In Christ Alone -- Virtual Choir
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All you need for your day! Join in with your heart and soul.
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WHY? The Ultimate Unanswerable
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In the midst of all the pain and uncertainty and sickness and death and economic upheaval surrounding us in this time of COVID-19, we come back to the inevitable question WHY?
I’m not going to try to answer it. Rather, I’ll take you to the passage of Scripture that helps me a lot. Romans 8. And I’ll tell you why.
Read MoreLenten Meditation: a Word of Completion
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Tetelestai!* It is finished! The death of Christ on the Cross is the HINGE of human history...and nowbefore He breathes His last breath... a cry of victory,It is finished!
What's finished? It must be something BIG,...look at what happened when Jesus died:
At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.
Read MoreFocus on the CROSS: the Last 7 Sayings of Christ with B.C. 2001
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How to refocus on Christ and the Cross during these unsettling, fear-filled days of the COVID-19 pandemic? I usually post a review of all of our Lord’s beautiful final words before His death on the Cross during Holy Week.
But I decided this year to share this post at the beginning of each of the remaining weeks of Lent. It will take us back “beneath the Cross” via links to each saying and also via an amazing “cartoon” from days gone by — B.C. (Johnny Hart).
I love this post because it was such a serendipitous delight to find this clipping in my file a few years ago. So I can't help but share it year by year.
Would you meditate along with me ... and revisit Christ's seven sayings for the Cross this week? [See links below] It's truly "holy ground" as we reflect on the Cross, what our Lord went through, but mainly, what He accomplished there. What a perfect preparation for the joy, freedom, and release of the Resurrection.
Read More[New Song added] The Place of QUARANTINE. . .Under His Wings
/![[New Song added] The Place of QUARANTINE. . .Under His Wings](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/564e2a34e4b0ad118963f571/1584283176248-IPDBY80BMM4BXAIRIRE7/MOTHER+HEN.jpg)
So appropriate is this imagery for what we are facing today with the COVID-19 outbreak. Now more than ever, we need these Scriptures and these truths to keep us stabilized in the Lord.
When in the deepest of troubles...when there is no consolation or comfort...go to the sacred place where you and the Lord live together and nothing can touch...the place of union with our God through Jesus Christ by faith (Colossians 2:9-10 ESV)...and rest in Him who rests in you (John 17:20-23 ESV)!
Hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8b
Read MoreTalking to Myself. . . Especially Now
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Talking [oops, singing] to myself these crisis days. How about you?
Read MoreLenten Meditation: a Word of Personal Need
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Thirst is a primal need in all of us humans...more demanding even than hunger! We can go quite awhile without eating, but a very short time without drinking. Jesus on the Cross had refrained up to this point from satisfying His thirst. Instead He drank the Father's cup to the very last drop! He became sin for us...the Sinless One! Jesus took our place, and the Father turned His back. The punishment for sin had been accomplished...spiritual separation from God....for US!
Now in fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus expresses His own physical need:
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. John 19:28-29 ESV
Read MoreBe Ye Glad...Oh Yes, Even in a Pandemic
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…For you are timeless and part of a puzzle.
You are winsome and young as a lad.
And there is no disease or no struggle, that can pull you from God,
Be Ye Glad.
The Real Enemy Behind the COVID-19
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We have an Enemy. . . a silent enemy. . . an invisible enemy . . . a nasty Bully of an enemy.
And it’s not the coronavirus or any other entity that can harass our bodies and do damage in our physical world. The enemy I’m referring to is the Enemy of our souls, God’s enemy and therefore ours (because we belong to God) — the “spiritual forces of wickedness” —the devil and his evil legions.
Read MoreBack to the Cross -- our Focus in Crisis and Everyday
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I don’t know about you, but I have been so distracted these past couple weeks. So much to process. So much to try to wrap my head around. So much still going on with COVID-19 ramping up in the US. Whatever Lenten Meditation I traditionally do at this time of the year has been distracted and even sporadic.
Every Lent for the past 8 years, I have shared reflections on Jesus’ words from the cross. I love to think deeply on each of Christ’s words. And even though I wrote them down as the Holy Spirit illumined my mind and heart, I read them fresh as coming from another pen.
Read MoreAn Echo from the Past: Spiritual and Smart Advice for our Current "Black Plague"
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This entered my email inbox early today through a trusted friend. I just HAD to share it with you — the wise and practical words of one of my flawed but courageous heroes of the faith. Take his ancient words to heart…so applicable to our COVID-19 situation today.
Read MoreA New Lenten Fast -- Social Distancing in this Pandemic
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This morning I was reading the lovely Lenten book, 40 Days of Decrease (Alicia Britt Cole). It has been my habit day by day and year by year. Each day the author suggests a new fast — for instance, fasting regret, fasting criticism, fasting religious profiling, etc.
Well this morning, all of a sudden, I realized that we have a perfect fast going on…not by choice but by necessity. But we can make this fasting from social interaction spiritual by our attitude and our offering.
Read MoreCarrying or Casting? Our Choice in the Midst of Pandemic
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The situation we now face is enough to send each of us over the edge with anxiety and fear. We have no idea how this will all go globally, nationally, and personally. We watch it all unfold as our government officials and staff spell out what they know day by day.
It is then that we have to remember we have a choice. Will we carry the weight of these facts and predictions? Or will we cast our care, fling our anxieties on Him who is on the throne of heaven because He cares for us?
Read More[NEW LINK] In the Throes of COVID-19: Message from a Brother in the Lord in Austria
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Hi everyone,
We are going through some unusual times.
Since I live in Europe, I feel a bit of a responsibility to write to dear friends and family in the US about the situation here and what it most likely will be like in the US in a few days.
Let me paint a picture of what may come in the next few days in the USA.
The Virus hit Europe several weeks before it arrived in the USA…
St Patrick's Prayer for our Quarantine and All our Sojourning on this Earth
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St PATRICK’S DAY has snuck up on me this year — so much stress and angst and change and distress because of the COVID-19 outbreak in the world and now in our beloved United States. But I realized that today more than ever we need the beautiful truths expressed in what is traditionally known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate.
Read MoreThe Place of Immunity (a.k.a. QUARANTINE). . .Under His Wings
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When in the deepest of troubles...when there is no consolation or comfort...go to the sacred place where you and the Lord live together and nothing can touch...the place of union with our God through Jesus Christ by faith (Colossians 2:9-10 ESV)...and rest in Him who rests in you (John 17:20-23 ESV)!
Hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8b
Read MoreThe Best Quarantine Ever!
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Remembering where our life really is . . .
My REAL life is hidden [right now] WITH Christ IN God!
Read MoreLive While You are Alive . . . even in a Pandemic
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How do we live during this unsettling time? Is God still God? Can we children of God practice what we preach as in the times of relative peace?
Jesus comforted and warned His beloved disciples (including us) just hours before He died:
I have told you these things so that you will be whole and at peace.
In this world, you will be plagued with times of trouble, but you need not fear;
I have triumphed over this corrupt world order.
Lenten Meditation: a Word of Abandonment
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Abandoned! Left on the "doorstep of Life"...but with no Rescuer in sight! What happens next in the unfolding drama of the crucifixion of our Lord is incomprehensible!
It's an abandonment so profoundly mysterious that it boggles the mind...but ravishes the believing heart! Let's watch it unfold...
It is noon. By this time, Jesus has already forgiven ...
Read MoreLenten Meditation: Eulogize your Living Loved One
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In our week’s Lenten meditation, we focus on the Lord’s care for His dear mom as His own death approaches. How tender, how like a beloved son of a beloved mom! Caring for our treasured loved ones is at the heart of “family” in the purest sense of the word.
However, we often forget that true caring can be much deeper and more needed than merely physical care, as critical as that is. There’s a caring that touches heart and soul…one that meeting physical needs approaches, but a caring that perhaps only loving words can reach.
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