Thursday, April 22, 2021
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Snapshots of Faith: Living Hope
“5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee.” Luke 24:5-6
I love music and am so thankful to be part of worship team at our church. There are so many Christian songs that I just love and am thrilled when we get to sing them on a Sunday morning when I happen to be scheduled for worship team. And there are some songs that are just fine, but just aren’t in my top list of favorites. Once in a while suddenly, while singing and focusing on the words of the song, I fall in love with the song and am greatly encouraged or blessed by.
One song that we sing is “Living Hope.” It has never been in my top 10 of all time favorites. To me it was a good song with good lyrics that explained the Gospel message but never felt strongly one way or another about it. Until recently.
The verse that really struck me is:
Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the roaring lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Jesus, yours is the victory, whoa!
In the Chronicles of Narnia movie “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” Susan and Lucy are sitting, crying over the lifeless body of the great lion Aslan who had just let himself be sacrificed to save the life of Edmund. As the girls start to leave the stone table where Aslan died, the earth shakes and the stone table cracks. They look back and in the radiant glow of the morning sunlight, Aslan appears—fully restored and fully alive! Now when I sing that verse, I have that visual of Jesus, the roaring lion, coming back to life after having been put to death. I can only imagine what it was like to actually have been there, seen our Savior die, be buried and then after three days come back fully alive!
Growing up reading about and being taught about Jesus and the Bible, sometimes it is all so familiar that the wonder and amazement of it all can be forgotten. Let us never forget the sacrifice He made for us. But oh let us never forget or become to complacent over the fact that He lives! He came back to life! He won the victory! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Our living hope!
Friday, April 2, 2021
Two bald eagles
Timing is everything. We decided as we were driving around Door County to swing through Peninsula State Park one last time during our weekend visit. As we got out of the car to enjoy a scenic overlook, we noticed these two bald eagles soaring way up high.
Snapshot of Faith: Joshua 24:15
“…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15
Twenty-seven years. Twenty-seven years ago two young twenty-something year olds stood up in front of a beautiful historic church during a wedding ceremony and surrounded by friends and family.
We had no idea what was ahead of us. We just knew we loved each other and wanted to live happily ever after together. The two of us had a ton of hopes and dreams. We said our vows—for better, for worse, sickness and health, till death do us part. We made that covenant to each other before God.
At that time, we knew at some point we wanted to live in the country, have at least two children and of course have horses, cats and dogs. We live in the country. We have cats and one dog. Anything else that we thought would happen in our lives really did not turn out like we thought. Surgeries, miscarriages and my struggles emotionally after them, job losses, financial ups and downs, loss of friends and family, loss of beloved pets, and so on. And there have been days it is simply hard to love each other unconditionally. Married life certainly has not been exactly what we thought it would be. We certainly could not have guessed what lie ahead of us twenty-seven years ago.
We have sometimes been asked how we have made the marriage work, how have we stayed together. I guess the simple answer is our marriage is grounded in Christ. And we did make a vow to each other that through thick and thin, with God’s help we would stay together. Being best friends and having shared interests (our community theater, music, South Dakota, Door County) and ministry (youth group, Operation Christmas Child, worship team, etc.) helps, too.
Yes, life has had it’s share of low points and tough times. “Date night” many times is just running errands. And as I mentioned times when it was just hard to love each other. But God has been good and blessed us. We rent a home that nicely fits our needs. We live in the country and have great landlords. No children of our own, but our lives have been full of youth as we have been youth leaders for years. God provided when we have experienced job loss. Recovery has happened after surgeries. We have been blessed with wonderful friends and family members. Christ is the foundation of our relationship.
Life isn’t easy. Marriage isn’t always easy. But I am thankful that we decided to do life together. I cannot imagine going through this life with anyone else. So thankful, too, that Christ is the head of our home and that we serve Him.
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