Happy Resurrection Day!!

I was reading the story of Jesus' betrayal, crucification and resurrection today. Have you ever felt like when times are tough for you, things just keep getting tougher. No one understands you, no one will cooperate with you or is even there to be a support or encouragement. It almost feels as if in your time of trail, everyone around you is very distant and concerned with other things. This had to have been how Jesus felt in the garden. He personally said that his soul was crushed with grief. He was battling with the decision to offer himself up and the knowledge of the pain and humility that was to come. He was overcoming these thoughts and yet his disciples could not even overcome sleep. That has to be frustrating. Jesus's friends/ disciples abandoned him, betrayed him and denied him leaving it just Him and God. I realized that there was a blessing in this misfortune. The scattering of Jesus's diciples allowed Jesus to focus soley on God. I believe that it was this focus on God that allowed Jesus to endure all of his torture.

Nevertheless, take some time to read Matthew's account of the event (Chapter 26-28) and you will see that in spite his desertion Jesus' responses to people truly exempifies his gangsta. I mean you can tell that he still carried himself with boldness and grace, and without fear.

God is so good. To think. We (i.e. Adam) brought sin in this would on our own and yet God loved us so much that gave what was his pride and joy to make up for our mistake. God allowed His son to be the carrier of every sin and sickness. He allowed his son to be mocked and mamed. He allowed Himself to be disconnected from his beloved son. (Sidenote: I guess God was comforted by knowing this was temporary. We too should find comfort in any trial we go through because they to are temporary.) God had nothing to do with the consequences of letting sin into the world. in fact he warned us not to let it in and told us the ONE thing we should do not to let it in and yet we still failed the test. Despite all of this, God, just as he wrapped Adam and Eve in cloth after THEY opened their eyes to their nakedness, God also went out of His way to provide us with a sacrifice that would reconnect us to Him. AWESOME is not a great enough word to describe God and His love.

The last revelation I got today was that in the physical world, children have no say over who they come from ( meaning who their biological father and mother were). No one can choose who their are siblings or anyone else they are related to for that matter (though many sometimes may want to). Nevertheless, God gives us this freedom when it comes to His family. Isn't that empowering. We have the choice.