The Cross Triumphant

I just completed reading aloud to my student, Alex, The Cross Triumphant, another fabulous publication from Lamplighter Publishing.

Written in the 19th Century this little gem describes clearly the law/grace debate and sets the story in the last 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation period just before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. I really grew to care about the young rabbi turned believer and felt deeply the horror of those last days just prior to the end of the Jewish age.

It was really worth reading.

Pastor Monty Strikes Again!

I am re-reading some of my notes from Resurrection Sunday and came across a few quotes I attribute to my shepherd.

• In dying we live.
• On the cross the Innocent is condemned.
• Our Benefactor is put to death.
• The Righteous One dying for the unrighteous.
• The Lord of Glory hanging on a cross!

Under my 'Remember this:' I have written:

The cross shows us the horrors of sin and God's inflexible justice. It was absolutely necessary so that we might be saved. There was no other way. In fact, the cross displays God's absolute holiness, His absolute justice, and His overwhelming mercy.

It is good to be reminded about these things...and more frequently than just on Resurrection Sunday.

Thai Chicken in Coconut Milk

Next weekend I am preparing a gourmet luncheon for the students attending our daughter's photography class. The menu is: Thai chicken in coconut milk; rice; tomato chutney; spring garden salad with tangy bacon dressing. Sounds good, doesn't it? I think I could really get into catering fancy meals. We will be serving the class at my home on depression glassware (chop-house plates, salad plates, fruit bowls and dainty cups and saucers for tea or coffee.). Mmm, mmm, mmm!

Hallway of Memories

This past fall we visited Colorado Springs for an annual nationwide meeting of home school leaders. My mom worked at St. Frances Hospital in Colorado Springs during WWII so we decided to see if it was still in existence. It is, but most of it sits unused. This is a picture down one of the hallways my mom must have walked many times during those years. It was an eerie feeling to visit the empty building that was likely full of memories for my mother. I could almost hear the soft tapping of her nurse's shoes on the marble floors.

Table set for Resurrection Sunday Dinner.

Sanctifying Power of Suffering

In Sunday School we are talking about the sanctifying power of suffering. Oh, yeah! When we are tempted to pray with all diligence for the easy life--adequate money, excellent health, hosts of friends, to be smarter than a fifth grader, etc.- then we would do well to remember that the suffering allowed/sent into our lives by the Most High God, the Chief Shepherd, the Lord of Hosts, the Bread of Life, the Lover of our Souls is allowed/sent for the purpose of conforming us to the image of the Son. Yet I/we pray with perseverance to be released from the suffering not caring that it is working in us a kind of glory. Shame, shame on me.

I have never considered myself a sufferer, but I have had some pretty hard knocks in life. Most of my own doing and one can hardly blame God for those. But what niggles my brain is the fact that God may send (has sent?) to me suffering, not of my own doing. Well, to be honest, I'm not too keen on that idea. And yet, I have to say, I want to be like Jesus (I want to want to anyway!), but I fall far short...far, far short.

Even so I have this comfort knowing that the Christ who began a good work in me will complete it and someday-and this a good part--I will be free of suffering after it has done its good work in me. And the best part is that someday I will never sin again.

With trepidation and resistance mixed with a bit of whining I say, "Dear Lord, bring on the suffering if this is what it takes."

And I will trust You. I will trust You. I will trust You.