Wake Up Good Friday...

I woke up early this morning...got up to look out and see the wind still blowing...decided to hop back into bed and warm up...and as I lay there I thought of "Good Friday"...I thought of in the garden...I look at it...

"Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.  When He came to the place, He said to them,  "Pray that you many not enter into temptation.

And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."  Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.   And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples He found them sleeping from sorrow.  Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep?   Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."  Luke 22:39-46

And I think how often I sleep...even with my eyes wide open...choosing to try and "sleep" through it all...and I think how the disciples must have felt...sleeping from sorrow...and there is a song Wake Me Up...that there are times you just want to sleep through the sorrow...

And I think...I didn't know I was lost...and I read on of the story...I in Luke this morning...and I read in the New King James Version...and almost like headlines in a newspaper...

• The Plot to Kill Jesus
• Jesus and His Disciples Prepare the Passover
• Jesus Institutes the Lord's Supper
• The Disciples Argue About Greatness
• Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial
• Supplies for the Road
• The Prayer in the Garden
• Betrayal and Arrest in Gethsemane
• Peter Denies Jesus, and Weeps Bitterly
• Jesus Mocked and Beaten
• Jesus Faces the Sanhedrin
• Jesus Handed Over to Pontius Pilate
• Jesus Faces Herod
• Take the Place of Barabbas
• The King on a Cross
• Jesus Dies on the Cross
• Jesus Buried n Joseph's Tomb

And what if the story ended there...right there in Luke 23...the story of my faith...this Jesus...One who died on the cross...though some might think just a story to be read...but there is something that occurs...that can't be explained...when this Man called Jesus becomes more than just a name on the pages of a Book that has been handed down...

I came across this week of a song that I have always loved...a part of me...a part of my mom and dad...and I love Kris Kristofferson's words how he explains...this Jesus in the Book isn't just about some man that lived long ago...It is of God loving the world to send His Son to die for our sins...the John 3:16 seen so many times...what does it say?

"For God so loved the world...that He gave His only Begotten Son...that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

 

What makes me believe?   I question...yet I have seen the words in this "Book" this Bible...that have came alive to me...of a peace that I did not know where it came from...but it came...and to me to have a faith based on Love...as Kris said...something comes over you...and I think of the song that was given to me for today...for this "Good" Friday...Blessed Assurance sung by Third Day...This is my story...this is my song...we each have a story...a song...

I smile thinking of the picture below as I wondered if I had a picture of a cross...those of you who know how many pictures I have...I open right away to September 2013 pic 028...and there a reminder of a cross...how I seen this power pole when I took the picture....a symbol of the Christian faith...And I think GOOD FRIDAY...what makes it GOOD...well if  you turn the page to Chapter 24 (spoiler alert) the next headline...

 And I read the fine print that follows the headline...

"Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bring the spices which they had prepared.  But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.  Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.   Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth and they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?   He is not here, BUT IS RISEN!  Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."

And they remembered His words.   Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.   It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.  And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.  But Peter arose and ran to the tomb, and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened."  Luke 24:1-12

And I think of this Easter season...hearing stories of Christians being killed just because they are...I awake and pray...and am reminded HE IS RISEN!   Risen and lives that I might live eternally...yep that's forever...  

I give thanks for this day and for the LOVE I have been given...peace like a river...let it flow!   AMEN

lyp