Loss And Gain
A Texas high school football team began the 2002 season with a 57-game winning streak and hopes for an unprecedented fifth consecutive state championship. In spite of losing their longtime coach and competing against larger schools, the Celina Bobcats remained undefeated through the regular season. But then they lost a quarterfinal playoff game by one point. It felt like the end of the world—even though they had won 68 straight games and 5 state championships in 7 years.
A Sure Hope
Konrad Adenauer, former chancellor of West Germany, said, "If Jesus Christ is alive, then there is hope for the world. If not, I don't see the slightest glimmer of hope on the horizon." Then he added, "I believe Christ's resurrection to be one of the best-attested facts of history."
Make Peace
It was a dramatic story of forgiveness. In December of 2000, on the Battleship Missouri Memorial, a dozen American survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor embraced three of the Japanese pilots who had flown attacking planes. The reconciliation ceremony had been arranged by the American-Japan Friendship Committee.
Three Crosses
In many paintings of the crucifixion of Jesus, the center cross on which He hung is taller or higher on a hill than the other two. We can appreciate an artist's desire to give Christ a place of preeminence, but we have no reason to believe that Jesus was given an elevated or exalted position — higher than that of the two thieves. Those who crucified Jesus considered Him to be a common criminal, so the crosses were most likely on the same level.
Bearing His Cross
In the eyes of most people in the crowd, Jesus was a common criminal going to the place of execution. So to help Him bear His cross was both degrading and humiliating.
Keep On Asking
I heard a woman say that she never prayed more than once for anything. She didn't want to weary God with her repeated requests.
Valley Of The Shadow
Darkness upon darkness. Sorrow upon sorrow. Pain upon pain. Anguish upon anguish. That's death.
Love That Lifts
When King David looked back on his life, he remembered some painful experiences. In Psalm 40, he recalled one especially severe difficulty, a time when he felt as if he had sunk deep into "the miry clay" (v.2).
