A NEW BEGINNING

I don't know about you, but this past Easter didn't seem like Easter. I think for me, working in retail, it was just too early. We had not recuperated from the Christmas rush, only to be sent spiraling into another busy season. I am thankful for business, as this is how we make our living, but I just didn't have time to adjust.

I will say it again, it was just too early. Now is the time to celebrate. The flowers are beginning to bloom, trees are leafing, birds are singing. Spring is here. And really, this is the right time to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior. This took place during the week of the Jewish Passover.

Tonight when the sun goes down, Jewish people will not only celebrate the ending of the weekly Sabbath, they will be celebrating the new moon of Nissan, the first month of the Jewish Calendar. This is the month the Passover took place and the children of Israel we freed from Egyptian bondage.

This comment is from the Temple Institute in Jerusalem:

We know that Nisan, the month referred to in Exodus 12:2, "'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months,'" is the first month of the Hebrew calendar, and is considered the new year for marking the Temple pilgrimages. And we know that the commandment to mark the month of Nisan was the first commandment given to the nation of Israel as they prepared to leave Egypt.

Think about that, this was the first commandment given to the nation of Israel. Not the 10 commandments, or the Shema, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart....", which Jesus said was the greatest commandment. But this, "mark this day as a "new beginning".

If you aren't doing a Bible Study at this time, this might be a good time to start reading and studying the book of Exodus, at least through chapter 14. There are 14 days from the first day until Passover is celebrated. That would be a chapter a day.

If this was the first commandment and a very important one, why don't we consider it as a great commandment for us? What would it mean to us if TODAY, we made up our mind to start over, a new beginning, a dawning of a new day (as we talked about on Resurrection Day). What would this mean to you? Are you willing to do it?

Am I? jl

Chased by Hounds

The following comes from DAILY ENCOUNTER

King David, the Psalmist wrote: "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed."¹

A. C. Dixon wrote, "A dear friend of mine who was quite a lover of the chase, told me the following story: 'Rising early one morning,' he said, 'I heard the baying of a score of deerhounds in pursuit of their quarry. Looking away to a broad, open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its way across, and giving signs, moreover, that its race was well-nigh run. Reaching the rails of the enclosure, it leaped over and crouched within ten feet from where I stood.

A moment later, two of the hounds came over, and the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my breast, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. I felt, just then, that all the dogs in the West could not, and should not capture that fawn after its weakness had appealed to my strength.'

"So is it, when human helplessness appeals to Almighty God. Well do I remember when the hounds of sin were after my soul, until, at last, I ran into the arms of Almighty God."²

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that when I am afraid of falling and being consumed by temptation and call out to you for help, you always come to my rescue and save me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, amen."

1. Psalm 57:1 (NIV).
2. A. C. DIXON as quoted in E.M. Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer. Source: Today's Wit & Wisdom Devotional, http://net153.com.

<:))))><

TANGLED HAIR

This is from Beth's Moore's "Further Still". It is long, but well worth the read. You will be blessed. jl

TANGLED HAIR

Knoxville Airport - waiting to board the plane: I had the Bible on
my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I'd had a
marvelous morning with the Lord. I say that because I want to tell
you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in
you. You could end up doing some things you never would have done
otherwise. Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand
reasons not the least of which is your ego...

I tried to keep from staring but he was such a strange sight.
Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in
clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds
heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders
looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked
like tangled masses of veins and bones. The strangest part of him
was his hair and nails. Stringy grey hair hung well over his
shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long.
Clean, but strangely out of place on an old man.

I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my
face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found
myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I
remembered reading somewhere that he was dead. So this man in the
airport... an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere?....

There I sat trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being
concerned about a thin slice of humanity served on a wheelchair only
a few seats from me. All the while my heart was growing more and
more overwhelmed with a feeling for him. Let's admit it. Curiosity
is a heap more comfortable than true concern, and suddenly I was
awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man. I had
walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall.
I've learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so
contrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to
happen. And it may be embarrassing.

I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my
spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. "Oh no, God please
no." I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight
through it into heaven and said, "Don't make me witness to this man.
Not right here and now. Please. 'I'll do anything. Put me on the
same plane, but don't make me get up here and witness to this man in
front of this gawking audience. Please, Lord!"...

There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, "Please
don't make me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the
plane." Then I heard it..."I don't want you to witness to him. I
want you to brush his hair."

The words were so clear, my heart leapt into my throat, and my
thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his
hair? No brainer. I looked straight back up at the ceiling and
said, "God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to
witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm you're girl! You've
never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What
difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed?
I am on him. I am going to witness to this man."

Again as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to
write this statement across the wall of my mind. "That is not what I
said, Beth. I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go
brush his hair." I looked up at God and quipped, "I don't have a
hirbrush. It's in my suitcase on the plane, How am I suppose to
brush his hair without a hairbrush?"

God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk
toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: "I will
thoroughly finish you unto all good works." (2 Tim 3:7) I stumbled
over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I
retell this story my pulse quickens and I feel those same
butterflies. I knelt down in front of the man, and asked as demurely
as possible, "Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?"

He looked back at me and said, "What did you say?" "May I have the
pleasure of brushing your hair?" To which he responded in volume
ten, "Little lady, if you expect me to hear you, you're going to
have to talk louder than that. At this point, I took a deep breath
and blurted out, "SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?"

At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the
only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Longlocks.
Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him
look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, "If you
really want to."

Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to. But God didn't seem
interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed
on my heart until I could utter the words, "Yes, sir, I would be
pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have a hairbrush."

"I have one in my bag," he responded. I went around to the back of
that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the
stranger's old carry-on hardly believing what I was doing. I stood
up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly clean,
but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things well, but I
must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair
mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or
Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of
the strands, remembering to take my time not to pull.

A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old
man's hair. Everyone else in the room disappeared. There was no
one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed
and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair.
I know this sounds so strange but I've never felt that kind of love
for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I
- for that few minutes - felt a portion of the very love of God.
That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone
renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while. The
emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's.

His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's. I slipped
the brush back in the bag, went around the chair to face him. I got
back down on my knees, put my hands on his knees, and said, "Sir, do
you know my Jesus?" He said, "Yes, I do." Well, that figures.

He explained, "I've known Him since I married my bride." "She
wouldn't marry me until I got to know the Savior." He said, "You
see, the problem is, I haven't seen my bride in months. I've had
open-heart surgery, and she's been too ill to come see me. I was
sitting here thinking to myself. What a mess I must be for my bride."

Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment
when we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the
other hand, was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had
intervened in details only He could have known. It was a God
moment, and I'll never forget it. Our time came to board, and we
were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I'd acted
earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that
aircraft.

I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the
airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her
cheeks. She said, "That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing.
Why did you do that? What made you do that?" I said, "Do you know
Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!" And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're
exhausted because you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place
or it is time to move on but you feel too responsible to budge. He
knows if you're hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you're
sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you
just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him
your need!

I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many
opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way... all
because I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't
send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We
have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from
the Father, full of grace and truth."

By Beth Moore In "Further Still"

JUST THINKING

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Psalm 23:4

This past Sunday, Kevin mentioned in his sermon about the Valley of the Shadow of Death being an actual valley between Jericho and Jerusalem. We discussed in the study about the Jericho Road, and this road leads through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. That means pilgrims going to Jerusalem from Jericho would pass through this valley. That means, Jesus would have gone through this valley on His journey to Jerusalem--the journey to the cross.

I wonder what He was thinking. I wonder if this Psalm came to mind as He was passing through. I wonder if He remembered that even though His Father promises to walk with us through the dark valley of death, that He would have to turn His back on Him in death? Why? Because Jesus became the sin of the world when He was on the cross. He became my sin and your sin. And our Holy Father cannot look at sin. And because Jesus literally walked though this death alone, we have the Promise of the eternal presence of our Father. He is our Immanuel, God with us. We do not have to fear death, because He overcame death.

Yes, I think He probably was thinking of what lay ahead. But I think He would have also been thinking about Resurrection Sunday. And that had to have been His comfort. I think He would have been thinking about all of those whom He loves who would believe in Him and would share eternity with Him. He would have been thinking about you and me.

Look at this picture. I think it is interesting that sheep and goats are on that road. It is a beautiful picture of we the sheep in the dark valleys knowing that our Good Shepherd is leading us. That is our comfort. -jl

I Know My Redeemer Lives