Friday.

Ten Reasons to Walk on Spring Mornings

Ten Reasons to Walk on Spring Mornings

I’m an early riser and try to start each day with a walk. The practice is good exercise in every season, but a spring stroll is also a delight to the senses. Here are ten reasons I love to walk outside on a fresh spring morning.

10.  Sunrise.

9.    The yellow-green tree leaves are such a happy color.

8.    The red buds blooming in the wild ravine down by the bridge.

7.     Frogs singing in a pond dappled with early morning sunshine.

6.     Knock-kneed fawns running every which way when their mothers turn tail and run.

5.     Wild plum trees blooming along the fence rows.

4.     The scent of lilacs on the breeze.

3.     Cardinals singing in the treetops.

2.     Crab apple petals turning the air pink and white as they float through the air.

1.     The new growth surrounds me with the promise of Easter – new life in Christ.

Three Springy Thoughts for Thursday

Three Springy Thoughts for Thursday

Spring is in full swing with Easter celebrations in the works for the weekend. You have just enough time to check out these three thoughts for Thursday before preparations for the celebration crowds out everything else.

  1.  A breathtakingly beautiful drive across the eastern half of our state – its red bud, wild plum, and crab apple trees in bloom mile after mile – made me grateful to live in Iowa in springtime.
  2. Watching oneself in a video is not nearly as breathtakingly beautiful as a drive across Iowa in the spring. In fact, the experience is so painful, I won’t make a habit of watching the book trailer for Different Dream Parenting. But if you’ve been wondering how the book came to be, check out both the trailer and information about how to order the new electronic version of the book here.
  3. Did you see Target’s Easter ad in the Sunday paper? Beside the picture of a carton of eggs was a big, red target dot spinning them as “ready to cook and dye eggs!” How long did it take for the advertizing department to come up with that one?

What’s the craziest spin you’ve seen in an ad? Leave a comment so we can chuckle with you.