Thanksgiving is a holiday that seems to get lost in the frenzy of black Friday and the coming Christmas celebration. However, we can change that. Let’s use this opportunity to really celebrate Thanksgiving by taking the time to reflect on the many ways God has blessed us. What are you thankful for this year?

For each person who leaves a comment on this blog, we’ll enter your name in a drawing to win a prize. Tell us what you’re thankful for and check back at the end of November. We’ll post the winner’s name on the blog. If you’re the winner, I’ll need to get your address to send you the prize.

Happy Thanksgiving and don’t forget to count your blessings!

Pray on!

St. Augustine Easter Morning Sunrise

But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.

Very early on Easter morning Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices to Jesus’ tomb so that they might anoint His body. Can you imagine the surprise, the shock, the fear they must have felt in finding Jesus missing from His tomb and in His place a heavenly messenger with the stunning news that Jesus had risen from the dead?! They were the first to receive this news, and yet they were so afraid that the Bible tells us they fled from the tomb and said nothing to anyone. I am sure they were trying to piece together in their minds what they had just seen–and not seen.

Later, a distraught Mary Magdalene is back searching for Jesus when He appears to her. How touching that the first person He chooses to appear to is the one whom He had cast seven demons out of. I think Mary Magdalene was clinging to her faith in Jesus despite the circumstances. She  had been set free from such bondage; she above all others had to realize that no earthly power could have performed the miraculous healing that she received.

Now the word starts to spread that Jesus is alive, but Jesus’ disciples don’t believe it until they see Him for themselves. Soon they begin to realize that the plan is much bigger than they ever imagined–a heavenly kingdom, not an earthly reign. And they will be the ones to start spreading the good news.

I love the joy and power of Easter morning. Because of Easter morning we have hope. Hope that we can change. That we can be set free. That we can forgive. That we can love. That we can be forgiven and healed and restored to the relationship with God we were meant to have.

This Easter morning found me on the beach in St. Augustine basking in a beautiful sunrise while the chorus of “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” wafted down the beach to me from an outdoor service a mile away. It’s easy in this setting to sense the magic of Easter. But what’s important is that this message is for every person in every place, from a beach in Florida to a slum in Calcutta to a prison in China to wherever you are, as you are. Don’t wait until you “get your act together” to come to Jesus, because none of us ever can without His help. That’s what He came for and that’s why He died and that’s why He rose again.

Happy Easter and pray on!

Jane VanOsdol

Jane VanOsdol

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded himself. After that He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. John 13:3-5

So many things happened on this day. Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover meal together, which we know as the Last Supper. During that time Jesus  reinterpreted the bread and the wine of this meal as pertaining to His body and blood in light of the sacrifice He was about to make.

That same evening after the meal, Judas left to betray Him. If you’ve ever suffered through a friend’s betrayal, you know how heart wrenching that is. Still later in the evening, Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and asks His friends to pray for Him–but they all fall asleep.And, of course, we have the harrowing scene of Jesus’ arrest.

What I want to focus on today is what happened after the supper before they went to the garden. Jesus gathered all his friends together to wash their feet. I think it’s easy to gloss over this part of the story and not see the significance of the example Jesus was setting for believers today.

You see, footwashing was not a part of the Passover Meal. In Bible times, even a Jewish slave could not be made to wash his master’s feet. The only person who could be forced to do this was a non-Jewish slave. So when Jesus stooped to do this service for His friends, it was an extreme humbling of Himself–no wonder Peter objected to it!

Jesus was introducing a new order of things here–that people should serve each other and not consider themselves better than others. It was a way of life that He expected His followers to copy.

I know that I need to evaluate my actions in light of Jesus’ example. Am I living out a life of service, or am I letting a “better than thou” attitude creep into my life? I need to pray that I will have a humble spirit and one that is quick to serve, rather than waiting for someone else to come along and pick up my slack.

Tomorrow we will look at the events of Good Friday–until then, pray on!

Jane VanOsdol

And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. Matthew 26: 6-7

I love the picture of this scene. Jesus is sitting at a table surrounded by His friends when a woman comes up to Him holding a beautiful alabaster bottle of an expensive perfume. Before anyone knows what is happening, she breaks the bottle and pours it onto Jesus’ head. You can imagine a stunned silence and then Jesus’ friends start to criticize her for her wasteful actions. Jesus, however, does not see it this way. Jesus honors her for her gift to Him and even says that she has anointed His body for burial.

FIrst of all, I love the bravery this woman had. She put aside any fears of personal humiliation and embarrassment and acted out of a genuine love for Jesus. She did not care how she looked in other’s eyes; she just knew she had to act.

Next, I notice the sacrifice of this woman’s gift. This gift of perfume was a priceless gift–that’s one reason why Jesus’ friends were so indignant. They thought she should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor. She, however, realized the true value of Jesus and that her gift really paled in comparison next to Him. But she gave Him the best she had.

Finally, what she did ministered to Jesus. Her literal outpouring of love and devotion encouraged Jesus’  heart, which was probably heavy with the weight of His supreme sacrifice yet to come.

As I look at her example, she causes me to think about my own reaction to and for Jesus. Am I as brave as she was? Would I do something for Jesus if it caused others to look down on me or think I was weird? Do I care more about Him than about my own reputation?

Next, I have to ask myself do I give Jesus the best of what I have, or am I giving Him my leftovers? And I just don’t mean material things here–all of my resources including my time. Do I only serve Jesus when it is convenient for me, or do I follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and give the best of what I have in all areas? He is worth it.

One brave woman whose example is forever captured in the Bible has given me much to think about this Easter week.

Until tomorrow–pray on!

Jane VanOsdol

During the week before Jesus’ death, His authority was constantly challenged. It wasn’t challenged so much by the Jewish people as it was by the religious leaders:  the Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees and the scribes. We can see this in the following example.

Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” Matthew 21:23

In reading the scriptures, we see that the religious leaders challenged Jesus numerous times throughout the week, just looking to trip Him up so that they could find a justification to kill him. What’s so interesting is that Jesus often responded to these challenges in parables, including the parable of the two sons. In that parable, the second son represents those who claimed to be religious but actually reject Jesus, of course a reflection on Jesus’ accusers. Jesus would answer them in such a way that they were rebuked without Him seeming to do it! It made it very difficult for them to respond back to Him.

While reflecting on this part of the Easter story, I thought about how arrogant the religious leaders were to question Jesus. “Surely, after seeing all the miracles Jesus performed that alone should have been enough to convince them,” I thought.

But then an uncomfortable thought crept into my mind. Would I have accepted Jesus’ authority then, and do I accept His authority in my life now?

I can remember as a little child if one of my sisters told me I had to do something I would often retort, “Who says so?” I wanted to know whose authority was backing up what they were saying. Sometimes if I wanted my own way bad enough, I would ignore them even if they said “Mom says so!” or “Dad says so!”

I have to admit that sometimes today I am tempted to ignore Jesus’ authority if I really want to do something. I’ll reason that it’s only a small transgression, or it’s not as important as the other really big rules I would never break.

But the thing is, once you question or ignore Jesus’ authority, it becomes easier to do it again and again.

So, today I’m going to reflect on Jesus’ authority in my life and whether I am yielding to Him or questioning His right to run my life! It seems this week of Easter is bringing up some difficult issues that I need to deal with ….

Tomorrow we’ll look at the annointing at Bethany. Until then, pray on!

Jane VanOsdol

As we begin this holy week of Easter, I’d like to focus on some of the activities that happened between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. I’m not necessarily addressing them in the order they happened; just reflecting on these events and why they seem important.

~

Have you ever thought about how fleeting popularity and public opinion can be? In one short week, Jesus went from the heights of adoration as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with multitudes of people worshipping Him and then plummeted to the depths of despair when even His friends deserted Him–and it felt like His Father did too–as He was taken prisoner and crucified. Let’s look at some of the things that happened during this week.

So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out  those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them ” Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.'” Mark 11:15-17 (Chronological Study Bible NKJV)

Wow. This is a little different picture of Jesus than what we usually see. This is a picture of a man indignant about the way His father’s holy house is being treated; so indignant as a matter of fact, that he physically flips over tables and chairs and drives out the people who were running their businesses. What was it about this whole setup that made Jesus mad?

Well, first of all it helps to understand a bit about the temple. The temple where the Jews worshipped had four different courts. Each court was restricted to only certain people who could worship in it. The large outer court that everyone could attend was the Court of the Gentiles. This was the only court that the non-Jews could worship God in. The next court was the Court of Women. Both Jewish women and men were allowed here. The third court was the Court of Israel. Only Jewish men were allowed to worship in this court. Finally, the most restricted court was the Court of Priests. Only the Jewish priests could enter to offer sacrifices for the people.

The actual court that Jesus cleansed was the Court of the Gentiles. You see, all the people were headed to Jerusalem to celebrate the annual Passover celebration. (Remember, the day before many of them had worshipped Jesus as He road into Jerusalem on a donkey.) Each spring about 100,000 pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem for this. And, they all needed  to purchase an animal for slaughter. Being that many of these pilgrims were from out of town, moneychangers made a tidy profit because they needed to exchange all the foreign currency for the pilgrims purchasing from the animal dealers. With 100,000 people needing to purchase sacrifices, you can imagine what a ruckus it must have been in the Court of the Gentiles where the animal dealers and moneychangers had set up shop. Probably the cheating that was going on and the fact that the Gentiles now really had no place to worship were two things that Jesus could not ignore in His Father’s house, so He threw them out.

Jesus took a definitive stand on the atmosphere and the conduct which should be at the temple–and it wasn’t the conduct that He was seeing around him in the chaotic Court of the Gentiles.

Thinking about this story makes me think of how I should be preparing myself for Easter throughout this week. Just as the pilgrims were preparing for Passover, I should be preparing for Easter. I need to take an honest look at myself and in prayer ask God, What is there in my life that I should be throwing out because it doesn’t belong here? What is disrupting the holy atmosphere I need to be cultivating this week?

As often times Easter falls at a busy time of the year, often coinciding with vacation and spring break, it seems that I get caught up in the details of what I need to get done, and before I know it, Good Friday has arrived and I’ve done little to prepare myself for the week.

I think one of the things I want to do this week is to “throw out” any frivolous reading I do and use that time to read the Bible or other Christian works to help me set the right tone for Easter. I want to be sure I take the time to sit down and pray and focus my heart and mind on what is really important this week. I’m sure there are other things God wants me to throw out, too, so I’ll keep an open heart as I go through the week.

I know these are personal decisions to make, but if God speaks to you about something you need to change this week as you prepare for Easter and you feel like sharing it,feel free to leave a comment; you may even encourage someone else to do the same!

Look for another Easter week topic tomorrow and until then, pray on!