burn! 3 & 4
“A personal pursuit after a people He loves…” (Mark Batterson) that is the story of our Salvation! Our faith in God, our gift of the Church is all about a relationship, not a task list, not boxes to be checked.* It is like the story of the two followers of Christ on the road to Emmaus: “Jesus himself drew near and walked with them…” He does the same for us moment by moment each and every day. It is only we who are sometimes missing! How do you spend time with Him--how do you
BIG news! 1 & 2
Did you hear the BIG news? In a volatile section of the Middle East, news outlets report that a man rose from the dead. After severe beatings and torture resulting in death, days later, he left his grave and walked among the people totally unscathed. Only scars were left as proof of His ordeal. Many are saying that several others who had been buried throughout the city “awoke” as well after a severe earthquake hit that region. Understandably, the citizens of that area are in
Via Lucis
He is Risen! Alleluia! At last! We can say it! ALLELUIA! Say it again! ALLELUIA! One more time--just because we can! ALLELUIA! We have so much to be thankful for! “O death, where is your sting?!” We serve a Risen Savior! What does that mean? It means that we, too, have the wonderful promise of the hope of rising with Him! We too can experience life eternal! Not just in the far-off future--but in the here and now! Each time we “die” in our own sin, and seek His mercy and grace
XIII & XIV
The darkness overcomes me. The utter silence. The cold chill of lifelessness. All is lost. Absolute hopelessness. As I sat inside a very dark, stone-hewn grave somewhere in Jerusalem, I imagined that this is what the world would be like without the hope of the resurrection. Why would we want to live if the loving presence of our eternal Jesus was not with us each and every moment of our life? Why bother to get up if our Lord is not there to sustain and keep us, encouraging an
XI & XII
“You will never know the price.” Those were the words I heard whispered in a very realistically vivid dream I had one night. In my dream, my sister and I walked into a store, seemingly somewhere in Mexico. The large shop doors were propped opened. Items spilled out onto the sidewalk as they typically do in touristy towns in the tropics. There were all kinds of things to capture our attention: pinatas, pottery, curios, embroidered dresses, and the like. As you entered further,
