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george’s first easter…

(yes, that is a pink shirt that i am wearing…yes my wife did buy it for me…)

many american’s today entered the doors of the church to hear a message on the resurrection of christ. in fact, i heard some friends talk about how they attended good friday services a couple days ago, where they reflected as a redeemed community.

with that in mind, i leave you with this short snippet from a book i read a few years ago by ravi zacharius, called recapture the wonder.

he writes:

A Student at a university said to me, “I often wonder about Jesus struggling at Gethsemane over the impending crucifixion. What was happening there? Jesus asking to be spared the cup? It sounds crazy to me,” he said.

I answered, “Ponder with me for a moment. The cup of human sin was to be drunk to the last dregs of being crucified. Yet the Lord Jesus did not fear physical pain. The only indivisible entity in the world is the very Hold Trinity. The possibility of His Father turning away from Him when He was subjected to the accursedness of sin was paramount in His mind. But He knew that was the only way to accomplish salvation, He would do it.”

“Think further. There are realities in the human experience that cannot be mitigated until they have been seen for what are. Evil and love are two such truths. There is nothing so horrific as evil yet we have tried to deny its existence. The Hindu calls it Maya — nonreal, illusionary, having a different context in appearance in actuality. The Muslim denies original sin. The Buddhist believes you can work your way through the maze of reincarnation till all evil, that is, desire, is shaken off and we are left desiring nothing.

“Look at the Cross, now, Evil is seen for what it is — all the vileness in the human heart is there in the face of the perfectly pure. Evil is not covered up. See again the marvel of God’s love that offers forgiveness of such evil. But even as forgiveness is offered, evil and love are seen in their full force in the triumph of one over the other. In this reality you will see evil and love concretely expressed even as forgiveness and hope are made possible by the sure grace of God.”

There was a silence and then the student said one word. “Awesome.” He muttered again, “Just awesome.”

have you ever wondered about the phrase, “God is in control”? The statement sounds spiritual, but is it true? does god really have control over every part of you? all your decisions, all the moments in your life, etc…?

while god does want to be in our life, guide our life and have a relationship with us. He NEVER overrides who we are to MAKE his point or show us HE’S GOD. He’s given us this path of choice. he ALLOWS us to make bad choices (even though he may disagree). he also ALLOWS us to look to his wisdom for direction for our life.

take a psychic for an example. one of the interesting presuppositions of turning to a psychic is that the future is static, concrete, unchanging.

scripture gives a very DIFFERENT view of the future. the future is dynamic, active, and interactive. many of us would rather know the future than CREATE IT. after all if someone can simply tell us the future; we can relinquish and renounce any responsibility on our part.

god continually is showing ways in which he loves mankind (some choose to accept his love and some don’t). the scriptures from genesis to revelation is god’s story and OUR STORY.

a writer by the name of n.t. wright said it so brilliantly:
“Most people want to wake up in the morning with a general at the foot of their bed saying ‘Go do this.’ The problem is there’s somebody at the foot of their bed saying, ‘Once upon a time.’”

do you have a caption to fit this picture?