Posted on 2 Comments

“I’m terribly exhausted, Mommy…”

“I’m terribly exhausted, Mommy…”

  

Posted on Leave a comment

April 12, 1 Corinthians 15:56-57

“But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die— but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!”

1 Corinthians 15:56-57 MSG – A verse of the day from the Bible presented in Eugene Peterson’s contemporary version called The Message. Accompanied by a personal reflection below.

This is the epitome of one of the fundamental tenets of the Christian faith:  sin, guilt, and death are all gone by the power of the amazing work of Jesus Christ — whose birth, life, death, resurrection, and omnipotent power to love, save, and transform each and every individual that places his trust in him — is nothing short of incredible.  What part of this difficult to accept?  It may all be difficult, indeed, but if the Spirit works within your heart and reveals these fundamental truths to you, you are a believer, my friend.  Place your faith in these truths.  You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain!

Posted on Leave a comment

“…as far as I can tell, daughter, it works like this…”

How Things Work By Gary Soto

Today it’s going to cost us twenty dollars
To live. Five for a softball. Four for a book,
A handful of ones for coffee and two sweet rolls,
Bus fare, rosin for your mother’s violin.
We’re completing our task. The tip I left
For the waitress filters down
Like rain, wetting the new roots of a child
Perhaps, a belligerent cat that won’t let go
Of a balled sock until there’s chicken to eat.
As far as I can tell, daughter, it works like this:
You buy bread from a grocery, a bag of apples
From a fruit stand, and what coins
Are passed on helps others buy pencils, glue,
Tickets to a movie in which laughter
Is thrown into their faces.
If we buy a goldfish, someone tries on a hat.
If we buy crayons, someone walks home with a broom.
A tip, a small purchase here and there,
And things just keep going. I guess.