New Title...Point of Faith and Hope

 The word "faith" has always been in the title. It is an important word. Hebrews 1:1 says, "Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen." It means it is the glue to the our belief in what we are hoping for from God. The new word "hope" is added because it is just as important as faith. Hope is the idea of what we are trusting for in God. Whatever it is, our hope is particular, between God and us. It is something we are asking for in God. Faith is believing, despite other circumstances that try to distract us, that what we have hope for will one day come to pass. We have to have faith in order to continue our hope; whatever it is we are hoping for from God.

Easter: Love...and Hope

Today is Easter 2016. As a child, it meant that today was the day that it was appropriate to believe that a mysterious bunny was responsible for hiding eggs all over the yard in hopes that children would find the eggs and fill their bellies with cooked balls of yolk and various sweet candy treats. As an adult, I learned that there's something more to this day than just looking for the most eggs (or the fun discovery weeks later of finding forgotten hidden eggs that have become rotten and smelly while basking in the outdoor heat). The real understanding of Easter is that it is a day when we remember that a real man died because He was following a mission that started all the way back to the fall of mankind. 

I have to admit, I've sort of gotten tired of the tradition of hunting for eggs. It doesn't really mean anything to me. I admit, before I lost my great-grandmother, I loved it. I loved it because it was her favorite thing to do. She loved hunting for eggs and, in this moment, she became a child, on a mission to be the one who finds the most eggs. Seeing my great-grandmother so happy made me happy, because she had been through a whole lot of pain and tribulation in her life. Nowadays, Easter means something more to me. I see it as a reminder of love and hope.

As a Christian, I know God loves me. He's been a part of my life for a very long time. There wasn't a time when I've stopped believing in Him, or chose to abandon His way just because modern society has told my generation that He isn't real. As a Christian, I know He's real. It's something I can't explain, I just know it and feel it - the same way I know the sky is blue and that we need food and water to survive. Therefore, knowing the history of my faith - why we needed a savior in the first place - helps me understand that Easter is a remembrance of love. 

God loved us. Two people broke our connection to Him. He spent many years trying to find ways to still connect to His people. Finally, He found a way, in Jesus, to finally fix the connection. That meant that Jesus had to suffer ridicule, torture, and death in order to make that happen. God loved His Son, but He loved us also, and was willing to make this sacrifice for the greater good. That kind of love is deeper than just a feeling. That kind of love is like oxygen. It was needed, but without it brings far worse than we can imagine. As time goes on, this historical moment gets watered down and everyone involved become characters in a myth. However, it is important to remember this was real. It happened. Historical figures far separated from the Bible recorded events from this day. A real Jesus died...because of love.

As a Christian, I know there's hope. I know there's hope for a better world. We're promised this hope in the Scriptures. It doesn't take a genius to know that there's a lot of suffering in this world. This generation has seen a lot of hurt. People fight against beliefs. People attack others because of differences. Bombs end lives. People die. Loved ones are lost. People suffer through illnesses of all kinds. Families struggle with financial responsibilities. The list is infinite. Yet, having hope means that we, as humans, will find the strength to pick ourselves up off the dirty floor and keep walking through this life. Without hope, there is no strength to do this. Without hope, everything is lost. 

Perhaps this understanding is why Easter, to me, is more than just going on a scavenger hunt for colorful eggs. Knowing this, I look at Easter as a day to remember the Ultimate Love by showing love to others around me. Moreover, remembering the promised hope that is to come, I can find hope and strength to get through difficult situations that I may encounter along the way. 

So, as you gather with loved ones today, remember to have love and, most importantly, hope this Easter. 

A Christmas Video

I love this video; it's so peaceful and speaks of the true meaning of Christmas.

The Journey of My Faith

     Lately, it’s been on my heart to talk about how I came to my faith. It’s a pretty standard way, almost like a typical direction. I always felt like I knew about God, because I went to church at an early age, but there still was something missing. I almost feel like it has been a long journey with my walk with God, from running from Him to eventually finding Him.

     I don’t know when it began, but early in my teenage years a part of me yearned for God, and wanted to accept Him as my savior. I just didn’t know how to accept Him. I know how silly that sounds, especially since I grew up with a church background, and was being homeschooled, at the time, through a Christian program. You may even think accepting God is one of the easiest things to do, but my journey took a difficult route. I always heard the phrase, “Accept Jesus as your savior,” “Ask Him into your heart.” The problem was, I didn’t understand it. How can you accept Jesus as your savior? How can you ask Him into your heart? “How? How? PLEASE, tell me HOW?” There were times when I did the “alter call” move, but was this how? I said the “Sinner’s Prayer,” but was this how? There were times when I pleaded with God, “Jesus, save my soul and take me to Heaven. If you do that, I’ll give you the biggest hug!” (By the way, that is a promise I’m still going to keep!) No matter how I begged God, or came to Him, I couldn’t understand the concept, and I was always wondering, “Is this it?” Unless you’ve been in a similar situation, you don’t know how hungry your soul can be, when it yearns to be reunited with its Heavenly Father.

     In November 2001, my great-grandmother discovered that she had a tumor in her breast. We spent that December preparing for her surgery. Though she was prepared to leave this world, I wasn’t ready for her to go. My first breaking point happened the night we scheduled to open our Christmas gifts (a day or two before she had to do the surgery). There was just something about her Christmas card that threw me over the edge, and I ran outside and cried. I wondered why God did this to her and to me. He knew she meant the world to me – one of the only few who believed in me and loved me – and yet He was going to take her away! On December 21^st, we all met at the hospital for her surgery and waited as her tumor was being removed. It was a long process and took the entire day. Around evening, we found out that our great-grandmother’s sister had died that morning, which shocked all of the grownups. That, of course, added more stress on my mother, as she not only had to think of a way to tell my great-grandmother that the surgeons had removed her breast, but also that her close sister had passed on.

     Needless to say, December was a very stressful month, and my mother and I spent restless nights at the hospital with my great-grandmother, and restless nights at home changing bandages and cleaning bloodied tubes once my great-grandmother was released. On New Years Eve, we chose to have a small celebration with just the family. It was a busy morning preparing for New Years, and the phone kept ringing. By lunchtime, my mother decided to see who had been calling us all morning. The constant phone calls were from a family friend that wanted my mother to know that her close friend had passed away. The friend was named Diane, and she was my mother’s best friend. Moreover, she was my very first Sunday school teacher. She died from heart failure.

     I don’t know why it took her death to finally do it, but sometime that January 2002, I finally stopped asking, “How?” and chose my moment of receiving Him. My mother’s friend was like an aunt, and it was her death, my great-aunt’s death, and my great-grandmother’s battle with cancer that truly broke me into pieces. In some ways, no young teenager should ever feel that vulnerable. Although, it put me in a state of mind where I was done with begging God to save me and then asking myself, “Was this it?” I was on my knees and burst out with tears, expressed how I needed Him to save me and how I never wanted to lose Him. It was during that moment that I felt like I never wanted to be separated from God ever again!

     Being a Christian doesn’t mean that life isn’t going to be hard. Living in this world means that I will go through many heartaches and trials along with good and happy experiences. When I say that I am a Christian, I don’t see it as some religion. You hear it all the time about “being born again,” but until you actually witness it, you can’t fully understand it. When a child is born, s/he is born within a nationality, race, and culture. In the same sense, to be reborn in Christ now means belonging to a new nationality, race, and culture comprised of many people from all over the world. I don’t feel extremely different. I’m not some weird person for believing in God. I’m definitely not self-righteous. I’m human, and I’ve made many mistakes. I’m me, and I have likes and dislikes and aspirations for my life. But, being a Christian means that I now have my friend by my side, and no one can ever take His love away from my heart.

     The point I want to make, in sharing this journey, is that when your heart is ready to understand, He’s there for you. You can’t be forced to know Him. You can’t be forced to love Him. And I can waste many lines telling you how much He loves you, but until your heart is ready to be opened and understand that, it’s only words. I was very fortunate to know of God beforehand, but I am truly blessed to know Him now. When there are times I feel hurt by another’s actions, He reminds me that He’s here. When I encounter rejections and fear the unknown, He reminds me that He’s got it under control. And, with that notion, there’s an undeniable trust that follows.

The Third Day and Afterwards

Good Friday Rewind…

The Third Day and Afterwards…

  On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground.

   “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. “He is not here, but He has been resurrected! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?” And they remembered His words.
  Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things. But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. So he went home, amazed at what had happened.

  Now that same day, two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. Together they were discussing everything that had taken place. And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus Himself came near and began to walk along with them. But they were prevented from recognizing Him.
   Then He asked them, “What is this dispute that you’re having with each other as you are walking?” And they stopped walking and looked discouraged.

  The one named Cleopas answered Him, “Are You the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that happened there in these days?”
    “What things?” He asked them.
   So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a Prophet powerful in action and speech before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him. But we were hoping that He was the One who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it’s the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb, and when they didn’t find His body, they came and reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn’t see Him.”
  He said to them, “How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
  They came near the village where they were going, and He gave the impression that He was going farther. But they urged Him: “Stay with us, because it’s almost evening, and now the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them.
  It was as He reclined at the table with them that He took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, but He disappeared from their sight. So they said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?”
  That very hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and those with them gathered together, who said, “The Lord has certainly been raised, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

  And as they were saying these things, He Himself stood among them. He said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. “Why are you troubled?” He asked them. “And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself! Touch Me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”

   Having said this, He showed them His hands and feet. But while they still were amazed and unbelieving because of their joy, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and He took it and ate in their presence.

  Then He told them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He also said to them, “This is what is written: The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.”

  Then He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. And while He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven. After worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they were continually in the temple complex praising God.

- Luke 24:1-53

Jesus, Microsoft Word

The Guarding of the Tomb

The Guarding of the Tomb…

After Jesus Died!

Image, Microsoft Word 2003

     The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive He said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

     “Therefore, give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come, steal Him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead.’ Then the last deception will be worse than the first.”

      “You have a guard of soldiers,” Pilate told them. “Go and make it as secure as you know how.”
  
     Then they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Matthew 27:62-66, Holman Christian Standard Bible

If Easter Had A First Newspaper Article

The Roman Times Online

Arrested Nazarene called Jesus Christ

Nazarene Man Tried and Sentenced to Death

Posted by: Marebethimus, writer of The Roman Times

Time: Friday evening.

     Early in the midnight hours this morning, a band of soldiers and members belonging to both the High Priest and the Pharisees were led to a spot near the Kidron Brook called the Gethsemane Gardens, where they arrested a Nazarene man called Jesus Christ. While most of his followers, called “disciples,” were non-violent and soon fled the scene of the arrest, one disciple grabbed a sword and attacked the High Priest’s servant named Malchus. Witnesses to the incident claim that the Nazarene leader calmed the attacker and miraculously attached Malchus’ severed body part, which eye witnesses say was his right ear.

     The Nazarene was arrested and taken to first Annas, the father-in-law of the High Priest named Caiaphas, who then advised the prisoner to be taken to a meeting room to be questioned by the High Priest and a council of scribes and elders. In a weird, bizarre scenario, the person who initially aided the arrest of the Nazarene, who eye witnesses say was a fellow disciple named Judas, was found dead not too long after the arrest of his leader. While most would suspect homicide from one of the other followers, a source close to The Roman Times say an anonymous tipper informed officials after noticing a distraught man tie a rope across a tree and proceeded to hang himself. The man, Judas, was pronounced dead when officials arrived on scene. In addition, another claimed follower, Peter, whom eye witnesses say was Malchus’ attacker, was seen outside of the High Priest’s court shouting obscenities to stragglers who were accusing him of being one of the Nazarene’s disciples.

     After being questioned by the council and the High Priest, the Nazarene called Jesus Christ was charged with blasphemy and taken to the Governor, Pilate, for a death sentencing.  While leaving the House of Caiaphas, eye witnesses say the accused man had cuts and bruises upon him, and claim they heard members of the council laugh as they verbally confirmed the private attacks amongst the other council members. After questioning the Nazarene of his charges, Governor Pilate could not find a solid reason to sentence death upon the man and, upon finding out that the accused had resided in Galilee, ordered the accused to be taken to King Herod. The King Herod, too, could find no particular reason to condemn the Nazarene and was ordered to be sent back to Governor Pilate. Thinking that the council only wanted some sort of punishment for the accused, Governor Pilate ordered the Nazarene to be scourged and released.

     Despite suffering the severe inflictions of the scourging, punishment of death was still sought, however, feeling that there was no cause of death, Governor Pilate placed the accused on display before the public, so that they could demand his freedom over another criminal named Barabbas, who was charged with starting a rebellion and convicted of another’s death. Unfortunately, a stir was in the crowd, and the riled public nominated the murderer, Barabbas, over the religious teacher, Jesus Christ. As is a Roman option for death, Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, was later crucified with two other criminals in the afternoon and shortly died around 3 P.M. To confirm his death, a centurion soldier was ordered to run a spear into the Nazarene’s side, which eye witnesses say poured both water and blood from the wound. Sources say the Nazarene rabbi was later laid to rest in a Tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea, a fellow council member of the High Priest. Fellow disciples of the Nazarene rabbi declined to speak with The Roman Times, and the mother of the Nazarene asked everyone to let them all have privacy to grieve their loss.

Cracked surface, Microsoft Word

The Earth Experiencing Bizarre Events

     While most of the public was consumed with the speedy arrest, trial, and death of the infamous Nazarene rabbi called Jesus Christ, at around 12 P.M. today cities near Rome experienced severe darkness of the sun, where individuals were left with no sunlight for three hours. Moreover, at around 3 P.M., a sudden earthquake damaged nearby roads and buildings, most notably the Jewish Temple, whose curtains were said to have been ripped in half during the earthquake. Some are calling this a mere coincidence with the events of today’s arrest, sentencing, and death of the Nazarene rabbi, but most are saying this is an act of the Jewish God, and proves the authority of the man most people called Christ or Messiah!

Related Sources:

Matthew 26: 36-69, 27: 1-61

Mark 14: 32-72, 15: 1-47

Luke 22: 39-71, 23:1-56

John 18:1-40, 19: 1-42