American Justice

Having had some experience with the American justice system over the past few years, I can tell you that justice may be blind, but it can certainly smell money.  The amount of time you serve for committing crimes in America is directly proportionate to the amount of money you can spend on an attorney.  If you have a public defender, then you are going away for a long time.  It's just the way it is.  The late, great Larry Norman once wrote:

"All men are equal, all men are brothers

So why are the rich more equal than others

Don't ask me for answers, I only have one

A man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son."

Never confuse our legal system with Justice.  Only God offers justice.  That's all I'm saying...

Rumors

A rumor was making the rounds of Facebook yesterday that President Obama (who according to many wingnuts actually handed Eve the apple in the Garden) had cancelled the National Day of Prayer, which happens each May.  I must have seen it posted at least 5 times on Marilyn's feed.  It is not true (a judge ruled the day unconstitutional; an appeal is expected), but that is really beside the point.  How can anyone, even the President, cancel a day of prayer?  It's kind of like all of the fuss about prayer in schools over the years.  If I, or my child, want to pray at school, who can stop me?  I used to have a button on the the bulletin board in my office that read, "As long as there are exams, there will be prayer in schools."  Sounds about right to me...

I'm Just Saying...

Why is it our country never runs out of money for wars?  USAmerica only seems to run out of money for things like education and health care...

Day 40- WIDE OPEN

Today is the final day of The 40 Day Adventure.  I will post again tomorrow in honor of Easter and the celebration of our Risen LORD!  I hope that during our time together you have discovered something new about yourself and your walk with the Savior.  I hope that you have discovered anew what grace really is and what the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf was really all about.  Our theme scripture from 2 Corinthians 6:11 is once more presented at left.  I hope it means something different to you now than when we started on Ash Wednesday.  Paul was writing to the church at Corinth about how we tend to live our lives in a box.  We so often fence ourselves in by putting God in a box.  God cannot and will not be contained by the things of man.  Don't let this world contain your love and your faith.  Be WIDE OPEN to living large, to changing the world in the name of Jesus.  He said that He came to bring us life- the abundant life, and life eternal.  Rich Mullins used to say "Live like you'll die tomorrow...Die knowing you'll live forever."  And that, my friends, is the definition of living the WIDE OPEN live with Jesus.  Because of His sacrifice, we have full access to the Creator of the universe.  What could be better than that?

Happy Easter to everyone. He is RISEN!  He is RISEN INDEED!!!

Day 37- The Lost Coin

In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables that all illustrate the same thing.  God loves us, God desires that we repent and draw near to Him, and that with God we always have a second chance, and we are ALWAYS on our first try!  Be WIDE OPEN to the message of Jesus that God's love is limitless for those who need it and desire it.  We just need to submit to His will and follow His Son.  Read the Parable of the Lost Coin below.  Have the angels rejoiced over you being "found?"  

Luke 15:8-10  (NIV)
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.  Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors and says, 'Rejoice with me;  I have found my lost coin.'  In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Day 36- The Next To the Last Supper

Mark 14:1-9 (The Message)

 In only two days the eight-day Festival of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread would begin. The high priests and religion scholars were looking for a way they could seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. "We don't want the crowds up in arms," they said.

Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper. While he was eating dinner, a woman came up carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, she poured it on his head. Some of the guests became furious among themselves. "That's criminal! A sheer waste! This perfume could have been sold for well over a year's wages and handed out to the poor." They swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her.

But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me. She did what she could when she could—she pre-anointed my body for burial. And you can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly."

My old friend Curt Cloninger, the amazing actor and interpreter of scripture, calls the meal Jesus is eating in the scripture above "the next to the last supper."  In Curt's brilliant one-man play entitled Witnesses, he plays a fictional character (Abe the Banana Man) who was present at this meal.  He used to be unable to speak, he tells us.  In fact, he points out, almost everyone there (in Curt's version) was a used to be.  Simon (their host) used to be a leper.  Bart used to be blind.  Lazurus used to be dead!  Curt points out that Jesus most likely ended the party during His speech praising the woman who had anointed His feet with perfume, because He once again announced that He would soon be dead.  The whole evening must have been indicative of the highs and lows of that last week.

We all used to be something before Jesus got hold of our hearts.  Some of us still are things that we would rather not be.  Holy Week is a wonderful time to let Jesus make you a used to be again.  He will- if you become WIDE OPEN to the grace he offers you.  Honor Him this week (and every week) with your very life.

Day 35- Surely God Is With Us

Ever wonder what it was like to be with Jesus that last week in Jerusalem?  Before the dinner in Bethany, before the footwashing, before the Last Supper and before the arrest?  Read the words below.  They capture many of the emotions that must have been present that week with both the followers and the enemies of Jesus.  Be WIDE OPEN to the message.  At what moment would you have realized that God had come to earth to dwell among us?

Surely God Is With Us   by Beaker and Mark Robertson  (The Jesus Record)

Well, who's that man who thinks He's a prophet?
Well, I wonder if He's got something up His sleeve
Where's He from? Who is His daddy?
There's rumors He even thinks Himself a king
Of a kingdom of paupers
Simpletons and rogues
The whores all seem to love Him
And the drunks propose a toast


And they say, "Surely God is with us.
Well, surely God is with us."
They say, "Surely God is with us today!"


Who's that man who says He's a preacher?
Well, He must be, He's disturbing all our peace
Where's He get off, and what is He hiding
And every word He says those fools believe
Who could move a mountain?
Who would love their enemy?
Who could rejoice in pain?
And turn the other cheek?
And still say, "Surely God is with us,
Well, surely God is with us,"
Who'll say, "Surely God is with us today, today!"


They say, "Surely God is with us
Well, surely God is with us"
They say, "Surely God is with us"


Blessed are the poor in spirit
Heaven belongs to them
Blessed are those who make peace
They are God's children
I Am the Bread of Life, and the Way"
You hear that Man, believe what He says!


Tell me, who's that Man, they made Him a prisoner
They tortured Him and nailed Him to a tree
Well if He's so bad, who did He threaten?
Did He deserve to die between two thieves?
See the scars and touch His wounds
He's risen flesh and bone
Now the sinners have become the saints
And the lost have all come home


And they say, "Surely God is with us (Surely God is with us)
Well, surely God is with us,"
They say, "Surely God is with us today!" (Today!)
They say, "Surely God is with us
Well, surely God is with us"
They say, "Surely God is with us today"