The Edge of His Garment

 

This week I reflected on Mother’s Day and thought of the question, “What is love?” Love is more than just expressing an emotion or saying the words, “I love you.” It is an intimate relationship with those whom we depend on--our moms, dads, families, spouses, and friends.

Love is a bond that develops over time and demands sharing our joys and disappointments, our highs and lows, with those tightly woven into our relationships. Love requires more than a one way communication and takes nothing less than active listening on our part to succeed. Love requires time and growth and knowing when to let go with growth.

We depend on love all stages of our lives: from infancy to walking; from walking to various trainings; from training to growth and development and from development to our final departing celebration.




 
Yes, love is people…the people in our lives, who give us so much of their time while we are here on earth. They are a listening ear, an encouraging word, a hug on a joyous occasion, or a shoulder to cry on during final departing celebrations. They are important to us and we are important to them.

For love to flourish, we must be willing to invest our time and be open to change and growth. The same can be said for our relationship with God. Our love with God will flourish if we spend time with Him in prayer and are receptive to His growth for us. This unselfish act of love is important to our life experiences with Him and His people.

So, back to the original question, “What is love?” God is love. God surrounded us with His love—the people in our lives--for us to experience Him. If we are to be truly intimate in our relationship with God, then must cherish and value the relationships we have with the people in our lives--our friends, families, spouses, dads and yes,--our moms.

Your comments about love are welcomed. 

 

 

(Micah 4:12)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  

A few years ago in Florida, I was at a sunrise service on Easter morning. It was the first sunrise service I was ever able to attend. The service was outdoors in a shelter house. The altar was beautifully decorated with flowers and a hand carved cross spelling out the name Jesus. The cross was of medium size and placed right behind the altar.

I decided to take a picture of this beautiful cross. The service was beginning, so I snapped the picture quickly without a steady focus. I was only aiming to get a picture of the hand carved cross. I knew there would be some glare from the lights, but I didn’t care. I just wanted a picture of that cross.

After the service was over I looked at the picture. The image above is what was captured; it was a large beautiful light hovering above the altar. The hand carved cross was not even close in size to the size of the light.

There were only a few lights on in the outdoor shelter house for the service. However, I was not aiming at the lights when I took this picture. I expected some glare, but did not expect a huge light like this—and right over the altar!

I have not made any alterations to this picture. Maybe I am seeing more than what there is, but for me, it was beautiful to see this dazzling, brilliant LIGHT hovering over the altar on Easter morning.

He is risen!

Thank you Jesus for coming. Thank you for this Resurrection Day…He is alive!

(All photos and content in this blog have copyrights).

 

 

 

“Crucify Him, crucify Him! Away with this man Jesus! Release Barabbas to us!”
(John 18:40--19:6)

Every year on Good Friday, our church congregation reads the Passion of Christ and takes on the role of the angry crowd. We say the words, “Crucify Him, crucify Him! Release Barabbas to us!” with rage and passion, just like the crowd did as Jesus stood before Pilate.

Reading the Passion reminds us to look at ourselves as the responsible ones who placed Christ on the cross. We are the ones whom Jesus came to save and rekindle to God’s friendship. Yet like the angry mob, we play the group of people caught up in the frenzy of the moment ready to attack and condemn Him.

Many of us want to think that if we were present at that time, we would have saved Jesus and not been in that crowd. However, in reality, wouldn’t you have been in the crowd? In a time when Pilate ruled with an iron hand and Rome was ready to strike down anyone who came up against it; what would you have done? When one has many fears and doubts, it is easy to hide in a crowd and ride the wave of emotion. It is at that time we need to remember where Jesus is in our lives and just trust in Him.

Crowds are fueled by energy and many times that energy can be negative. That is what happened to the crowd when Jesus stood before Pilate. As they jeered and chanted for Jesus’ death, their energy was being ignited more and more by certain negative people. These same groups of people had just praised Jesus on Palm Sunday, but now were ready to condemn Him to death. Between those few days nothing had changed with the crowd, except their energy.

Crowds do not think, they live in the moment of energy and transmit that negative energy to others. Negative energy in crowds can lead to bullying, racism, gang violence, gender/sexual preference bashing, violent protesting, ethnic hatred, etc. etc. and the list goes on.

The next time you find yourself in a crowd, think about the energy. Is it positive or negative? Recognize that you may need to step away from the crowd to think clearly about things. It takes courage to step away from this type of energy; but all things are possible with Christ.

Think about it: Will your fears or doubts lead you to a negative crowd or are you already
living in one?

 

But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Luke 23:34

 

 

Recently I was visiting a relative of mine and the NCAA basketball tournament games were on the television at her house. I will call her Pat--to protect the innocent and besides that, I go to her home quite often for homemade Sunday dinners.  

Pat’s team was playing in the tournament. I will not mention the team, trying to stay impartial to all, since the NCAA tournaments are still ongoing. She had a house full of fans ranging from children to adults.

Now I must inform you that Pat is a diehard college fan and has strong allegiance to her team. On game days Pat’s house is decorated in her team colors. She has even taught her grandchildren how to say the team cheers and fight songs. 

Now it was down to the final seconds and the score was tied in this nail biting game. Of course this was the opportune time for one of the coaches to call a time out. The television went to a commercial and this was the regular cue for fans to run to the bathroom, fridge and anywhere else they needed before the live game came back on. Just as everyone started to make their mad dashes from their seats, Pat began to shout,
"Everyone stay where you are and don’t move from your seats. Sit back down.”
 
I looked somewhat surprised.

“What are you talking about?”I said as I looked at her.

I watched the looks on the faces around the room as they descended back into their seats. It appeared from their looks that this had happened before, but I was the only one who seemed surprised.