10,016

I cannot believe that I have 10,016 views of my blog since it's inception. I know 10,000 plus people haven't read my blog but a few of you have looked at it bunches.  I don't know how many views other people get but to me this is huge. To those of you who take the time to read my ramblings, I want to say Thank You! I know that I am not the most eloquent or thought provoking writer. I believe I'd fit well in the category of 'normal Christian man'. I've had all the normal experiences in life - joy, sorrow, laughter, fun, disappointment, grief, excitement, regret...but all of these have been filtered through my faith. As long as I can remember I've had God in my life. It doesn't make me perfect or my circumstances perfect. It doesn't make me better or worse than anyone else but it has most definitely shaped who I am. Are there things I'd change if I could? Sure. But for the most part I'd just hit repeat like I do on my favorite songs or the favorite parts of a movie. If you've followed me for a while you know my posts have consistently gotten fewer and fewer over the years. But you should also note that that has changed some this year. Regardless if these words are significant to anyone, they are my words and maybe I'm just feeling better about myself or maybe I was having some kind of progressive writer's block but, for the most part, my brain is very active with thoughts and ideas and way back in 2010 I started this blog to get those thoughts out. This is more for my benefit than yours but thanks again for joining me on this journey called life.  

Hope

Hope...a simple four letter word that changes lives. Hope is a huge part of what Easter is all about. Hope. It doesn't have to be much...you've heard the saying a glimmer of hope. That isn't much hope but it's enough to change a person's perspective. Check out this verse from Ecclesiastes...Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! (Ecc. 9:4). It's that a great reminder. One of my favorite verses is about hope...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Is. 40:31). Paul teaches us...Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5) And the writer of Hebrews emphasizes... Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. (Heb. 10:23) Because the One whom we hope in is faithful. Peter had this hope as well...Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4a)  For Peter as well as Paul and others, their hope was a living hope because of Jesus' resurrection. I want you to realize that hope is secure. Hope is grounded. Hope is more than wishful thinking. Because the hope that we can have in Christ is living. And it's a living hope because Christ is alive just as He had promised. Several times He told His followers that He had to go to Jerusalem to die but that in 3 days He would rise. In my pastor's sermon this morning, he pointed out that the one's who seemed to remember or take seriously Jesus' words were the religious leaders. Although they denied His divinity they knew He was telling the truth. We serve a risen Savior, He is in the world today, I know that He is living whatever men may say...He lives, He lives salvation to impart, You ask me how I know He lives He lives within my heart. That is an unswerving, undeniable, everlasting HOPE!

Saturday

Saturday, that day between Friday and Sunday...this week it's between Good Friday and Easter. There isn't anything written in the Bible about this day. For the followers of Jesus, who were Jews, it was the Sabbath. They were restricted in what they could do. The disciples were in hiding. Jerusalem was a large crowded city, surely it would have been easy to get lost. Were they together? Had they scattered? They must have been terrified. Shocked. Dismayed. Discouraged. Not to mention the sorrow, grief, and tears. Lots of tears. Although they had seen Jesus raise the dead...more than once...there's no way He could raise Himself, could He? Hopelessness would soon change. Just wait till tomorrow.