Happy Easter

(Picture Overload)

The festivities...

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not parish but have eternal life."
John 3:16

Then Pilate said to Him, "Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?" But He gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.


Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. 
And they had then a nutoriuos prisoner called Barabbas. 














So when the had gathered Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" 


For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, "Have nothing to do with that righeous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream." 


Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to 

release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas." Pilate said to them, "then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let Him be crucified."




So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowed saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves." And all the people answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" 




Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scouraged Jesus, delivered Him to be crusified. 

...Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. and about theninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 


...Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back to stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightening, and his clothing white as snow. and for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see HIm. See, I have told you." 

 

Matthew 27 and 28...

Because He lives, we no longer need to wait for heaven: we're empowered to BE heaven, right HERE right NOW.

                           

And to end the night, scrabble and coffee :)

        

I hope everyone had as wonderful of an Easter as we did!

For Scarlett

After watching the cutest little girl sing on Abbi's blog, I showed little Evan, and he couldn't get enough! After a while I just set him up with the computer on his lap and told him which button to push to start the video over when it ended. He sat there, so enthralled, for so long! 

Also, we looked at the picture of the girls decorating their eggs, and he insisted we show you how he decorated eggs also!! 

He got so excited talking about Scarlett and wanted to show her our "puppy" as Evan calls her. Really we're just babysitting this dog for the week, but Evan looooves her! He was outside showing Scarlett the dog but every time we tried to record it he got a little shy haha

and lastly, just to show off how talented and cute he is!!

We talk about you guys all the time and he always tells me how much he misses his sweet girl!                We love you!

WRECKED

How have you been wrecked? Has your life been dramatically transformed by the kingdom of God? 


I was thinking about this yesterday in church. John 17:1-2~When Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed." 


In this, we see the heart of Jesus, and how much He desires to do the will of the Father in order to glorify the Father. All throughout Jesus' ministry, His only goal is to glorify the Father, and that will is so strong that He prays out, Father let them crucify me so that they can see how glorious you are! 


A few parts of the sermon that really struck me:

Quote: Richard Cimino –– It is in the light of this prayer of Jesus that we begin to understand the terms that Jesus set forth for a man our woman to be His disciple — Matthew 8:34 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.The cross is not some momentary difficulty. The cross is not a boss who picks on you. The cross is not your spouse misunderstanding you. The cross means the end of self. The cross means living and (if need be) suffering; and (if need be) dying for the will and the glory of God. 

HEREIN LIES THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY  — The Trinitarian God is inviting us to turn from a life lived for self will and self glory and participate in HIS life, Which is the essence of eternal life

QUOTE: Paul David Tripp — You were liberated from your little kingdom of one by the cross, to go back and live in it simply misses the point of the Gospel.

So, all this to say, one more confirmation that I need to give up myself and live for the Lord; live boldly and fearlessly in order to glorify Him. I am going to be ridding myself of all of my excess possessions and holding a yard sale with my dear friend Sunny. If anyone has anything, old clothes, toys, trinkets, whatever, that they don't want, we will be taking donations to sell at our yard-sale sometime in the beginning of May (details coming soon). All proceeds will go towards funding our mission trips. 


I feel as though my life has been "Wrecked" for the Lord. Without Him and without the desire to follow Him and glorify Him, I would be living in my cozy house in my cozy town most likely pursuing some sort of comfortable life style. Since He began this work inside of me I have been completely wrecked...Thank-you Lord for upsetting my comfort. I'm filled with enthusiasm and elation. 


To close out, a beautiful quote by Spurgeon: To me the Bible is not God, but it is God’s voice, and I do not hear it without awe.


*To read the complete sermon: http://richardcimino.tumblr.com/post/4495101284/sunday-morning-metro-04-10-11-jesus-prays-john-17

Somebody Is Going To Hate Your Dream.

I read this post on Jon Acuff's Blog http://t.co/IcUmNCP (via @jonacuff) and loved it. Lately I've been telling people about my dreams and getting a lot of mixed responses. It is so easy to doubt, and feel dumb and want to give up. Maybe I am a little crazy...but maybe it's a good crazy. Here are my dreams:


–Live as a life-long missionary.


–Be a street evangelist for a time.


–Live as a minimalist. 


–Write and sell books.


So, maybe i'll move to Africa, maybe i'll live on the streets for six months, maybe i'll sell almost everything I own, maybe i'll "waste" my time writing stories. Maybe people will jump on board, maybe people will scoff, maybe people will laugh. It doesn't matter to me. 


Deuteronomy 28:1  And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the Earth...