SOLID CHOCOLATE BUNNIES AND COLORED EGGS

Have you thought much about what legacy will you leave your family? Will it be a trust or will everything be in chaos? When we are young, it's hard to think about these things. But Jesus, at 33, did. He knew his days were numbered and he spent his last days praying to his father and giving his disciples instructions on what to do after his death. One of my favorite passages is the "High Priestly Prayer" from John 17 where he speaks to his father about these special friends and asks for his protection over them.

"Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."John 17:3-5

What he left behind was a trust for the world...for generations who followed. Eternal life is worth far more than silver or gold. How will you know the only true God and his son Jesus? Do you know what the work is that you were given to do? Have you done it to the glory of God? What is the legacy you will leave behind? What is the meaning of Easter or Resurrection Sunday to you? Let it be more than solid chocolate bunnies and colored eggs.

LOVE OVERCOMES BETRAYAL

The first time I recognized the pain of betrayal was when a relationship fizzled out. I was being faithful, but he was seeing another "on the side." When he broke up and then had the nerve to send me a wedding invitation about 6 weeks later, I was so devastated. I couldn't believe it had happened. I wanted to commit murder or suicide for awhile. I was extremely depressed for awhile. but with help from friends and prayer, I began to heal.

Betrayal is one of those situations where Satan can have a field day. The anger and helplessness really plays with our minds and emotions. We can do and say things we later resent. Things that harm us more than the betrayer.

Look at Jesus. One of his chosen disciples was going to betray him. He knew all about how and why. His loving father was putting him through this and he couldn't refuse. He told Judas just to go on and get it over with. Yet, this betrayal was necessary because without it we wouldn't have the reason we celebrate Easter and the resurrection.

"Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.  And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money.  He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present." Luke 22: 3-6

I can't say that all betrayal will result in good. However, in time, mine did, because I asked God to  help me get over it and move on. Betrayal is fertile ground for Satan, just like when he entered Judas. Be careful when you feel betrayed. Jesus is the answer, not Satan. Jesus was love and Judas was deception, mean spirit and jealousy. Remember Jesus forgiving spirit and ask him for healing of the wounds. His love is what matters. His is our most important friendship. In him we have no fear of betrayal. He laid down his life for us.

MEANING BRINGS VALUE

Have you ever gone shopping for a special gift for a special person and ended up in a very exclusive department, complete with expensive tags?
And right there in front of you was the perfect gift? Did you walk away or take a deep breath and figure out how many meals you had to skip to afford it? But you couldn't walk away. This gift expressed your love for this person like nothing else you have seen.

Perhaps this was the way the woman from Bethany felt as she entered Simon the Leper's home with the alabaster jar filled with very expensive perfume. She felt so good as she poured the perfume over Jesus head, only to be criticized by the disciples for wasting money. Ever experienced that attitude. But Jesus, the grateful recipient saw her expensive gift differently. I agree that we should consider the needs of the poor when being extravagant in gift giving, but should we deny a deserving person of a special gift just so we can give to another?

"While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you,[a] but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” Mtt 16:6-13

It isn't the cost of the gift, but the meaning behind it that makes it valuable. Jesus saw the gift as preparing him for death and therefore more important that giving to the poor at that time. And giving to Jesus unselfishly from the love in your heart is the special gift with great value. 

Easter planning

Have you ever been responsible for planning a banquet? My first banquet planning experience came from working on the Blue and Gold banquets when my boys were in Cub Scouts. Later I found experience working on church and various organization banquets. My final experience was as Director of Student Services at Cleveland Chiropractic College in Los Angeles where as Student Services Director, I planned 3 luncheon banquets a year for graduates. The first task was always finding a location that was convenient and affordable. Planning was done quite awhile in advance, sometimes as much as a year or more to secure the right place.

Just like tonight, the annual Passover was being celebrated in Jerusalem. It was especially important to Jesus and the disciples to participate in this time of praising God for allowing the death angel to pass over Israel's first born sons when the final blow to the Egyptians who held the Israelites in slavery was to be delivered. Jesus was the consummate planner and had things under control. He knew that this would be his last supper with these special friends and followers and therefore wanted it to be just right.

" And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover." Mark 14:12-16

Jesus time is not like ours. He didn't need a year to plan his special banquet. He knew time was short. How do we respond knowing our time is short as we plan our Easter celebration? Is Passover included?

HOMECOMING

Easter is rapidly approaching. Can you believe Sunday is Palm Sunday.?How are you preparing for Easter? New clothes for the family? Ham or Lamb? Egg dying and egg hunts? There are many family traditions.

One year I decided to make my two sons Easter suits with the help of my friend who taught home ec and therefore had access to the high school department. We worked feverishly the entire Easter weekend up at the high school and got them finished. I promised myself that never again would I plan such a task and I never did. While the family dawned new Easter clothes, I put on pajamas and slept through Easter that year.

Yet, we are reminded in Isaiah 53, what the real meaning of Easter is about. It is about the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for our sins. The upcoming holy week is a time for deep meditation remembering Jesus pain and suffering. I've been focused on my own pain and the uncertainty that surrounds me and now I realize what the healer went through. As I focus on him, my own pain lessens, because I know that with him, I am in the very best hands. He is the healer of all our ills and where I go for healing. So Easter is a time to return home to the Lord and use Holy week to appreciate what he did for us.

"Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53 4-6

DISAPPOINTMENT HAPPENS

It's usually better to go ahead and get over a bad situation than to have to keep dreading it. So often we can begin to believe that we've moved past the worst, only to have it slapped in our faces again. This is so often the experience with major health problems. We live on a seesaw. We go up, then down. This has been my experience the past 6 months, but always hoping for the best. I suppose denial is a better reaction than just giving up.Yet, in all this, I realize that the power greater than all of us has the final result.

The bad news came Wednesday. I have an occlusion above the one that required removal of the femoral artery and dacron graft placement for circulation. Although a stint can be done, it will only be prolonging the removal of the leg. I appreciate each day that I can stand on my own two feet. I truly understand what that means. Am I discouraged? Of course. But I know that the Lord will get me through it. Discouragement is a happening in all of our lives. It's not the discouragement that gets us, it's what we do with it that matters. We are allowed a pity party or two, but not to dwell on. The quicker we get past it, the quicker healing comes. Physical is sometimes the easiest healing. We still have the emotional and spiritual to get through. This is where this Psalms comes in.

" God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." Ps 46:1-3 The Lord gives the strength to endure whatever disappointment comes out way. You can count on it. Just be patient, pray and believe. He can handle our tears and temper tantrums and always sends us shoulders to lean on and comfortable words to calm us and bring peace.

BYE, BYE SANTA PRAYER

As a young child I believed in a Santa Claus God. If I wanted something, I prayed for it and then waited for it to happen. After a few long waits, I decided I could get what I wanted faster somewhere else and sort of gave up on prayer. Oh, I prayed because it was expected, but I didn't really believe it would be answered, certainly not as I wanted it to be. So why bother?

Then as a young adult along came a good looking Presbyterian pastor named Peter Marshal who was married to a woman named Catherine. I started reading their books and my attitude toward prayer changed. I followed a prayer journal that she had published and it really helped to see that my prayers were answered, but not by Santa Claus. God is real and he answers in ways that improve my life, even ways that are not necessarily as I see it.

I like the following verse from James, who I refer to lovingly as Killjoy. He reminds me of the stern inflexible parent whose advice I resist, but know in my heart and mind that his advice is true and much better than what I can conjure up. God is not dead, but the Santa Claus concept is and for good reason. I asked with wrong motives.

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." James 4:1-3