A Nail’s Point of View

There I was lying on the ground because some Roman soldier had kicked over the bucket I was in. Now all my five inch brothers who are driven into a person’s wrist during a crucifixion were mixed together with my seven inch cousins who are driven into the feet. As I lay there on the ground in the dirt on “The Skull” I could see a shadow cast from a person who was about to be thrown down on top of the cross beam. He sure was a bloody mess; I don’t know how He was alive enough to be crucified?

I felt the strong fingers of a Roman centurion wrap around my body. I detected my pointed end go into a man’s flesh and blood squirted out all over me. The most painful part of this whole process for me is when the hammer comes down and hits me right on top of the head. This pain is inconsequential compared to the flesh of a human wrist that I rip through with no regard. The hammer stopped, my pain was over but His was just beginning.

  I noticed some cousins of mine where tapped into a sign on the cross that read King of Jews. Why would they crucify a King? We were up in the air now and I had a great view of the crowds that were passing by this King. They were cruel hurling insults at Him, “He saved others. Let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, his chosen one!” These people were surly not His followers. If they were I wouldn’t want to rule His

Kingdom. We would be up here awhile the King and I suffering until He would die.  

There were two others hanging by us that day. One of them was very bitter yelling at the King. However the other was quite kind saying, “we are getting what we deserve but this man did nothing.” Then I heard him say the words, Jesus remember me when you come into your Kingdom. So the Kings name was Jesus. Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth today you will be with me in paradise.”

How could it be getting dark outside in the middle of the day? I had never in all my time as a nail seen such storm clouds approaching. The next three hours seemed like an eternity. The blood from Jesus was flowing less and less. There was a stream of it that slowly trickled to the bottom of the cross than onto the ground.  It was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and He spoke, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” As soon as the last word left his month he breathed his last breath. Now when the centurion saw what happened, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was the Son of God.”

It was much later when I felt a crowbar dig into my body. There was a person tugging me out of the Kings wrist. He was collapsing into their arms. I flew to the ground and noticed them wrapping Jesus in  linen burial strips

with the aromatic spices. Now at the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb where no one had yet been buried. They placed Jesus’ body there. A young man was starting to gather up all of us nails and put us in a bucket. It was probably a carpenter that would use us later in another project.

I felt my body being once again driven into a door jam. It sure was a nice looking room but no one was here at the moment. Around night fall I could see a bunch of men gathering for what looked like a meeting. They shut the doors and locked them so I had a better view now. All of a sudden Jesus the King appeared right before their very eyes. It surprised me as much as it surprised them. The last time I had seen Jesus they were pulling me out of the dead Kings wrist, how could he be alive. Surely it was a ghost and not really him.

Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to one of the men, “come and put your finger here and examine the hole in my wrist that the nail made. It was his right hand that he stuck out for this man to examine. I was the one who made that hole. It was Jesus, he had risen, He is surly a King. Then I heard Him say, “You have believed because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet believe.”

No Reruns Please

No Reruns Please

Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu Plus all seem to have offerings where you can watch reruns of your favorite TV series. But how much “Leave It To Beaver” (Ok I happen to like old wholesome shows) can a guy take? Then there is the current TV season. I believe they only make about 10 new episodes per show per season, which leaves you watching many reruns if you dare or care? I am usually anticipating the (N) (few and far between) behind the listing of our favorite show that signifies once again that we can tune in to finally watch a “new” episode.

I am personally not a big rerun fan of movies either. I don’t frequent Walmart to dig through the $5.00 DVD classics or some not so classic titles to add to my ever increasing movie collection. I can count on two hands the number of movies I actually have watched more than once. Besides how many times can a guy cry watching an animated movie for the 7^th time (I would cry during all seven of them, even though I knew what was coming?). So why do we continue to entertain reruns in the viewing screen of our minds? Sometimes they are so popular to us I believe we probably would enjoy some popcorn with the experience.   

I don’t know about you but the movie/TV show that I experience to often (reruns) in the viewing room of my mind are usually negative, gross, bothersome, and problematic thoughts. The perceived consequences and results always make the top ten list in the prophetic dooms day psycho reel of my mind. There never seems to be a good ending with these scenarios’ we replay in our minds? The Bible tells us to hold every thought captive, yeah right, seems like I can’t hold one thought captive sometimes? Why do we linger too often on the XXX and R rated stuff that plays in our minds? 

Rehearsing our troubles results in experiencing them many times. God created us to go through them only when they actually occur. God says, “Do no multiply your suffering in this way! Instead, come to Me, and relax in My Peace.” Joshua 1:9 says "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

We should try making friends with the problems in our lives. Every problem can teach us something, transforming us little by little into the masterpiece God created us to be. The very same problem can become a stumbling block over which you fall, if we react with distrust and defia nce. The best way to befriend our problems is to thank God for them. Thank You God, but no reruns please.

Hard Words   

The single sentence that blarred through the radio signal from almost a quarter-million miles from the Earth sounded simple, even routine “Houston, ‘we’ve got a problem. Hard words: “your fired”, not married; “I am pregnant”, “we are getting a divorce”, “I am gay”.  What would be hard words for us to hear? I am sure we have all heard “hard words” at one time or another in our lives. Our heart beat increases, our sweat glands go on red alert, we watch as our tear drops explode on the floor, anger and rage may start to rule the day. Sometimes these “hard words” we hear may cause us to consider whether we should continue in this relationship or not. Jesus often times said some things in the Bible that would cause those that heard them to pause, ponder and then decide to stick with it or hit the road to Samaria. 

John 6:60, 67-69 states, "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?.... "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God." After Jesus makes the statement, “You do not want to leave too, do you”, I wonder what the thought process was inside the heads of the disciples before Peter answered? Who is to say that Peter spoke for everyone with his Biblically correct answer? Have we ever answered correctly but in our hearts we weren’t 100% sure of our answer maybe not even 50% sure?

He does not promise ease and comfort on this earth. On the contrary, he promises hardship and difficulty. He promises persecution and rejection. He will tell us that if we really took him seriously, if we really obeyed his commands and followed his teaching, then friends will abandon us, family will hate us, and the world may prefer to kill us. Are we willing to follow Him after hearing more “hard words”? How have you been persecuted by following Christ? What have you given up after hearing and obeying His “hard words”?

It is interesting in the Great Commission the easiest part of being a Disciple of Christ is to be baptized. How much persecution did you suffer when you went down into the water? Probably none (oh I know some of you are thinking that water was awfully cold), it’s the coming up out of the water and learning all about Jesus and how to follow Him that’s challenging. That could be possibly one of the most shocking thing you have discovered in your life. Jesus didn’t say anything about it being hard to go to church and pray and study the Bible. In fact those are pretty “wimpy commands”. Let’s face it, if those things are challenging someone didn’t teach you about what being married to Jesus for life was going to be about, sad!

Can you imagine a modern day someone that would be really hard to follow. Just watch Inside Edition sometime, you could pick someone. How about Justin Bieber?  Of course we could take the really hard way to follow someone, just become a twitter follower, not much commitment there. It really is hard sometimes to follow Christ, but we have to remember, He is the Holy One of God. There is no one else we could ever pick to follow that would give us the protection and rewards that Jesus provides. Give us the strength to follow your ways no matter what hardships may come. Life in heaven for and eternity makes any “hard words” form Jesus well worth it.  

Can You Hear Me Now.....

Can You Hear Me Now…..

How many of you have been monitoring all the different phone options that have been introduced since Black Thursday. Where there any great deals on Cyber Monday? Between the specific phone carrier flyers and phone ads within store flyers there were plenty of options to choose from. It seems there are a few basic things to consider before one purchases a new phone plan. 

So which phone carrier do you use? Seems like we have a choice between the big four, right. Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T Mobile. I assume you have made a choice based on the coverage area of each of these companies. The company you choose might also be determined by whether the coverage is 4G or 3G in your area. Oh, I almost forgot cost as a factor, we will talk about that later.  

The next thing we may consider is how long of a contract do we have to sign up for to receive the service we desire? This might depend on the services you believe you need. It seems most of the bigger companies try and bribe you with a two ye ar contract. Although the competition has now introduced a lot more pay as you go plans with no contract.

Choosing a phone might be the most difficult decision we have to make. I Phone or Smart Phone? Android or Flip Phone? Our choice of phone type might be determined by the apps we think we “need” to have? So many different colors and styles to choose from, it seems endless.

The last factor we probably consider is cost. The bribe with the two year contract usually makes us all feel good about purchasing a regularly priced $600.00 phone for 29 cents. The most expensive plan might be International coverage. Nationwide coverage would probably be the next costliest. A local coverage plan would save us even more dollars. The pay has you go plans seem the cheapest and are popular with companies like Virgin Mobile and Straight Talk. 

 

Jonah 2:7 states, " In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me." God is the ultimate Carrier. We all have lifetime contracts with God, we don’t have to renew after two years and pay more money. The phone, that’s a good one, with God’s plan all you have to do is open your mouth and talk he will listen. We already have all the features we need, and if we don’t know what to say the Holy Spirit will assist us. God’s plan is the only free plan on the market.

Some of us might feel we get a busy signal when we need to talk with God. Others of us want new phones and a two year contract believing this would help are chances of connecting with the big guy. We might even develop a specialized texting code just for God and wallah we are in. It's reassuring that in our distress we don't need a special phone, or a special phone plan or a god ordained text language. A simple plain landline will work and we will never hear a busy signal. We won't experience a dropped call either. "He" will always pick up.

“What we see in Scripture and across history is that men and women of great faith were always men and women of much prayer.” ~ Britt Merrick-Godspeed If there is one thing we could do more of in 2014 it is praying!