LOVE THIS!!!

We call it Good Friday for a reason. Two thousand years later, we know how the story ends. Yesterday, we remembered His death. We meditated on the pain, the suffering, the shame. I found myself wondering about how the disciples must have felt that day. Yes, He’d told them how it would all play out, but their actions on Sunday morning indicate that they really didn’t get it.

Instead they hid in the upper room. Devastated. Alone. Afraid. Some went back to fishing.

Saturday was probably the longest day of their lives.

Nobody was calling it Good Friday.

Every year I sit through Good Friday services and shed a tear or two. The cross and all that it means holds weight in my soul. Still, I don’t think I will ever feel about Friday the way those who witnessed it did.

Because I know how it ends!!!

The amazing “good” thing about Friday is the knowledge that Sunday is coming. In the words of Dennis Jernigan: “When Satan saw the blood he knew that Christ had won it and he knew that Sunday was on its way.” The very existence of Friday requires that Sunday follow. Death brings LIFE. My Lord died and was buried that Friday.

BUT HE DIDN’T STAY THERE!

So, on Saturday, I wait in expectation. There is a joy welling up in my spirit that cannot be contained. It will spill out of my lips in beautiful songs of praise tomorrow morning as we celebrate the resurrection.

“As the Gospel stories clearly show, Friday happens, but Sunday is inevitable. Sunday is the resurrection, the day when all our meager hopes and wildest dreams come true, the day we as believers look forward to despite our present condition. This is a “hang in there” song; Sunday is not so far away!” – John Ellis

Broken promises, weary hearts
But one promise remains:
Crucified, he will come again
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming

Sunday is coming.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day
Christ on the road to Calvary
Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.
This, the power of the cross
Christ became sin for us
Took the blame, bore the wrath – we stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain written on your face
Bearing the awesome weight of sin
Every bitter thought, ever evil deed
Crowning your bloodstained brow
This, the power of the cross
Christ became sin for us
Took the blame, bore the wrath – we stand forgiven at the cross.

Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head
Curtain torn in two
Dead are raised to life
“Finished!” the victory cry
This the power of the cross
Christ became sin for us
Took the blame, bore the wrath – we stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see my name written in the wounds
For through your suffering I am free
Death is crushed to death
Life is mine to live
Won through your selfless love
This the power of the cross
Son of God slain for us
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

He died so we would no longer have to fear.

Not death.

Not betrayal.

Not pain or suffering.

Not rejection.

Not a single thing.

My goal for Holy Week is to post every day – just what I’m meditating on. Today, my heart ponders His amazing promises. The title is taken from a new song from one of my favorite Christian groups, Selah, that will be out with their new album in August. I got a sneak peak from Angie, whose husband Todd is in the group. Today would be their daughter Audrey’s first birthday…

I love reading the books of prophecy. I didn’t always, but sometime during my undergrad years my eyes were opened to the beauty of God’s love for us as portrayed through His dealings with Israel. God’s been pruning me quite a bit lately and, as the term suggests, it hasn’t been pleasant. And yet there is joy because the fact that I am being pruned means I am indeed grafted onto His branches, and pruning allows for growth.

Still, there is one question ever before me…one prayer that escapes my lips…one thought that drives me to my knees in tears day after day. How many dreams do I have to put to death before You say it’s enough? When will this trial be over? When will the season of singing arrive? Don’t You want me to be happy?

The answer to that last question is “No.” Happiness has nothing to do with it. Everything is for His glory, to make me more like Him. And so I’ll keep laying it down, waiting for the day when He decides to lift His hand…

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…and you will praise the name of the Lord your God…”

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hard double for all her sins.”

I don’t know what He’s doing right now. But I will continue to move forward, trusting that His way is right.

None of this will be left unredeemed, in my life or in yours. Not one tear is wasted.

Here’s the song:

The cruelest words, the coldest heart
The deepest wounds, the endless dark
The lonely ache, the burning tears
The bitter night, the wasted years
Life breaks and falls aparat
But we know these are
Places where grace is
Soon to be so amazing
They may be unfulfilled
They may be unrestored
But when anything that’s shattered is laid before the Lord
Just watch and see
It will not be
Unredeemed

For every choice that led to shame
And all the love that never came
For every vow that someone broke
And every life that gave up hope
We live in the shadow of the fall
But the cross says these are all
Places where grace is
Soon to be so amazing
They may be unfulfilled, they may be unrestored
But when anything that’s shattered is laid before the Lord
Just watch and see
It will not be
Unredeemed

I wish I could remember to update this more often. I wish I had the time to sit and really ponder this wondrous thing known as redemption. Just as it was two months ago, the word is ever before me, and I hope that its reality is taking hold of my heart.

I wrote this on Friday. I think once I heard someone say something similar, but the poem, sans the first stanza, is my own. This is the Good News as far as I understand it (and when it has to rhyme).

Humpty Dumpty’s Restoration

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

They cried for poor Humpty, lying there on the ground

There was nothing to do so they all turned around

“But wait!” shouted Humpty, “there is still one more thing –

I was told when I fall I should call on the King!”

The King heard the clamor and came out to see

What on earth the commotion might be

He took one look at Humpty, knew all had gone wrong

He lifted his hands and silenced the throng

He knelt down beside him and stretched out his hand

Whispering in Humpty’s ear the things He had planned

And then with one word the King made Humpty whole,

Placed him back on the wall, with a new heart and soul.

While all other may look and see a cracked, patched-up jar

The King looks at Humpty seeing past all the scars

He smiles at him and says, “All will be well.”

Because when the King looks at Humpty, it’s as if he never fell.

Psalm 131:1-2

My heart is not proud, O Lord,

My eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

Or things too wonderful for me.

 

I have been thinking a lot about grace lately. Trying to understand WHY this great gift of salvation was just handed to me at the age of five. Why I was given two incredible parents who love God and love one another. Why I never had to worry about where I would sleep at night, when I would get my next meal, whether my loved ones would still be around from one day to the next. Why God kept me on such a short leash that I have no dramatic story to tell on Sunday when I stand before a congregation and fulfill the Lord’s command of baptism.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not at all wishing I had a story like that to tell. I am so thankful that I don’t know the pain and the shame of a life completely wasted. I am thrilled that I can say that God has been my Faithful and True Redeemer since as long as I can remember. I know that it is only by His grace that my sins (that I definitely have, though they may not be as visible as others) have been washed away, and only through His great love that I was spared from what I could have easily become.

But I still don’t understand WHY ME? I am thankful. I don’t wish for a different story to tell. Yet I hate that so often those whose stories are so different from mine think that somehow I am better than they. Believe me, I am just as messed up and in need of a Savior. In Christ alone, my hope is found. The question still remains: why did God, in His infinite love and wisdom, decide to make it easy for me? I was a Christian Thought minor in college. I know the textbook theological answer – everything He does is ultimately for His glory and our good. Like David long ago, I have to still and quiet my soul and just be ok with that answer.

So how can my story and one the complete antithesis of my own both accomplish the same goal – for His glory and our good? I know the right answer to this question, but my heart doesn’t accept it today….

I’m still not quite satisfied. I want to be.

I don’t know how many people actually read this blog. But if you read this post and have any insight that could help, please comment.

And while you’re at it, I’ve got a friend who is desperate for God to break through in a big way. Please pray with me for a miracle.

More on this topic to follow.

 

 

Just isn’t at all what it’s cracked up to be.

I worked 40 hours this week at my assistantship site and quickly remembered why I despised it last semester.

BUT….

If I can suck it up and do it another 7 work days I will have one-third of my hours completed before the semester begins.

So there.

BTW, I just love new beginnings. And hope. Hope that this year just might be a whole lot better than the last one. [Disclaimer: 2008 was a great year for me, except the last four weeks. So really I guess what I mean to say is that so far I like January a whole lot more than December.]

Psalm 131

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.

2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore.

And the clouds just parted on a corner of my life
And I can see for miles
And the things I was stuck on
Things I thought would never change
They just broke open wide

And the veil just lifted
I can finally understand
The way you work in me
But even if I didn’t
You are still my sovereign God
Who has a plan for me

This is the one thing I know
You said You won’t let me go
You said You won’t let me go
You’ve done a good work in me
And You won’t quit till I’m free
Oh, You won’t let me go

It’s good to know You work with hurt and broken souls
That You’ll take a soul like mine
And in all the world nothing’s taken hold of me like Christ

This is the one thing I know
You said You won’t let me go
You said You won’t let me go
You’ve done a good work in me
And now You’re making me free…

But, Lord, I believe.