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It is true! The Lord has risen! He has risen indeed! Luke 24:34

This week we, as Christians, experience Holy Week. The week takes us from the Last Supper to the arrest of Jesus and subsequent mock trial,through the crucifixion, and finally to the resurrection.We experience a roller coaster ride of emotions as we walk through the week.

Many times, but especially during this time of year, I am extremely aware of things in this world that tangibly show the presence of Christ. Early Friday morning as I looked out the kitchen window, I saw the first hummingbird of the season. He drank from one feeder and then quickly buzzed by the others on his way to inform his friends of the find! These small creatures are poof of God’s presence in this world!

These “presences” remind me of the great sacrifices Jesus made on my behalf, and the crown He has for all of us in glory. Only one man who promised to rise from the dead kept his promise, and that man is Jesus. There are countless examples of others who made this claim, but Harry Houdini, the magician, is one who promised he would come back from the dead and talk to his friends. Some of his friends actually consulted mediums to see if there was any word from him from beyond the grave! There never was!

In order to keep His promise to us, Jesus suffered a horrendous death on the cross. The nails which pierced him represented all of our sins. He took on and felt the pain of our envy, anger, shame, discouragement, guilt, bitterness, and unforgiveness. Through all the suffering, not once did Christ use His powers for personal comfort. With just a word, He could have transformed the hard earth into a soft bed, hurled the spit of His accusers back in their faces, and paralyzed the hands of those who drove the nails into his flesh, but He didn’t. Instead, He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by His suffering and death on the cross.

Satan set God up in order to bring him down, and for three days, it looked like Satan had won. Then, on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and turned Satan’s plans upside down. He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities and shamed them publicly by His victory over the cross. The resurrection is ultimate proof that He is Lord!

The greatest proof of the resurrection is found in the transformed lives of people all over the world. The story is told of the first world meeting between Bush and Putin where President Bush wanted to be sure they connected on a personal level. In order to do this, Bush brought up a story he had read about Putin. The story goes that Putin’s mother had given him a Christian cross, and Putin had it blessed while he was in Jerusalem. Bush had been touched by the story.

Putin told a story in response. He said that he had taken to wearing the cross, and one day he set it down in a house he had been visiting. Strangely, the house had burned down and all Putin could think about was that his cross was lost in the ruble. He visited the site after the fire, and he motioned for a worker to come to him so that he could ask him to look for the cross. The worker walked over to Putin, stretched out his hand, and showed him the already recovered cross.

Putin said to Bush, “It was as if “something” meant for me to have the cross,” inferring that he believed in a higher power. Bush replied, “President Putin, that’s what it’s all about, that’s the story of the cross.”

The story of the cross is that God intended it just for us.

The songwriter A.J. Ackley puts it like this: “You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.” Today Christ is working in this world. The thing Satan feared the most, the birth of the church with the power to change the world through the gospel has come to pass.

As we anticipate the celebration of Easter, I encourage you to look for the presence of God in the everyday things of this life.

Happy Easter!

The disciples brought a donkey and a colt, laid their clothes on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their own cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the tress and spread them on the road. The crowd went ahead of him, and those that followed shouted “Hosannah to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosannah in the highest.” Matthew 21:7-9

There are many things I think about when I think about a parade. The parades in this day and time usually are led by a band. Loud music is played while onlookers cheer and clap. There are probably majorettes and flag twirlers who stop to do a small routine along the way, and the crowd goes wild!

Dignitaries and other important people ride by in convertibles or on floats and throw out candy to the crowd. The children in the crowd race to catch a glimpse of them and try to grab as much candy as possible. There is constant cheering and excitement!

The crowds for our parades these days are made up of many different people. There are parents, children, friends, school mates, grandparents, and many different onlookers who come for many different reasons.

Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem makes me try to guess what it was like for Him. He rode on the back of a donkey, covered with cloaks of the disciples, and witnessed the crowd waving their branches and laying their own clothes down for the donkey to walk upon.

Although there were no bands, the Bible says there were “Hallelujahs”, “Hail the King,” and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” being shouted from the crowd. The whole town threw a party complete with a parade when Jesus came to Jerusalem on that day.

The people were much like the little boy who missed Palm Sunday at church because he was sick and had to stay home with his mother. When his Dad returned from church, he was carrying a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Dad what are you doing with that palm branch?” “You see,” said the dad, “when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor Him, so we got palm branches today.” “Oh man, ” the little boy said, “the one day I miss church, Jesus comes to town.”

In the above scripture, the people praised Jesus, but many of them praised Him for one of two basic reasons. First, they praised Him because of His miracles. He had healed the sick and raised the dead. These praised Him because He was serving them.

The second group of people praised Him because they saw in Jesus a way to be politically delivered from the Romans – to be set free as Israel had been set free from Egypt. They were all about the attitude, “What can you do for me, Jesus?”

The crowd on that day was made up of different people who had different agendas. Many gathered, threw down their coats, their palm branches, and shouted praises because it was the popular thing to do. It was trendy. Some were there with sincere motives, but on that Friday, there motives disappeared as they joined the mob shouting “Crucify Him.”

Jesus was the only one in that crowd on a mission, and that mission was to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of those he saw around him that day. The cloaks spread on the ground were only for the donkey – Jesus’ feet never touched any of them. I can imagine His agony as he thought how many times He had tried to get through to these people by sending prophets, working miracles, and preaching. He knew they were cheering because they needed him to tend to their agendas.

Jesus closed his day by visiting the temple there in Jerusalem. The scriptures say “He looked around and then left with his disciples to Bethany to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus” to spend one of his last nights with close friends. He had fulfilled the scripture.

As we celebrate Palm Sunday this week, we should all be careful not to come to worship with any kind of personal agenda, but rather come with the mission of worshipping our Lord and leave with the mission of telling others about the sacrifice that He has made for us.

One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in His death so that everyone could also be included in His life. 2 Corinthians 5:14 The Message

This past week, I had a chance to chat with a nurse at one of my doctor’s offices while I was waiting. Surprisingly, she enjoyed talking as much as I do, and when we moved through the usual conversation, she let me know that her daughter plays basketball for Pitt State. She went on to say that her daughter is a substitute for the team, and that she would probably get no playing time in the Final Four game on that night. I ended up watching the game and found her daughter on the bench where she remained until the final four seconds when she got into the game. It made me think of all those who sit on the bench but still put in the same amount of work without the recognition. Being a substitute isn’t easy in this life.

After my thirty years of teaching, I began to fill the gaps of my time after retirement by occasionally being a substitute teacher. I admit that I knew that substitute teachers provide the perfect excuse for students to break all the regular teacher’s rules, but I never imagined how stressful a day could be for the substitutes. It’s like the students had a meeting to dream up plans for things they could do to upset the routine of the day. I know they plotted because in their minds, a substitute doesn’t know their names, they don’t know their parents, and most importantly, they won’t be back the next day. The substitute had no authority. We were considered a stand in for the regular teacher. We weren’t the real deal, rather we were just a substitute.

A substitute is defined as a person or thing acting or serving in place of another. In this case it is another trained indiviual who comes in the absence of the regular teacher and is to facilitate learning.

There are other instances of being a substitute. In 1863, two years after the beginning of the Civil War, Congress passed The Enrollment Act which required every male citizen between the ages of 26-45 to enroll in the Army as a way of providing fresh manpower. However, the Policy of Communication allowed a drafted citizen to pay $300 to opt out of service. Grover Cleveland and John D. Rockefeller were two famous Americans who used this act. The act generated a huge amount of resentment especially between the wealthy and the poor who couldn’t afford to opt out.

The Power of Substitution Act was even more devasting. This policy allowed a draft eligible man to NOT join the Army if a substitute, that was otherwise exempted, could be found. It ended up causing massive problems because the troops chosen by substitution ended up being too old, too young, or in poor health. The policy was later abolished because the perfect substitute didn’t exist.

The word substitute seems to have some bad connotations, but not in the Bible which clearly teaches that Jesus was born to be our substitute. The Message in II Corinthians 5:21 says it this way; “For our sake, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We know He substituted for us on the cross, but how can we explain this deep love? We want to ask, “What does His love look like?” Look at the cross. If you had been the only person who ever lived, Jesus would have died just for you. But “what does his love cost?” you might ask. The answer is, Nothing! It comes with no strings attached. You didn’t do anything to deserve it, and when you mess up, you don’t forfeit it. Nothing can come between us and God’s love. Romans 8:23

Jesus was the perfect substitute which God sent in to take away our sins, and this sacrifice offers to each of us a path to forgiveness and reconciliation. The right substitute can win eternal life for us all. The best news is this substitute does know your name, He does know your parents, and He will be back every day for all of eternity!

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:5

The whole point of what we are urging is simply love -love uncontaminated by self interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. 1 Timothy 1:5 The Message

This life offers us many moments in which we can celebrate our life so far, and in which we can laugh and remember the times shared with friends and loved ones which make life so special. This past week, I was able to celebrate a big birthday with some of my dearest friends. There was much laughter as we sat around a beautiful table to enjoy a “Swan House” type meal. I’m sorry, but there is no better lunch than chicken salad, frozen salad, quiche, and sweet tea!

During the jubilant conversation, one friend said, “I just have to tell you all that, as I look around this table, the one thing I love about you all is that you are real.” I loved that description of friends who are real about their life, their heart, and their faith. There’s nothing that we have been through in this life in which these girls are not there for each other.

When we are real, we emphasize authenticity, honesty, and living a life that is aligned with one’s true self, before God and others, encouraging transparency and rejecting facades. The Bible says that being real means being genuine and authentic and that God wants us to be who we are.

When Jesus picked His disciples, he did so after a night in prayer on a mountainside where he was seeking God’s guidance. In the morning, he called them together, and picked the twelve that were to be His apostles. These disciples came from various backgrounds including fishermen, a tax collector, and a zealot. When Jesus chose these men, He wasn’t looking for the strongest, the most handsome, or the most brazen. Rather, He was looking for real people. He chose people who could be changed by His love, and then He sent them out to communicate this love to others.

These disicples became His inner circle or His friends. They walked together, talked together, faced the elements together, ministered together, healed together, preached together, and I can imagine that Jesus could be real with them. Even though these men were real friends, in the end, one denied Him, one betrayed Him, and only one stood at the foot of the cross when He was crucified.

Jesus frequently went to a garden of ancient olive tress known as Gethsemane with His disciples to pray. On the night before His crucifixion after celebrating Passover, Jesus took His disciples there. At some point, he took three of them – Peter, James and John – to a place separated from the rest. Here, Jesus asked them to watch with Him and pray so they would not fall into temptaion, but they fell asleep.

Twice Jesus had to wake them and remind them to pray so they would not fall into temptation. This is especially poignant because Peter did fall into temptaion that very night when three times he denied knowing Jesus. These men were real friends to the Master; however, just like many of us, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Mark 14:38)

When we are real, there is no imitation and nothing artificial, but rather we are genuine. One of my favorite children’s books is The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery William Bianco, and it has a few paragraphs which offer insight into being real.

“What is real?” asked the rabbit when he and the skin horse were lying side by side near the nursery fender before Nana came to tidy up the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the skin horse. “it’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the rabbit. “Sometimes,” said the skin horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are real, you don’t mind being hurt.” “Does it happen all at once like being wound up,” the rabbit asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the skin horse, “it takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Ususally by the time you are real, all your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints…and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all because once you are real, you can’t be ugly except to people who don’t understand.”

This part of the book is a beautiful metaphor for the value of authenticity and vulnerability. When we allow ourselves to become more real it is a blessing to those around us.

Don’t be obcessed by getting more material things. Be content with what you have. Since God assured us “I’ll never let you down, never walk off.” The Message Hebrews 13:5-6

It is feeling a lot like spring everywhere we go. The weather is warmer, the flowers are blooming, and the stores are displaying all the new spring fashions. When we think of spring, many of us begin to turn our minds toward “spring cleaning.” This is the annual event where we spruce up our homes inside and out after a long winter of the doldrums due to inactivity.

For most women, the spring season involves the annual “switch out the closet” event which is basically replacing winter pieces of clothing, shoes, jackets, etc., with spring ones. Sometimes this can consist of just moving clothes from one closet to the other, but this year, things are different. This year our church is participating in a program which allows us to simplify our closets while at the same time, make a donation to Must Ministries. The first step is to grab a garbage bag. The program asks us to take one item from our closet each day for the forty days of Lent and put it in the bag. The bags will then be collected and distributed after Easter Sunday.

This idea has worked well for me because it’s not done all in one day, but rather I have forty days to sort through things. However, clothing isn’t the only thing we need to work on! We all have a need to simplify many things, not just material things, in our lives. We are bombarded on a daily basis with emails, phone calls, responsibilites, pressures, schedules, obligations, TV ads, and the weight of everyday life. We need to simplify and drop some of the load we carry.

On a recent radio broadcast, Dennis Rainey talked about Double Eagle II, the first hot air balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The men piloting the magnificent craft caught an air corridor that carried them all the way across the Atlantic, but when they were just on the coast of Ireland, they flew into heavy cloud clover and ice began to form on the balloon’s outer shell. They dropped from twenty thousand to ten thousand feet in a matter of hours. They did everything they could to save the balloon. They began to throw out cameras, food rations, even a glider with which they had planned to land. At about four thousand feet, they radioed their position and then threw the radio overboard. Finally, they descened low enough to catch the rays of the sun, the ice fell off, and they soared to France. We all need to simplify and lighten our load so we can soar through this life.

The scripture above was written to tell Christians to be content with what they have and be comforted in the fact that God will never leave them. Charles Shedd pastored a large church with many demands. He and his wife created a simplicity list to share with the congregation. It’s a perfect reminder for me.

First, remember why you are here. We simplify our lives by putting God’s will first. Then, drop useless goals. Next, make sure you need to simplify. Sometimes our problem is inertia because we don’t do enough! Then, remember you can’t do everything. If God had intended you to be six people, He would have divided you up. Leave some of the jobs to others. Live one day at a time. Plan and hope for the future, but don’t live there. “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:34) Live well today and tomorrow’s strength will come.

Then, wherever you are – be there! Stop thinking that happiness comes at a certain time every day or with certain people. Live in the present. Next, develop a hobby. A change of activity keeps you fresh. Time spent playing is time well spent. My personal favorite is, You can’t slow the world, so slow yourself. Learn to gear down. When you can’t alter the pace, alter yourself. Finally, adopt the perfect pattern. Follow Him as He lives a mighty life in quiet confidence.

Thoreau said, Our lives are frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify. I think he means that we should discard the unnecessary and embrace a simpler more intentional life. Don’t get bogged down with material possessions and life’s pressures. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Phillippians 2:5

We all have garbage bags just waiting to be filled! Simplify!

If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business”, will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know, someone who is not impressed with weak excuses. Proverbs 24:12 The Message

We are not quite a week into the season of Lent, and most of us are in the process of either fasting, praying, or “giving up” something in observance of the season. Unfortunately, many of us are probably already offering excuses about why the process isn’t working for us. We have tried it for a few days, and it’s just not working!

As a kindergarten teacher, my colleagues and I have heard probably every excuse imaginable offered by students as well as their parents to explain the inability to complete and turn in lessons on time. The most popular excuses were: I left it at home, I had a game last night, I forgot, and the ever popular, the dog ate it!

An excuse is defined as an attempt to lesssen the blame attached to an offense or to defend or justfiy an action. Many times we find it convenient to blame others when we lack the courage to accept the responsibility for our own behavior or mistakes.

The art of making excuses is not a new phenomenon. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus shares the story of a man who was preparing a great banquet, and he had invited many guests. It was the custom then, as it is now, to send formal invitations to such a special event quite a long time in advance. Then, as the actual date approached, a more personal invitation was extended.

According to scripture, instead of receiving the invitation excitedly, the guests began to make excuses. The first said, “I have bought a field, and I must go see to it. Please excuse me.” Another said, “I got married, so I can’t come.” Still another said, “I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on the way to try them out. Please excuse me.” Not one person simply said, “I will not come,” rather they simply made up excuses to cover up the fact that they did not want to come.

We’ve all made excuses for things we either don’t want to do or things we are just too lazy to do, but we need to realize that excuses show the inability to accept responsibility and they are the hallmark indicator of the lack of character and maturity. We make a thoughtful list of things we might “give up” for Lent, but unfortunately many of us lack the determination to follow through to the end. We blame circumstances and the reality of life for our failure.

When God came looking for Adam in the Garden of Eden and asked for an explanation of eating the forbiddem fruit, Adam made excuses for himself and blamed everyone but himself for the failure to defend the Garden from the evil one. At this point, denial and blame entered the world.

A respected counselor wrote: All blame is a waste of time. Regardless of how much fault you find, it will not change things. The only thing blame does is keep the focus off you when you’re looking for reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. Blaming others is often just a way of avoiding the truth about yourself.

In the late ’60’s and early 70’s, the comedian Flip Wilson made quite a name for himself by popularizing the expression, The devil made me do it, through his character Geraldine Jones. Everytime Geraldine was tempted to do something that was totally unacceptable, her excuse was that the devil made me do it. The character Flip Wilson created was hysterical, but the excuses were far too familiar to most of us.

The Bible makes it clear that Satan can’t force his desires on humankind, but he can deceive us into making destructuve choices and excuses. When Jesus is in our lives, the devil can’t make us make excuses for our actions because we are listening to Him and making choices according to His will for our lives.

As we enter a new week in the season of Lent, remember the words of Benjamin Franklin, “He that is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”

We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him. Romans 8:28

Most of us have heard of Murphy’s Law, and we probably have repeated it on many occasions, The law simply says, “If something can go wrong, it will go wrong.” The source of this law is Edward A. Murphy, Jr., who was one of several engineers who designed and experimented with a rocket sled for the U. S. Air Force in 1949 which was intended to test human acceleration tolerances. Of the 16 sensors that were installed, every single one was installed in the opposite way! In response to this Murphy said, “If there’s any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it!”

Murphy’s Law can be related to the Law of Variation. For example, “If you change lines at the grocery store, the line you just left will begin moving faster, and the one you are in will move slower; or as soon as you find a product you really like, they quit making it!” The general laws also include things like, “Nothing is as easy as it looks, and everything takes longer than you think.”

Murphy’s Law means different things to different groups. For instance, for men, it might suggest that “As the value of a tool increases so does the chance that it will be lost, broken, or stolen before the project is completed.” Women might suggest that “The smudge on the window is always on the other side of the glass and it’s always the highest window.” For seniors, the law might suggest that “Placing any item in a “safe” place guarantees that it will not be found again until long after it is needed.”

All of us can probably identify with Mr. Murphy at times. He was not an optimist, for sure, but we do live in a glass half empty kind of world. However, with this mindset, who can enjoy life if we think it has to be lived by this philosophy? Have you ever noticed that when people expect the worst, it happens?

Thankfully, God’s law totally disagrees with Mr. Murphy. The world might expect Murphy’s Law to operate in their lives, but at Christians, we need to resist that kind of thinking and think of things as God would have us see it. Here’s what God’s Law as opposed to Murphy’s Law might say. First, “If anything can go right, it will.” Secondly, “Nothing is as difficult as it looks.” Next, “Everything is more rewarding than it appears.” Finally, “If anything good can happen to anybody, it wll happen to me.”

The story is told of a businessman who came to speak to a small town’s Chamber of Commerce. His job was to help them see the positive rather than the negative of their community. He took a large piece of white paper and drew a red dot in the center. “What do you see?” he asked them. On person answered, “I see a red dot.” “What else do you see asked the businessman?” One by one the audience chimed in “A red dot.” Finally, the speaker said, “You have missed the most important thing; you missed the paper.”

We often let the negatives or the small things in life prevent us from seeing the positives. Think how much more we could enjoy life if we lived by God’s Law and not Murphy’s. God has a great life for each of us that he wants us to enjoy to the fullest. Instead of expecting the worst and blowing everything out of proportion, rely on God’s law and not Murphy’s.

As we begin the forty day period of prayer, fasting, and preparation known as Lent, remember all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

But I, yes I, am the one who takes care of your sins; that’s what I do. Isaiah 43:25

I think we would be hard pressed to find a person in this world who doesn’t need some sort of closure in their life. It could be the closure of a hurt, a misunderstanding, a relationship, a mistake, an injustice, a betrayal, a friendship, or multiple other things. Closure is defined as the resolution or completion of a life event, problem, or situation, and we all need it at one time or another.

There’s just a time that comes when we know that it’s time to shut the door on the past and move on to the future. Something that happens just makes us know it’s time for closure. Joyce Meyer said it this way, The devil wants each of us to concentrate on how far we have fallen, rather than how far we have risen. He would love us to focus on our past rather than our future and how far we have come. God wants us to focus on our strengths and not our weaknesses, our victories and not our losses, our joys and not our problems.

I personally know how hard it gets at times and in situations to put a closure to things because our human tendency is to think that if we do, it’s over. I’m here to tell you that putting closure to the past is freeing, and it means a new beginning. For example, when we set out to buy a new home, there has to be a closure on the property. The house closure is a transferrence of property ownership. The current owner relinquishes the property to the new owner. Actually, it’s not an ending but rather a new beginning for both parties. Neither party would be able to reach their goal if they decided to hold onto the past.

Rick Warren likens closure to a trapeze artist who swings out on one bar and then has to reach out and grab the other. At some point, the artist must let go of one bar in order to grab the next one or they are left hanging!

Some closure is more dramtic than others. For example, I can’t even imagine what Noah must have been thinking when God shut the door to the ark leaving him aboard with his wife, three sons, and their wives plus a whole lot of animals! God provided closure for Noah by shutting the door. He implemented closure and began the pattern of new life, a new beginning, and a new environment. While Noah and his family were aboard the ark, transformation happened. They learned the worth of God and that He, and He alone forgives our sins and leads us.

It takes this kind of transformation for us in our lives to achieve closure. In Phillippians 3:13-14, Paul concertedly decided to put closure to things when he wrote, But one thing I do; forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. He decided that if he didn’t do anything else, he was going to do one thing. He would not allow past circumstances and situations to stop him from fulfilling his purpose. He believed God, he trusted God, and he relied on God.

Sometimes it’s hard to look back on hurts and bring closure. The story is told of a minister’s wife who came back to a former church for a funeral. She was greeted at the door by a man who never really liked her husband, but he greeted her warmly. She thanked him, but she couldn’t resist turning around to look at the beautiful campus and buildings which were built during their tenure. She remarked, “Look at all this! My husband loved it all.” The man obviouosly mishearing the words couldn’t wait to tell the new minister what he thought she had said. He mistakenly said, “She said her husband built it all.” The next day on Facebook was a post from the minister which read, “Only God can build a church.” She knew immediately what had happened, but she couldn’t bring herself to confront him and get closure. It’s hard when a wrong has occurred, and you never get to tell your side of the story!

There’s one thing I’ve learned when we get to a dead end in our lives, life isn’t over. We just need to change directions. God did just that with Noah, and in His infinite wisdom gave mankind another chance to get things right. He put out a detour sign. Christ never lost the focus of His purpose even though He took a detour by coming here to live amongst us. We need to be just as adamant as Paul was and say to ourselves, no matter what I’m going through, I am bringing closure to the mess. It’s finished! I’m forgetting what’s behind and pressing forward.

Socrates says it this way: the ultinate goal of human existence is not just to live, but to live a good, meaningful, and virtuous life. As they say in the movie industry, That’s a wrap!!

Keep your eye straight ahead; ignore all the sideshow distractions. Proverbs 4:25

Our world of today is filled with commonplace distractions. Things such as social media, regrets, multitasking, clutter, visual distractions, gossip, pursuit of perfection, and thoughts of others. A distraction can be anything that takes your mind off a task that needs your concentration.

The story is told an “ADD” husband who was so distracted over one thing or another that he had to have his wife tell him almost everything. One day his wife walked into the room and said, “Here’s the sweater you asked me to find.” He said, “Are we going somewhere or am I just cold?” Some of us can all identify.

In Greek mythology Ulysses is coming back from the Trojan war, and it takes him ten years to get home. He faces one distraction after another. One of the most popular distractions in the story was the Sirens, a group of beautiful women who sang irresistably seductive songs. Once the sailors gave in to the distraction, their boats crashed on the hidden rocks that were lurking right beneath the surface of the sea. Once the demonic cannibals whose alluring disguise and mesmerizing melodies had drawn them close, the Sirens wasted little time devouring their flesh.

Ulysses was warned about the Sirens, so when approaching the island, he ordered his crew to tie him to the mast and to put wax in their ears. He told his crew, “No matter what I say or do, don’t untie me until we are safely at a distance from the island.” Ulysses inwardly wanted to pursue the Sirens, but the ropes prevented him from the distraction.

This is how many Christians approach life. We probably inwardly want to pursue a lot of things that we know are distractions, so we are constantly battling guilt, frustration, despair, hopelessness, and we literally hanging on by our fingernails. We can be so caught up in distractions that we miss the kindnesses in life.

The other day, I was in line at Starbucks doing what I hate when other folks do it, answering texts and being distracted. When I got to the window, I absent mindedly held up my app to pay. I didn’t get it when the attendant said, “The person ahead of you took care of your drink today.” I was so distracted I hadn’t noticed the car ahead of me, and so now I don’t know who to thank for that kindness!!

Rather than let the distractions of this world take away our joy, we need to focus more on the passion in our lives. I love little children because they have such natural enthusiasm for life. They don’t let all the distractions rob them of the joy of life. As we get older, we see less joy and more distraction.

Next we need to move from being distracted to being focused. We are all tempted to be controlled by the tyranny of the urgent. Our lives become controlled by a thousand little things rather than the power of the one most important thing. We just need a little quiet time first thing in the morning to get focused on what’s important. If we start the day running, we will never stop.

In a Reader’s Digest article, Tim Allen, the star of the sitcom, Home Improvement asked, “How much of the day are you distracted?” You think, I’ve got to get the dry cleaning, I’ve got to get that report done, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that. All of the sudden it’s dinnertime. You have a few moments with family and a connection with friends, then it’s bedtime. You read, go to bed, and wake up to start the same thing over again!

Finally, we need to stop wandering in life and begin living life with a purpose. Instead of wandering from one day to the next, we need to stop and ask, “What is my purpose? Why am I here?” It’s important to discover that purpose and not let a thousand little distractions rob us of it. I think of the disciples sleeping in the garden when Jesus needed them to be with Him. The human distraction of neglect trumped their purpose.

Today is a perfect day to put aside distractions and look for passion, focus, and purpose.

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God because God is love – so you can’t know Him if you do not love, for God is love. John 4:7-8

This week we celebrate Valentine’s Day with the traditional hearts, candy, cards, flowers, and “I love you’s”. It’s all about these things these days, but it didn’t start out that way. Valentine was a Roman Catholic Priest who was martyred on February 14, 270 AD, during the persecution of Emperor Claudius II. Claudius was determined to eradicate Christianity from his empire, and so he began putting to death highly visible and important Christian leaders. Father Valentine was seized, severely beaten, and thrown in jail.

Claudius said to Valentine, “Either renounce the Lord Jesus Christ in front of all this people or be put to death.” Valentine would not, and so on February 14, the jailers came to put him to death by beheading him. As he left the cell, he gave the jailer’s daughter a piece of paper torn into the shape of a heart bearing his name. Years later, the Catholic church made Valentine a saint and dedicated February 14 as a day to remember someone who was willing to die for his love of Jesus Christ. This day, which began with Christians putting special messages on hearts and sharing them, continues to this day.

The heart symbol is the universal symbol of love, affection and care often used to express fondness and emotional connection. On Valentine’s Day, we tend to see a lot of messages of love between sweethearts, friends, and lovers. The words I love you; however, shouldn’t be restricted to one day of the year. The story is told of a wife who dragged her husband to a marriage counseler in an attempt to save their marriage. During their session, the counselor asked, “Do you tell your wife you love her?” The man growled back, “I told her when we got married that I loved her and that if I ever changed my mind, I’d let her know.”

The older we get, the more we realize that people know you love them when you show them and when you tell them. The heart we think about, especially at this time of year, is a loving heart, a heart full of compassion, kindness and care for others. It is gracious and sensitive to others while showing empathy, kindness, generosity and unselfishness. We can’t just think with our head about having a loving heart, but we have to feel with our heart. Fred Craddock says, “The longest journey we will ever take is from our head to our heart.”

While the loving heart is the most desirable, things in life can change the way our heart works for us. When we’ve been hurt, it’s easy to put up barriers around our broken heart to prevent another hurt. However, a protective heart can turn into a heart of stone. We can allow our heart to become resistant, unreceptive, and impenetrable even to God. One writer said, “The only thing more painful and with more serious ramifications than a broken heart is a frozen one.” This heart is incapable of tearing down the barriers it has put up and replacing them with forgiveness and love. The trouble with a frozen heart is that it feels nothing – no pain, but also no love. It is a trap that feels like self preservation, but it is actually self destruction.

In his book, Lee, The Last Years Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in her front yard. There she cried bitterly as she told how its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal Artillery Fire. She looked to Lee to confirm her frozen heart, but instead, he said, “Cut it down, my dear Madame, and forget it.”

Jesus taught his disciples many things, but all of his teaching can be summed up in His command to love God and love others. (Mark 12:31) The heart is meant for love not bitterness. The love it holds needs to be shared so that it never becomes frozen.

Alan Jackson says it this way: The Older I Get the more I think, You only get a minute better live while you’re in it Cause it’s gone in a blink. And the older I get, the truer it gets, It‘s the people you love, not the money and stuff that makes you rich.

The loving heart is one which is not afraid to love others, and one which loves God above all else.

Happy Valentine’s Day!