Royal Wedding

Today was the day - the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Kate Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge!  It looked lovely from my vantage point - home watching on TV.  It had all the elements of any wedding PLUS some that only occur at a royal wedding.  I love weddings - anyone's wedding!  I love all the attention to details never thought of before - or after!  I love the talk about it before and especially the pictures after.  I thoroughly enjoyed my own wedding - in fact, as I walked down the aisle I remember looking around and thinking that it was just exactly as I always wanted.  And, believe me, I'd been doing some planning - for a long time!

I didn't attend this wedding, never have attended a royal wedding. But there's one in my future, yours too if you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior.  We will attend the ultimate wedding - not just the wedding of the century - when we, the Bride, meet Christ, our Bridegroom, at the supreme altar!  It will truly be a wedding made in Heaven!

Talk about the dress!  He will be clothed in robes of white and we will put on immortality!  The designer will be God Almighty and there won't be any knock-offs made to rival it! 

I had a bride's cake, groom's cake, punch, sandwiches and mints at my wedding reception.  But on "that day" we will feast at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb - and no one will leave hungry or thirsty ever again.

Then - and this is the best part - the honeymoon will last for eternity!  We will be His and He will be ours for time and time and time forever. 

The invitations have been extended; hope you've sent in your RSVP.

An Easter Poem

Easter


A time of rebirth, renewal and growth,
A chance to begin anew.
We take our cue from nature's grand show,
Starting fresh as morning's first dew.

As Jesus arose with a promise of life
That morning from the grave,
We, too, will be granted freedom from strife
As His Spirit took flight from the cave.

Today our Lord gives His presence
And comfort when we feel alone.
He sends His Spirit, God's essence.
He claims us and calls us His own.

Easter reminds us to live every day
As the gift that we have been given.
Loving, serving, and living His way
Will give us a glimpse of Heaven.

© Linda Cardwell
April 4, 1999

Palms

I love working in a place where it's more than ok to share/show your faith.  It's celebrated!  God has put me in a place where I'm constantly surrounded with symbols of the Christian life. For example, it's Holy Week.  My office is just down the hall from our Chapel.  I can go there any time and, of course, it is full of the color of the season.  The purple draping reminds me of the Kingship of Christ and how we are, also, royalty because of Jesus.  The stations of the cross are on the wall - I'd like to devote another post to that.  Today I saw palms appear in the chapel and on the credenza against a wall outside my office.  Seeing them reminds me of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and all the celebrating that went on that day.  No one but Jesus knew how temporary that would be.  But for now, the palms are displayed.  These are the palms used in Palm Sunday services and will be blessed and burned, and their ashes used for next spring's Ash Wednesday services.  Looking at them reminds me of Jesus' entry immediately followed by his death, burial, and (PTL!) resurrection - then reminds me to look ahead to next year's Lenten beginning.  Really that is a picture of the cycle of the Christian's life: joy of salvation, repentance of sin, forgiveness and renewing, inevitable sinning again, etc.  But the best part is that Jesus showed the way through His death to life eternal!  Thank you, Jesus, for going through the humiliation and pain of the cross to lead us into your heaven!  See you there!!!!

Sensitive

I've been waiting all day to write this post because God clearly spoke to me.  I need to be more sensitive to the things I'm exposing myself to.  Example: I love going to the theater - especially love musicals.  I had tickets to "A Chorus Line" and went last night.  Should have done some research first - I left before it was half done - and that was an hour longer than I should have stayed.  It was raunchy - to me.  I felt myself being pricked by the Holy Spirit and Him saying to me, "this is not what I want in your mind, your thoughts, your memory."  I paid attention and my friend and I got up and left.  But the Holy Spirit wasn't through with me yet.  He prompted to my mind: TV, books - stuff I like to fill my time with.  "No," He said, "those things need a good cleaning too."  So I mean to pay attention and be more mindful of what goes in my mind.  There are lots of good books out there to choose from - they don't have to be of the wrong sort - or even questionable.  I have devotion books, Christian fiction, clean fiction and others to read.  And I can turn the channel or get up when I don't think what's on TV is edifying.  I am praying that if God gives me this conviction, He will also give me the strength to live it.  Hey, friends out there, check me on this - ask me what I'm reading.  I want it to be something worthy of my time and my mind.  I'm admonished by Scripture in Philippians 2:5 to "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." 

It's Our Job!

Morning music message again!  I truly believe nature is alive and in tune with its Creator.  I wish I were as in tune with my Creator!  This morning's music message echoed what Jesus said in Luke 19:40,

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

This was in response to the Pharisees wanting him to quiet the crowd welcoming Him into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  I can see around me all created, living things bursting with praise at their Creator in their own beautiful ways (blooms, growth, sunshine, rain) - but we who have a voice are so often silent.  And I can also imagine those created, living things bursting with praise aloud if we don't raise our voices to Him.  Can't you?  But it's our job to praise Him and lift Him up.  Jesus said if we would do that, He would do the rest by drawing all men to Himself. 

Lord, please help me not be silent when it comes to praising you!

Taking a Stand

Last week's Sunday School lesson (thanks again, Kim) was about Esther, "for such a time as this."  Question: Have you ever just been silent instead of proclaiming your salvation?  Lots of silence, because we're all guilty of this.  Esther was advised to keep her silence...until the timing was right.  Then she went boldly before the throne of the king with her request.

From today's Lenten devotion by Douglas Bushman: To turn away from the truth is to kill Christ.  He dies every time truth is trampled upon, since that is what sin is.  In reality, He stands before everyone, just as He stood before Pilate.  He places Himself in the position of being judged before all of us.  The Creator is judged by his creature.  He appeals to the inner sanctuary of our consciences.  Washing one's hands, as Pilate did, cannot cleanse a conscience that is too indifferent to take a stand.  Will you disown me and condemn, the condemned One asks, or will you take sides with the truth against all sin and be condemned with me?  That, in the end, is the option placed before every conscience.  Truth is a matter of life and death, His and ours.

Esther took a stand for her people - and for us - by showing us how to go boldly after prayer and being ministered to by wise counsel.  Scripture says that when the plan for eradicating the Jews (a Hitler pre-Hitler!) was to be put into action, Mordecai (her uncle and wise counsel) told her to appeal to the king. 

Esther 4:14, "For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

So, God could always use someone else, but maybe I'm in this time and place and situation "for such a time as this."  Please, Lord, put me in the situation to make a difference, then remind me that You've put me in the situation for such a time as this.  Help me be selfless instead of selfish. 

Wise woman, that Esther.  And she did save her people.  God still works through His people - if we I will be available...and seek wise counsel...and pray...and listen...and then act when the Holy Spirit leads.  Wow - lots of responsibility, but He gives all the tools - thank you, Jesus!

Divine Healing

I believe in miracles.  And I believe they take many forms.  Some come in the form of healing, but not always as we would design.  I know God works many healing miracles through the medical profession and professionals but sometimes His healing comes in the divine form, in that he heals a person by taking them out of this world and straight to Himself.

On April 16, 2005 my mama received divine healing of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) when the medical profession could do nothing else.  She went straight to Heaven and is in God's presence now - free from pain and suffering.  That is not the outcome we'd have preferred; we'd like her to be here strong and energetic and loving.  It's easy to say that we want God's will - and I do! - but through the hurting, it hurts.  God's plan was different and we will know one day the impact her life had on others.  She's probly putting out tomatoes in God's garden!

This weekend a dear friend's son (Beau Slocumb) was also divinely healed of cancer.  He and Alan (my son) grew up together; we all grew up together in church.  This is not the way his family and friends wanted - we want Beau here, vibrant, healthy, racing and enjoying life with his new bride!  But more than that, we want God's perfect will, and want to give Him the glory for the bigger picture that we can not see.  Beau and his family touched a lot of lives and we may never know the Heavenly gain from his short life.

God GAVE us His Son, but He only LOANS us our loved ones.  Hard to keep in mind when we are so intent on having, gaining, keeping, holding - but God is good.  We will spend eternity with our loved ones who are saved and we won't think then to ask why.  He knows we want to know why now, and I can imagine Him whispering, "Just wait a little longer and we'll all be together.  Then you'll know.  But for now, just know I love you and I always want what is best for you - my best."

Jesus, help me...

Focus

Great, great Sunday School lesson last week - thanks, Kim Washburn!  The story was of David; everyone knows David's stories.  But the great thing - well, one great thing - about the Bible is that there are always lessons to learn if you will let God teach you.  What I took away from the lesson about David and Goliath is to focus.  It's the last thing Kim said before the prayer: focus on the living God, not on your problem(s).  That's HUGE!  Really, if I will just focus on my God and Saviour all the other things will fade away.  And the wonderful thing is: He already has the solution in progress!  He knew from the foundation of the world exactly how each and every day of my life would unfold and the obstacles I would/will face.  But He is so much bigger than anything that can come up - duh!  So, it's not a matter of how God will "fix it" but how we will see His plan unfolding; cause He's already fixed it!  In one way, hard to comprehend.  In another way, so simple - just let go - no, really, let go!  Oh and give Him the glory, cause that's why He does what He does.