40 DAYS OF AWE

I anticipate EASTER every year from the beginning of Lent --and then I find I don’t want the wonder of it all to end . . . I  want to keep it fresh in my mind.

GOOD FRIDAY this year found me with many questions – how did the disciples feel on Friday afternoon.  .  . I remember how lost and alone I felt the day after my mother past.  Their best friend was gone – weren’t they just all having a meal together celebrating a traditional feast the night before? . . They had some guilt to deal with –

WHAT WAS IT HE SAID???  Destroy this temple and what???  – It was truly a black Sabbath for them.  .  Did they go back to the hill and think through it all? – How many times in their minds did they walk back through the garden?

We are in the period pre-ascenion.    I LIKE TO CALL THEM THE 40 DAYS OF AWE.  .   I imagine it was a time of wondering and deep re-thinking by the disciples. . .

Jesus was walking this earth again with his disciples. . .HE WAS BACK. 

These are the 40 days when there was not much recorded of what he did.

I often pose this question to my Youth Alive Kids – what do you want to ask Jesus when you get to Heaven?  You know you’ve got questions, too ---

My Family calls me the inquisitor – so of course --I have some questions . . .

How long did those people stay out of the graves? Matthew says the graves were opened and people came out of the tombs.

Did the damage from the earthquake serve as a reminder to the people that on that Friday – they witnessed something so miraculous?

Did the temple priest repair the curtain and try to hang it again?

I am certain that lambs were still being slain in the Temple. . . 

What were the teachers of the law and priest and Pharisees telling the Jewish people to downplay what happened on that Terrible Friday?  
WAS LIFE ANY DIFFERENT for the crowds of people who’d come out to hear him in those 40 days?

The disciples were beginning to connect the dots -- What were they asking JESUS about the days to come?

What did HE tell them about where HE was going now?

We know that he reinstated Peter during this time – with another miracle of fish. .  just like the one when He first called Peter.
How like Jesus to take us back to the place we first fell in love with Him-- when he asked Peter those 3 questions about did he REALLY love Him, He did it in front of a fire - like the place of Peter's denial.

The disciples had given it their all – Three years earlier they had left their jobs to follow him ANYWHERE–

They had seen so much pain and agony on that short weekend -- they knew NOW what it meant to suffer for the Kingdom. The experience during these 40 days of AWE cemented their conviction to be his mouthpiece and go wherever led to establish his mission on earth.  I think it was a rather intimate time with Jesus and his closest circle of people.
 Jesus said when you eat this bread and drink the wine --remember me – I am sure He was always in their conversations -- as they relived so much of what they had experienced in those 3 short years -- like

"Remember the guy who came down through the roof to get healed or the herd of pigs rushing over the cliff as Jesus drove out the demons?"
We get to celebrate Resurrection Day each and every Sunday -- – what they did yearly at the Passover– we do weekly.  

As they talked and remembered, I think they were always drawn back to the bread and the wine.

Birthday Season

We kick off birthday season each year with Bethany's April 18 celebration.

The girls were up early Sunday morning to help ice her cake.

Jack seemed to enjoy Momma's cake even more than his when he discovered the icing.

Polar Opposites - Global Warming?

 

Some of us are rushing the season with swimming in icy water.

though Spring has come to T-Town

While the rest of our family are shoveling out

Just had to post some of my favs

Thinking Back . . .

“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” Psalm 34:7   I read it in an on-line devo this morning.  It's come up more than once this week.

This verse was one I prayed during the time Bethany was in Juarez - working a mission after her freshman year in college.  (Pretty appropriate since she was living in a tent)  I had thought she should stay home that summer and she said that God had impressed on her the need to go. to serve. to be in mission for that summer.   It lit such a fire for mission that she was sure she should quit college and go back there.

That verse was enough to keep me from going bonkers with worry.

I shared that with a mom this week and it brought back such calming memories of times HE took my fears and overcame them with peace.

Todays devotionals were all about fears and faith -- staying at our calling -- enduring -- trusting.

I L.O.V.E. Spring

This is the time of year our babies were born.
Both our kids were married in April . . . 

It's the season that the dullness of winter and drab of rainy days turns into bright sunny days alive with color.

It's about new life -- baby birds, young animals, trees budding and perennials popping through the soil.

This time of year brings back memories of our trip to Israel 18 years ago . . .  it was triggered by a blog I was reading with posts of the blogger's recent trip to the Holy Land.

We left Tulsa on Bethany's 18th birthday with a group of 40 from our Church.  (This momma had a hard time missing her special day.)

We landed in Greece - the weekend after our Easter to their yearly passion celebration--so tired from jet lag -we could hardly keep our eyes open.

T at the Corinthian Canal

The next morning on to Mars Hill in Athens where the apostle Paul spoke those words from Acts 17.
One of our own was able to give the whole address.

We visited the ruins of the Parthenon.

Boarding our ship and landing in Santorini - I will always remember the blue of the ocean and the rooftops of the seaside cottages dotting the hillside.

From there to  Jerusalem . . . Bethlehem. . . Jericho. . . Masada. . . , the garden of the Beautitudes, Capernaeum where we Jesus healed so many and we prayed over our loved ones who were sick.
We walked the Villa de Rosa where Jesus carried and stumbled with the cross.

. . . and visited the garden tomb.
It was all so much to take in --- sometimes I found myself in overload with the visual images of what we'd always read about and never thought we would see.

Four days of all of Israel and as we left the area to board our ship -- I found myself feeling like I was leaving home.

Some day we will be home -- we'll be in the moment with Jesus FOREVER - not looking at memorials or artifacts of thousands of years before -- BUT FACE TO FACE.

That seems so long ago -- so much has happened in those 18 years -- three parents have joined Jesus -- kids graduated college -- married --- started their own families.  T and I have weathered health issues -- transitioned in ministry -- but Jesus is still on His Throne and HE knows the future and every one of our days are orchestrated by Him.  This doesn't make me sad -- it makes me trust and have peace.