I told you so.  You might have missed this story while we were working on our Easter Series.  Anyhow, I wanted to come back to it to show you where the early money was going.  Romney beat McCain and Giuliani (almost combined.)  Romney raised $23 Million, with Giuliani at $15 Million ($10 M in March alone--nice month for him), and McCain at only $12.5 Million--despite his media-espoused 'front runner' status.

That's fine news for Giuliani, great news for Romney and horrible news for McCain. 

Read on HERE.

Thomas More

 

When Mary comes to the tomb of Jesus early Sunday morning and sees the stone rolled away, she immediately runs to tell the other disciples what she assumed to be true: someone had come and taken away the body of Jesus.

Peter and the other disciple (presumably John), hearing the news, run to the tomb to see if what Mary reported was so.  Upon arrival, they actually enter the tomb, see that Mary had told them the truth, and return to where they were staying, unsure how to respond, numb from the catastrophic events of the last few days.

Mary, upon arriving at the tomb for the second time, now enters.  She encounters two angels, in white, who ask her a question: “Woman, why are you weeping?”  She responds again with her assumption: “they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him”.  She then turns away and encounters a man, again making an assumption about what she has encountered without really looking. She assumes he is the gardener. 

Are we not all just like Mary? 

Read on HERE.

 

It is on the tip of my tongue - but must wait there for another day.  “Christ is Risen!” we greet one another for the fifty days of the Paschal (Easter) season.  One responds, “He is Risen Indeed!”

For Orthodox Christians, Lent ended on Friday, March 30. (However, the fasting continues and intensifies for Holy Week.)  Saturday the 31st was ‘Lazarus Saturday’ when Lazarus was raised from the dead.  Sunday we shared Palm Sunday with the West, calling it ‘Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem’.  The Easter baskets will soon be prepared in order to be blessed.  All the special treats we haven’t eaten all Lent will be there; for the Russians it is kulich - for converts it may be Krispy Kreme donuts.  The Paschal Liturgy begins at 11:30pm tonight in a dark church, in the tomb - and our six year old gets to stay up almost all night! 

Read on HERE.

Beth

 

I have often considered the sacrifice of Jesus on Easter, but only recently have I pondered deeply the sacrifice of God the Father.

I was taught from a very young age that Jesus was God's only begotten son, and that He died for my sins. Sometimes familiarity breeds apathy, and in my case, I often was unmoved by Jesus' (and God's) sacrifice on my behalf. It was just too rote.

But once I had children of my own, and then had to deal with the pain of losing two babies (to miscarriages), I began to reconsider the depth of pain and sacrifice God must have felt when He offered His own son on the cross. It's, frankly, unbearable to imagine putting your own child in such a position. It's unthinkable to envision your little one being whipped, then beaten, then hung up by nails through his skin, and finally gored with a sword.

God, how did You ever go through that? Why did you do such a thing for me, for all of us? Were the darkness and the earthquake that followed Jesus' death physical manifestations of the divine grief you experienced? Did all nature mourn with You when Your son breathed His last breath?

I am humbled and thunderstruck at how You -- a Father -- gave Your Son -- your only begotten Son -- so that we could all come to know You. May this understanding spur us on to commit our entire lives to knowing and serving You.

In Him,

Lucy

alltheselucy@yahoo.com

 

This past December I began sensing the Lord was leading me to fast for 40 days, specifically on behalf of the land I am living in.  Not much spiritual fruit has ever been harvested in this country, which is burdened and imprisoned to many demonic strongholds.

I had fasted before, but never for 40 days.  As I continued sensing the Lord's prompting I also heard His encouragement that HE would be my source of strength to accomplish this (for me) impossible task.

From February 5 - March 16 He DID accomplish the impossible in my life, as He strengthened me each day to abstain from food.  There were many difficult days.  On Day 10 I wrote in my journal:

There are times when this fast has become extremely difficult.  I have felt intensely hungry at times and decided I'm just not physically able to do this...perhaps I should add one meal a day.  But I'm aware that being hungry is not something I should avoid.  I'm experiencing some suffering, and Your Word says that is a good thing. (I Pet 4:13)  But how I run from it and attempt to avoid suffering altogether!Lord, strengthen me with power by Your Spirit in my inner being, that I can overcome the temptations that hit me every day.  I cannot make it through the next 30 days on my own strength...it's almost gone.

Two days later I wrote:

Jesus, You became obedient to the point of death! (Phil 2:8) I'm having a hard time being obedient just to the point of hunger and discomfort.  My attitude should be the same as Yours, so empower me with Your attitude--obedience at all cost.

As Easter approaches, I'm reminded daily what it means in my life that Jesus was obedient to the point of death.  I have been made alive and freed from captivity, and I now have the incomparable riches of His grace.  Furthermore, the very same power that raised my Savior from the dead on Easter is available to me every minute of every day (Eph 1:19-20)!  I doubt I have any idea yet what the magnitude of His power can look like in my life, but I have seen a glimmer of it as I stepped out in faith and watched Him sustain me.  May I continue to walk in obedience, trusting in His power to accomplish the impossible in my life.

Theresa Olive

 

84%!  According to George Gallup 84% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  Really?  84%?  That seems high to me.

I'm not sure I believe it 84% of the time, with even 84% conviction.  But I do know that when I approach living like a rescued man, a man who dug his own grave was buried up to my neck and pulled from the pit by someone who volunteered to take my place - everything really is different.  Better.  Not perfect, not easy - redeemed.

I take great comfort in knowing that Jesus Christ, resurrected and glorified appeared to the Disciples with open wounds (he is speaking to Didymus in this verse).  I'm not sure why this means so much to me - maybe because I feel so wounded so much of the time.  I'm tempted to believe that my woundedness comes from the ways in which I've been victimized by life.  But the reality is my deepest wound, the one that keeps hurting me and costing me over and over again is the 16%.

The 16% of the time I don't believe at all.  The 16% of me that holds back even on the days when I'm in the 84%.

It changes everything, this 16%.  This is my wound. 

Read on HERE.

Didymus

allthesedidymus@yahoo.com

 

'It’s a terrible thing, old age.'

Wise words from my mother as we got to the end of the TV biography of Bette Davis. Sure enough, she was once extremely beautiful and didn’t look too good in the last months of her life.  I suspect few people do.  But, as hard as it is to face our own physical demise, I suspect it’s harder for the people who have to watch, those who are younger and therefore in complete denial about their own mortality.  That’s how I feel, watching the decline of screen icon Bette Davis.  That’s where I am most of the time-firmly planted in denial.

But sometimes it’s impossible to escape reality, as it has been for me this week.  On Tuesday I attended my aunts funeral.  She was my favourite aunt because she was the most warm and welcoming member of my family when I was a kid.  She was fun to be around.  Her funeral was held on a wet and windy afternoon, in a crematorium looking out onto fields of daffodils-a beautiful setting that I think she would‘ve approved of.  Then on Friday I wandered around the small mining town of Crook, looking for my grandfathers grave stone.  I didn’t find his, but I found many others and appreciated again how many young men of the small town had given their lives in WWII.  This afternoon I visited my grandmother in her retirement home.  Hers is the funeral I was expecting to attend this week, since she’s 94 and her health has declined rapidly in the past month.  She was asleep when my mother and I visited, but we were distracted by the incoherent babbling of the old folks around her.  It was hard to stay there very long.  Growing old looks embarrassing.
 
So now I’m searching the scriptures for reassurance of my home in heaven, looking for new energy for the fight of faith.  My circumstances have reminded me that physical death is unavoidable and that it’s not necessarily quick or in any way dignified.  But they’ve also reminded me that this most terrifying of fears was faced and overcome by Christ. 

Read on HERE.

Philomena

allthesephilomena@yahoo.com

 

And so it begins.  Holy Week.  The zenith of the Lord's earthly ministry; and our nadir.  Today, with Palm Sunday, we--our ancestors, but brothers in sin--hailed the arrival of the King.  A man who, we thought, would cure our earthly, political woes:

On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, "Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel."  (John 12:12-13)

Then it was Roman occupation, now it is (fill in your own woe.)  It turns out, not that He didn't care about the political situation, but rather, that He had other things on His mind:

"My kingdom is not of this world.  If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."  Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."  (John 18:36-37)

Surprise; the things of this world weren't the only things on His agenda.  Testifying to the truth was.  And it is this shift from hoping in a deliverer of this world--a king, a leader, a system, a code--to having (or getting) to hear the truth that demonstrates the failure of mankind.  My failure, our failure.  We don't want to hear the truth, we want 'our side' to win.  We'll go from hot to cold if we don't get our way, too.

Read on HERE.

Thomas More

allthesemore@yahoo.com

Recently, I attended a speech given by Dr. Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College.  It is a remarkable school in a number of ways.  One of which is its refusal to accept federal dollars.  This is so because with that money comes hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of regulations as to how Hillsdale must operate.  It prides itself as an independent institution and will not accept such direction.

In discussing the history of federal dollars and colleges (research grants were the start, now they also include student aid), Dr. Arnn noted current federal spending trends.  He pointed out that since 9/11, the Department of Education's budget has grown more than the Department of Defense's!

Read on HERE.