wednesday of holy week 2009

greetings!

i saw three reminders of the resurrection today...

the first involved the passion of a family who lost betty [their beloved] today...

as we all sat around and talked about betty's death and remembered her life, we all came to the conclusion that there could not be a better season of the year to die...

when i die, i hope i die during holy week...

betty passed through the pain to gain the joy...

she went through the darkness to emerge into the light...

she endured the suffering to experience the glory...

she left behind what she could not keep to be given freely what she can never lose...

her good friday is already past -- her easter morn has brightly dawned...

what a seat she will have for easter sunrise service...

the second involved a frozen moment in time on the farm in plant city at sunset tonight...

my dad is sitting in his chair, i am on a plastic bucket...

a cool breeze is blowing [probably the last one of the spring]...

we are talking heart-to-heart and looking out over "our" garden...

just a week ago it was a dirt plot -- at least that's all i could see...

i was pretty sure that all our work had been in vain [what if the plants grew down into the ground instead of up]???

my gardening glass was mostly "empty"...

but in the dimming light of the early evening, tonight there are green sprouts breaking through the soil EVERYWHERE...

as ricky my native american friend says -- the land is amazing -- it is a miracle every year -- we plant and the fruit comes up and it feeds us -- and if we love the land and care for it -- it keeps providing year-after-year-after-year-after-year...

it is a miracle!

dead seeds giving birth to living plants...

buried in the ground but now exploding forth in life...

guess Jesus was right: "unless a seed fall to the ground and die it cannot bring forth the fruit of life..."

the surrendered death of friday yields the victorious life of sunday dawn...

a crucified lamb catalizes a conquering lord...

finally, i fed the cows for daddy before i left to come back to my life in the city...

my eyes focused in on one cow -- a beautiful rusty-colored mama who was about to be a mama once again...

the calf was "coming down" -- starting to descend -- it won't be long...

her bag is already filling with nourishing milk for her baby...

when the "time of her delivery has fully come" -- there will be pain, agony and passion...

and all the mothers say AMEN...

but then, a baby...

and, in just a few moments, everything was worth it...

first the pain -- then the joy...

the ugly scene gives way to the beauty...

the suffering and then the glory...

first the INCARNATION and PASSION, then the RESURRECTION...

the beautiful baby, the battered lamb, the ultimate lord...

holy week found me today...

in a patient's living room...

in our garden...

at the feed trough...

and i am so grateful...

my prayer is that holy week finds you as well...

shalom...

guy

as i worked on the farm today, my 50 year old body was screaming in pain -- i am looking forward to my new Jesus-body more than ever -- how about you???