Palm Sunday

This is my favorite week in the whole year. This morning in my devotion time (which is never long enough and it seems my kids always know I'm in devotion time because they always wake up a little earlier when I have woken up earlier to devote) I was reading the story of the Triumphant entry in Mark.

A couple years ago I was chatting with a friend of mine who told me that the Triumphant entry marks the week of inspection. On Sunday night/Monday morning was when the High Priest would march the sacrificial lamb into Jerusalem for inspection. The reason so many were gathered in Jerusalem was because the Imperial parade was happening on Sunday in preparation for Passover and the gathering of all the Jews. Pilot and all the soldiers were expected to come in from the west, riding horses in sign of power and coming from the direction of Rome, as a reminder to all the Israelites that even though they have been freed from Egypt, they were still under the authority of Rome. The Imperial guard would then camp out around the temple in preparation to keep riots from happening among the Jews.

Then here comes Jesus, riding in from the East on a donkey, a sign of peace and predicted in Zac. 9:9. He comes in from the East where all the poor are gathered and live. He himself is the sacrifice, offering himself up to be inspected and judged, and to challenge anyone to find fault within him. What is great about that is simply just by offering himself up to be inspected is a sign that he proclaims to be the Messiah. This claim and offering in the end is the fault they find in him.

I love Holy week. The constant reminder of YWYH's power and intention to bring redemption, healing, love, forgiveness. It's so beautiful.

(Zec. 9:9, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19, Psalm 118:26)

Two years ago when we were in church, the song "God of this city" by Chris Tomlin was sung. It was beautiful, because even though it wasn't written for Palm Sunday, its a perfect fit.

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

There is no one like our god
There is no one like our God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

Its a look to Holy Week. Greater things are coming. May you be blessed this week and find some extra time to spend time with YWYH. If you get a chance today, try to listen to this song in some great quiet reflection time.

a brief reminder

Tonight I got the opportunity to speak to Seniors in High School and their parents at a dinner in a church in Eden Prairie. It's fun to talk with students who are on the brink of the rest of their lives.

Through all the advice people gave me, I realized that one of the most important things to remember is;

Who do you belong to? Who are you?

See our identity can be shaped by so many different factors; where you live, how much money your family makes, marital status, activities that you participate in, music, friends, mistakes, awards, accomplishments, etc. These things may be part of what you do, but they are not who you are.

When embarking on new adventures, making decisions about life, or just living every day, its important to remember who you belong to. In John chapter 3 it tells us that we are children of God. No matter what else happens in a moment, in a day, in a week, or in our past and present, those things help create what we are, not who we are. Whether you acknowledge it or not, you breath because God made it so. You were created by him, and you belong to him.

There is peace in knowing this and being able to make decisions in life. When my identity is clear, I make life decisions based on the truth, and not on a lie of what I think I am and who I'm striving to be. I don't need to strive to be anybody, I already know who I am.

Speaking this truth to H.S. students was a great reminder to me.

one moment

We all have moments in our day that can make it or break it. I'm not talking about life altering moments, but something more like, a co-worker disrespecting you, a crabby person at the grocery store, someone who surprises you with flowers. Our days are filled with moments. Moments that feed other moments. We had a rough morning, and what is looking like might be a tough afternoon. This isn't the time to share all of that, but you can know, we have had multiple hard moments today. There was also this long stretch of moments this afternoon during nap time where all the kids were quiet. They were all quiet for 30 minutes. Usually when I have rough moments I eat. I choose not to do that today. I choose better for myself. I choose to wash my floors. Its stunning outside. The sun is shinning, its not to cold nor to hot to have windows open, so I flung mine open and pulled open all of my shades and blinds to let as much sunshine flood over us. I love the smell of sunshine and floor cleaner and incense. Its my near perfect trifecta. I turned my music on. No one needed me. It was quiet and smelled amazing in my house. I was choosing good things for myself and for my family. It was an amazing 30 minutes. Now, for the rest of my day, I can't say that. However, I can choose to let the toughness fill me, which will probably lead to exhaustion, and anger, and weariness. Or I can choose to pull from the thing that brought me life, my wonderful 30 minutes. Everyday we have a choice. What are we going to choose to hold on to? Will we hold on to the thing that tears us down? Saps of us of life? Turns our heart towards anger and hate? Or will we choose to hold onto the things that bring life back into us? Those life giving moments do exist in every day, we just need eyes to see them, and hearts to remember them. The things that tear us down are the things that God wants most, which is perfect really, because then we can let them go. The one who knows how to handle it, can handle it. Our hands need to be full of the things that bring life back into us. So, I speak to myself mostly when I say, remember to hold onto the things that bring life, and let go of the things that take life. We all have a choice of what we hold in our hands and hearts.