The Resurrection and The Life

....Last night I arose from my bed and I decided to pray....
After I was done I opened my eyes and there stood a cross before me.
I rubbed my eyes and fell to my knees to assure myself that it wasn't a dream.
I looked again and there was a man upon the tree....
There were nails in his hands and nails in his feet, at this sight I could not believe!
There was a crown of thrones upon his head and from this his face did bleed.
I begged and pleaded for someone to help, but no one heard my plea.
I attempted to stand to my feet, but there was no strength in me.
I began to cry, I began to weep.........
I couldn't believe how deep the nails were in his hands and feet.
He turned his face and looked at me - and my heartrate did increase....
I fell to my face when he looked at me --

Because his eyes were like fire burning deep within me.
When I looked up again no one was upon the tree.....
I looked for him frantically, but it was only the cross I could see.
I became sad, I became blue, because there was no hope in me.
I rose to my knees and shouted: "Oh woe is me!"
As I proceeded to get off knees, someone laid their hands on me
I turned around and it was he that was upon the tree!
He wiped the tears from my eyes and began to speak:
"What you saw was not a dream but "reality"
Look at my hands look at my feet, the nail prints you can see."
He had on a beautiful white robe and upon his head was a golden crown;
This alone turned my frown into a smile!
He went on to say: "Tell everyone what you have seen...
Let them know that through my death, burial and resurrection they have been redeemed.
Abide in me and I will abide in you - Eternal life I now give unto you"
Jesus is the way the truth and the life....
Do I believe he did this for you too, absolutely!
...And this to me my friend is "reality"

...Dark Room

One of the most difficult things to endure is development and process. It sounds quite easy, however in order to ascend to higher heights we have to endure valley experiences or the dark room as I like to call it. When I think about a "dark room" the first thing that comes to my mind is picture development. One of the challenges of development in the darkroom is that you can’t see the changes happening. You are only relying on your experience and intuition. Today things are done much faster with Photoshop...this gets it done a lot sooner, however there is something about watching, waiting and seeing the development of the photograph.

When I pondered this thought...life came to mind and the challenges we often face. We desire people to change the moment we begin to pray for them...it may not happen that way - we desire the job shortly after we apply for it....it may not happen that way, we desire the house - as soon as we sit down with the relator....it may not happen that way - we desire for our son's or daughter's to be delivered as soon as we pray for them....it may not happen that way - we make our request known to God on Monday and expect the answer on Saturday....it may not happen that way. God is more concerned with our development and growth opposed to giving us what we want when we want it. I love the scripture: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31). Also, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving; let your request be made known to God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7). And lastly, "Let patients have its perfect work in you so that you will be mature and lacking nothing" (James 1:4) .

When you find yourself in a "dark room" its not about throwing in the towel, its about enduring until the end. You are in "wait training" and the key is to allow the stretching to happen, allow the breaking to happen...it doesn't feel good, but God has an amazing way of making all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28).

...Grace Period

One day a call center representative received an escalated call from a customer; the customer was puzzled to find out that his policy that he so feverishly went about obtaining had come to an abrupt end. "How could this be?" the customer asked. Politely, the customer service representative advise the customer that there was nothing that he could do. The representative went on to remind the customer, "Sir, you were under the grace period, we gave you an ample amount of time to make the wrong right." The customer,  deeply concerned, went on to say, "But what about my consistency prior to this? I was faithful! You know, January, April, July, I thought I was doing everything right." It was at this time that the customer service representative became very empathetic; Yes you are absolutely correct, I can see that you were consistent, however its about now, today, current date." The customer stated, I never received any communication that I no longer was covered, is it written?" The representative stated, "yes it is written, as a matter of fact, let me read the letter to you." The representative went on to read the letter verbatim to the customer. The customer became silent for about 10 seconds. Shortly thereafter the customer began to blame other people for providing him with information contrary to what was written in the letter informing him that he was under the grace period. Unfortunately for the customer there was nothing documented that indicating that he was provided inaccurate information. In essence the customer took for granted being under grace.

After hearing this story I was reminded of God's amazing grace that has been extended to all humanity. My, my, my how amazing is God's grace! What is grace you ask, its unmerited favor, that you and I do not deserve. When we're under grace, we should be cut off, but grace will not allow it to be so. What Jesus did on the cross catapulted humanity into a position to be recipients of God's amazing grace. Unfortunately, like the customer so many people take the grace of God for granted. We often skate through life nonchalantly not considering the fact that our life upon the earth is but a vapor! We too have been given a letter so to speak to remind us of God's grace and the decision that we have to make before our final exit from life as we know it into eternity. Obviously we do not have to send God payments to stay in grace or out of grace, God's grace is free. As I mentioned before we do not deserve God's grace! But in order for us to spend eternity with Him, we have to comply with the letter or in our case, God's word (the bible). The customer ignored all the signs, as a matter of fact he never read the letter; that is why when he was confronted with the truth he continued to make excuses instead of taking ownership for his own actions. The customer never called to speak to anyone. We do the same thing to God; we turn our backs on him, we don't talk to Him consistently, we don't read His word, but He still loves us and is quick to forgive. But we have to embrace His grace, not trample it under our feet. Unlike the customer who knew specifically when the grace period ended, we do not know the day nor the hour when "grace ends" or when Jesus returns.

I look at everything that is going on around the world today and it is as if we are on fast forward, quickly coming to the end. I don't know if you are a believer in Jesus Christ that is out of fellowship with Him or a non-believer that doesn't know Him in the pardon of your sin. What I do know is that time is winding up and we have to make sure that we are familiarizing ourselves with the letter that was sent to us thousands of year ago called the bible. To the believer that confuses religion with relationship, please, please don't be associated with those that will hear Jesus say, "Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven or "Depart from me, I never knew you." (Matthew 7: 21-23). To the non-believer there's still room at the cross for you (Romans 10:9; John 3:16). You're under a grace period...while you have time, choose Christ for your life!