JOY!

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, 

and bear a Son, 

and they shall call His name Immanuel, 

which is translated, "God with us."

--Matthew 1:23, NKJV

Freedom Is Available!

On a recent vacation, my husband and I stopped at the Maine State Prison Showroom, a store we’d visited on a previous trip to Thomaston, Maine. All the items (over 600 different kinds) in the store were crafted by inmates.

Although I would have loved to buy one of the handcrafted mahogany tables featuring intricate designs and polished to smooth perfection, I could only buy a few items that were small enough to fit into my suitcase: an ink pen with a smooth wooden barrel, a small pad of note paper that had a pen and ink drawing of a lighthouse on the left side of each page, etc.

After we'd left the store, I said, “It’s so sad that such talented people made bad choices that landed them in prison.” 

Indeed, even though some of the inmates were becoming increasingly skilled artisans, the men were still serving time in prison.

I thought of them a few days after we’d returned home when I heard an actor on a TV show say, “No matter how comfortable your prison is, it is still a prison.”

That is so true, isn't it?

We try to hide the prisons our sins put us in, don’t we? For example, if we are in bondage to gluttony, we may dress our bulging body in pretty clothes that hide our excess weight. If we are addicted to shopping, we accumulate clothes or jewelry or furnishing that make us the envy of our friends. But no matter how we camouflage our particular prison/cell/captivity, the truth remains: we are still in bondage to/held captive by a harmful (Dare I say sinful?) habit--with no release date in sight.

But there's good news! Albert E. Brumley (1905-1977) expressed it clearly in the song "He Set Me Free!" Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXi_1SD1UN and/or here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajnincfXyZY

Seemingly Small

I enjoy reading about how God uses seemingly small acts of obedience to accomplish far more than we ever dreamed would happen. The “back story” to the hymn, I’m a Child of the King, proves that.

Harriet Buell wrote the words one Sunday while she was walking home from church. She submitted the song for publication. It was printed in the February 1, 1877, issue of the Northern Christian Advocate.

Six years later, when Peter Bilhorn was doing evangelistic work among the cowboys in the West, he and his traveling companions were traveling up the Missouri River on their way to Bismarck. When they stopped at Blunt one Sunday morning to unload freight, a crowd of men and boys came down to the wharf. Mr. Bilhorn took his little organ and went on the wharf-boat to sing a few songs, including I’m a Child of the King.  

He thought nothing more of it, but that was not the end of the story, as Mr. Bilhorn discovered the day he sang that same song in Rev. Moody’s church in Chicago. Afterward, a man in the back of the house stood up and talked about having heard that same song in Blunt, Dakota, two years ago. Although he was then an unsaved man, the song set him to thinking. He decided to accept Christ and was studying for the ministry.

As I reflected on that back story, I felt amazed at the wonderful ways God had used each person’s obedience. The woman, whose heart was filled with gratitude over being a “child of the King,” felt compelled to express her thoughts and to submit them to an editor who chose to publish them. Mr. Bilhorn somehow discovered the song and chose to sing it to the crowd of men and boys. At least one of them chose to believe the Good News that was shared in the simple, yet profound, words penned by Ms. Buell, words  that had finally reached him after having been passed along from person to person.

Dear Reader, since we never know how God will use us to help spread the Good News to those who do not yet know there is a God who loves them and wants to forgive them of their sins and to bring them into His family, may we eagerly do everything, even the seemingly small things, that the Holy Spirit of God prompts us to do. God will take our little and make it much!

He is Risen!

"The Empty Tomb" at Guido Gardens in Metter, GA

Jesus Is Buried

It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

Mark 15: 42-47, New Living Translation

Jesus Is Risen

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"

Mark 16:1-7, New Living Translation