Road Worthy by Valerie Ronald

Travel has a way of drawing out internal thoughts. As the body is engaged in getting to a destination, the mind has time to ponder and explore away from daily routine. On a seven mile journey by foot from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a few days after Jesus’ crucifixion, two of His disciples discussed the internal thoughts closest to their hearts. Shoulders slumped, feet scuffing the dusty road, faces sad and perplexed, their demeanor spoke their discouragement. They had put their hope in Jesus of Nazareth as the one who was going to redeem Israel, but He had been arrested, crucified and buried, and His body probably stolen for His tomb was now empty. With the road stretching before them, their conversation was tinged with sorrow and confusion. (Luke 24:13-35 NIV)

In the aftermath of a life-shattering event, we want to study it from all angles, dissect the details, try to figure out the why and how and now what. Somehow it gives us a sense of control to analyze the facts and search for answers, preferably with someone who can commiserate with us. Processing a traumatic event turns our focus inward.

The two walking to Emmaus were so absorbed in their discussion, they probably did not notice a fellow traveler until He came alongside them. Wrapped in a robe, dusty and windblown, like themselves, they did not recognize Jesus. Even though it was Jesus they were discussing, seeing Him in person was the farthest prospect from their minds. Although He had spoken of it often, His resurrection was an impossibility to them.

When we are caught up in our own problems, trying to cope with an imperfect reality, we can miss Jesus walking beside us. Life narrows our vision to focus on looming bills, a serious medical diagnosis, a fractured relationship, a worldwide crisis. Even when we fail to recognize Him, He is beside us through all the difficulties because He has promised He will never leave us or forsake us. (Heb. 13:5)

Still disguised, Jesus gently chided the two on the road for being foolish and slow of heart. In modern terms, He advised them to look at the big picture. Then painting the big picture in words, “He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:27) And they were still not aware it was Him.

When all I can see are the problems right in front of me, the best thing I can do is adjust my spiritual lens, go wide angle and take in all of who Jesus is, what He has accomplished and what He has promised for the future. His story is woven throughout the Bible from the first word to the last. Reading it reminds me of the providence of God so clearly demonstrated in the life of His son Jesus, which means I can trust Him for my life too.

The two travelers warmed to their wise companion as they walked. They entreated Him to stay with them and have a meal. “He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight.” (Luke 24:30-31)

This part of the story touches my heart, because it was in the act of thanksgiving and sharing bread that Jesus revealed Himself. And He will continue to reveal Himself as we practice thanksgiving, focusing on the One who has given us all things. We are called to give thanks in all circumstances. (1 Thess. 5:17) Thanksgiving points us to Jesus, our true north, who guides us into all truth.

Finally they put the two together. Jesus, the man who walked to Emmaus with them, once dead and now alive, was the Messiah, fulfilling all the prophecies in Scripture. Their hearts burned within them with this revolutionary knowledge.

The story of the two on the road to Emmaus is our story too. Often blind to the presence of Jesus right beside us, we listen to His story in Scripture, but until we thank Him for His body broken and His blood poured out for us, we cannot see who He really is. When we finally recognize our constant companion, our hearts will burn within us --- with love, with gratitude and with worship.

Valerie Ronald lives in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. She is a graduate of Vancouver’s Langara College journalism program, and has worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance writer, public speaker and bookstore employee.Valerie finds being a member of the Manitoba Christian Writers Association has honed her writing skills and confidence. She writes devotionals for her home church bulletins and her online blog. Her current book project chronicles how God’s faithfulness saw her through the dark valleys of divorce and cancer. Along with her husband, Valerie enjoys spending time with their blended family and six grandchildren.She is a nature photographer, water colorist, cat lover and Scrabble addict.
   

More of her devotionals can be read on her blog   https://scriptordeus.wordpress.com

The Hands of Jesus by Carol Harrison

We planned to have an Easter program during our Family Night at church and invite many guests to attend, but the virus cancelled our event. Long before we knew of the spread of COVID-19 and all the restrictions our lives would now include, I wrote some monologues about people who experienced the touch of Jesus during his earthly ministry. Our plans changed but the message remains unchanged. Jesus ministry, death, and resurrection offer His touch throughout history including during this time of isolation, sheltering-at-home, and social distancing.

During Jesus' ministry on earth he interacted with individuals and crowds. He taught and did miracles. There are instances recorded in the Bible of how his handsphysically touched people.

 In Matthew 8:1-4 Jesus touched a man with leprosy, the untouchable, the outcast, and healed him. Once he received the healing touch from the hands of Jesus, he could rejoin his community, his family, his church without the social distancing, and give up the isolation he had needed to endure.

In John 9 Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth. No one paid a lot of attention to him while he was blind and begging at the side of the road. He had no social status, no job, nothing to call his own, and remained at the fringes of society. Yet Jesus chose to spit on the ground and make mud that he placed on the blind man's eyes. The blind man received the attention of the rulers and the crowds after he washed at the pool of Siloam and received sight. But Jesus noticed and touched him while he still remained isolated. The man did not know who Jesus was but he confirmed to others in John 9:25 "One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

Jesus had compassion on the crowds and loved the children. In John 6:1-4 we read about the little boy who gave his lunch to Jesus. I can imagine him thinking something like this, I'm just a kid, a hungry boy with a lunch of five loaves and two little fish. I'm here listening to this Jesus along with thousands of others but no one pays attention to a kid. Everyone is hungry just like me. No one else seems to have any food with them so I gave my lunch to Jesus. He took it in his hands and prayed. There was enough food for all of us with leftovers too. I'm just a kid but He took my lunch in His hands and fed everyone. 

In Mark 5:21-24 it was one of the synagogue rulers, Jairus, that sought out Jesus. He pleaded with Jesus to come and heal his twelve-year old daughter who was on the verge of death. By the time Jesus arrived at his home, the girl had died. Yet Jairus witnessed the hands of Jesus touch her and raise her from death.


Peter, one of the disciples, followed Jesus during those years of ministry. He listened to His teachings, saw the miracles, and spent time with the Son of God. In Matthew 14 Jesus, during the middle of the night,  walks on the water toward the boat with the disciples had taken to cross the lake. Fear gripped this band of followers. Impetuous Peter figures if this is really Jesus, he could just go to Jesus if asked to do so. I imagine Peter recounting that night. Jesus told me to come, so I did. I climbed out of that boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. Then I took my eyes off him. Boy those waves were big and the wind whipped them around me. I was afraid and I started to sink but Jesus reached out His hands and pulled me up. His hands rescued me. 

The hands of Jesus did so much more. They bore the nails Roman soldiers drove into them as they hung him on the cross. They bled for us - for our sins, our wrong words, actions, and thoughts. He willingly offered himself as the sinless Lamb of God because of God's great love for us. Yet the cross was not

the end but the way for Him to offer the ultimate, once-for-all sacrifice.The grave could not hold him. Hallelujah He arose. Jesus is alive.

Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, came to earth to pay the penalty for all of us. Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 6: 23 reminds us that His death and resurrection are God's gift to us. "For the wages of sin in death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Jesus had compassion on the crowds, on the individuals, and called all to come to Him to find rest, to find healing, and to find forgiveness during His time of ministry. Today Jesus still calls us to come to Him, to follow Him, to take His hand, and allow Him to touch us right where we are. He longs to forgive, to heal, to guide and direct, to comfort us in times of trouble and isolation, and to give us victory in our everyday lives.



Matthew 11:28-30 says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

 His hands touched the outcast, the children, those on the fringes of society, the synagogue rulers and their families, the loyal followers, and He had compassion on the crowds. The hands of Jesus bled for us when he took our place and became our sacrifice. He waits for us to come. As we remember the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus what do we need victory over, forgiveness in, and healing of our minds and bodies? Coming to Jesus and celebrating the meaning of Easter is never restricted by viruses.

Carol Harrison loves to share stories, from her home in Saskatoon, of everyday life and of the fingerprints of God in our everyday lives.

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A Higher Perspective by Sandi Somers

Image by Pinterest

A month ago I prepared my blog for April, and then the world turned upside down as the Covid-19 pandemic burst upon us. Then on a personal level, my nephew Kevin passed away suddenly on March 18 of a massive heart attack.

Before all this happened, I was asked to write a devotional for our church’s Holy Week meditation, based on the Biblical lectionary readings.  The verse that caught my attention is a lesser-known quote of Jesus during the Last Supper with His disciples:

“The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him” (John 13:31).

Little did I know how much this devotional would speak to our world situation and my own need! (Thank you for your Lenten meditations in March which also ministered in my grief during this time!)

I share the devotional with you.

A Higher Perspective.

Image by Pinterest

Astronaut Chris Hadfield gazed down at the earth from the International Space Station in 2012-2013. He said later, “There was the Sahara, there was Lake Victoria and the Nile, snaking all the way up to the Mediterranean. Explorers gave their lives trying to find the source of the Nile, but I could detect it with a casual glance.”

 Hadfield's view of the earth is a vivid metaphor to describe the difference in view between Jesus and his disciples during His last hours on earth. While Jesus told them of His anticipation and glory on returning to His Father, the disciples were still fixated on their idea that Jesus would establish a kingdom on earth.

 During the next hours, how could the disciples square everything that contradicted their expectations of Jesus, as he gave Himself to those who betrayed, mocked, beat and crucified Him? They couldn't, because they didn't understand His higher perspective. They understood only later when they saw the risen Christ and received His commission to carry on His work.

 This difference in perspective speaks to us when our world comes crashing down. We experience hardship, pain and loss. We wrestle with what can appear to have no connection between our quandary and the faithfulness of God.

 God speaks into the outlook we need. "My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts," God told Isaiah (55:9). God knows the whole purpose of His plan, and we don't. He calls us to look beyond the complications of life and lift our gaze to His higher intentions. He will give us meaning in our brokenness and will strengthen our faith as we believe in the goodness of God.

How can you choose to praise God in the middle of a crisis?

How can you determine to trust God's higher perspectives and so glorify Him?

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What Does Coronavirus Mean?

Painting by
Luigi Sabatelli 1772-1850

The word corona means “crown” in Latin. Under extreme magnification, the virus looks like a thorny crown; therefore, it is—quite literally—the thorny crown virus. This is Satan’s destructive counterfeit of Jesus’ crown. (Is it any coincidence that the virus is gaining/ becoming more vicious and worldwide during Lent and leading up to Easter—in an attempt to further take away the world’s attention from Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection?) Let us pray that God would strip this virus of its crown, end the pandemic and bring spiritual renewal.

Several years ago I discovered the background to the song, O Sacred Head Now Wounded which has a long history. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) wrote the lyrics, and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) composed the music. I love its deep meaning brought down to us through the centuries.

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On Holy Week and Easter Sunday

For the rest of my blog which I prepared a month ago, I’m inviting you to engage in links to readings and music. (The readings from our bloggers come from our Easter theme in previous years.)

Marnie Pohlmann wrote about the events in Jesus’ life during each day of Holy Week, and then asked questions about her own walk with Christ.

In one of my sources for Lent, Peter Giersch helps us prepare for the evening of Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday morning, the time when the entire church year focuses like a laser beam on the center point of the Gospels: the passion and resurrection of Jesus.

Good Friday

Painting of himself by Rembrandt

Good Friday focuses our thoughts on Jesus’ sacrifice for us. From the Slice of Infinity (devotions from the Ravi Zacharias ministries), the writer discusses our pain in light of Jesus’ sacrifice  

Glynis Belec approached the death of Jesus from Mary’s perspective and her own as a mother in Awaiting Resurrection From a Mother’s Heart 

Bob Jones blogged about Jesus’ last words on the cross and how we can find hope and courage in these eternal words.

Holy Saturday

While we often consider Saturday as “the day in between,” Sharon Espeseth shared how the liturgy on Holy Saturday makes the transition from Lent to Easter, from the solemnity to eucharisteo of joy and thanksgiving.

Easter Resurrection Sunday

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Steph Beth Nickel brought the significance of Jesus’ resurrection into our lives and the lives of our loved ones in her blog, Waiting for a Miracle of Two. 

God bless you during this time.