Each year, I listen to a daily audio Bible podcast—and complete the Bible in one year. This year marks my sixth year through the Bible.
Why don’t I stop?
Every year, I learn new aspects of the Bible because each year, I am in a different place in my life, and the Holy Spirit speaks to me where I am.
The Bible is always fresh! It is always alive!
It is the only book that has a Living Spirit within it.
Each year, when I get to Judges in the Old Testament, I say, “Oh boy!” because I know what is ahead.
Passover begins this evening.
It is one of the most significant Jewish Holidays, commemorating when the angels of God “passed over” the Hebrews as the firstborn children and animals of the Egyptians were killed—all because Pharoah would not set the Hebrews free as God commanded.
With this final plague on Egypt, Pharoah agreed to free the Hebrews so they might begin their journey to the promised land.
God instructed the Jews to commemorate the first Passover, when they had marked their houses with blood, alerting the angels to “pass over” their homes.
Christians draw parallels in their faith,
This week, I was listening to a minister on the radio who noted that in the days after His resurrection, Jesus did not appear to Pilate to tell him that he had been wrong in ordering His crucifixion.
Jesus did not appear to the Jewish leaders and chastise them for not believing and demanding His death.
He did not appear to the Roman soldiers who nailed Him on the cross.
Why?
Today, I was drinking in the beautiful hymns of Psalm Sunday. They are majestic, powerful, and inspirational!
Among my very favorites is All Glory, Laud and Honor. When I close my eyes and listen to the lyrics, I can feel all the emotions I imagine those present at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The hope. The joy. The expectation.
As Christians, we carry the hope, joy, and expectation at our Lord’s second coming. Feel this excitement. Play this song and sing along. It is a wonderful way to enter into the spirit of Holy Week.
What are some of your favorite Holy Week Hymns/ song?
Things in this world seem unstable, crazy, and spinning out of control.
I don’t know where you live in this world, but I bet at times this year, you have felt the same way.
When I look around and everything seems in freefall, I take a deep breath and remember that:
- I didn’t make the universe.
- I can’t fix this mess.
- I don’t understand how things got so messy.
- I don’t know that path back to order and sanity.
But, there is Someone who does
Why are we so often a people without praise on our lips?
I include myself in this category.
God opens a door—and what do I do?
I question it first.
“Did God open the door? Is it safe to go through? What would happen if I went through?”
Now, all of this is highly logical.
Martha—not Mary.
God does tell us to “seek” before we “find”.
But, once we have explored the option and believe it is God’s doing, what do we do then?
I find the story of Palm Sunday to be a series of lessons—hard lessons—of the fickleness of people and of the forgiving and loving nature of God.
Jesus knew—He knew—that the people who were celebrating His entrance into Jerusalem would, within days, cry out for Him to be crucified. Imagine that for a moment. It is one thing to have an event in which you feel valued and appreciated – and then have people snub you. It is quite another to be at the event where people express appreciation for you and to know, right there in that moment, that those same people are going to call for your death.
How would you react?
The internet is an amazing place.
At the press of a button and just a few clicks, images from our family and friends, from our church and our community, from our nation and the entire world, flood in.
Happy images of babies and grandmas, of puppies and cows, of rich food and lovely sunsets.
Those have not been the images on display this week.
War.
Unprovoked war.
Fear.
Death.
Tha pandemic seems to have stressed out the entire world.
From avoiding it to surviving it, from trying to escape it to trying to live with it, we seem to have been given all sorts of advice, and nothing is quite clear, other than we are fed up with it and want it to be gone.
This type of ongoing upheaval and uncertainty naturally stresses us. And, not knowing when the end will be also causes anxiety. So how do we live with this?
Recently, I read some great tips shared years ago by Nona Freeman.
Who was Nona Freeman? She and her husband were…
