As I was reading all your posts and rereading the passages from the devo, I couldn't help but think that you guys have all touched on the things that I wanted to point out as well. So, without beating a dead horse too much, I'm going to share a few things from the devo first, and then share something else that I was reading through this week.
"If you don't let me wash away the dirt, Peter," Jesus said, "you can't be close to me." I feel so often when we begin to feel Jesus washing away the dirt of our lives, we resist...and resist hard. The pain of God digging deep into the recesses of our lives to scrape out the dirt is something we don't jump at the chance to endure. And what does this mean about how we are able to commune with Jesus...we can't be close to him. If we don't submit to his cleansing, we can't commune intimately with the Risen Christ. My hope and prayer for this summer, and leading up to the summer, is that we would answer as Peter answered, "Then wash me, Lord! All of me!" Let him wash us. He's doing it because he loves us.
"It wasn't the nails that kept Jesus there. It was love." That's some crazy radical love. There's not much more to say that it doesn't say itself.
"You'll be able to hold on to me later, Mary...and always be close to me. But now, go and tell others that I'm alive." When all that Mary wants to do is be with Jesus, to physically cling to him and never let him go, Jesus tells her to go tell people about Him. And she went. Is that our response? When we come to a place of such intimacy with Christ, do we go and tell people that He is risen, that He is alive? Do we proclaim the news of Jesus like Mary did?
This week, leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I was reminded of the book that the drivers went through before the summer last year, and I decided to read through it again. It's called "It Is Finished" by Darrell Johnson and I wanted to also share some things that stuck out to me from the book.
In reference to Philippians 2:5-11, it says, "For Jesus, being equal with God means emptying One's Self, giving one's live away. The Son of God, who has always been equal with the Father, is contemplating what it means to be like the Father, what it means to be God. And He comes to the conclusion that to-be-like-the-Father--that to be God--means to live by giving yourself away in servant love." In other words, for us to be like Christ, to be Christ to campers/barneys/dock hands/etc this summer, we need to live by giving yourself away in servant love. We need to serve, serve, serve. We need to love, love, love. "Cling to our lives, protect our own agendas and careers, insist that everything has to go our way, and we lose. We are violating who we were created and redeemed to be. Give our lives away and we win. We live by dying." Each one of us is being called to die to ourselves this summer (ok...let's be honest, we're called to that every day of our lives). But in that dying to ourselves, and selling out to what God has planned, we experience life that cannot be explained. We experience the life that God wants us to experience.
Finally, I just want to leave you with a story that comes from "It Is Finished." I found great comfort in it last summer, and again this week when I read it again.
A young boy built a sailboat. He spent days carving the wood, and cutting and sewing cloth for the sails. One day he took the boat to Central Park in New York to test it out on the lake. Having tied a string to the hull, the boy put the boat in the water and gave it a push. All of a sudden a gust of wind caught the sail, more than the boy had bargained for. He let go of the string and the boat was blown out into the middle of the lake. He ran as fast as he could around the lake to catch the boat on the other side. But before he could get there some bullies pulled it out of the water and ran away. Saddened, the young boy started home. Along the way he happened by a pawn shop. And noticed the owner placing the boat in the window. The bullies had already pawned it. The boy ran into the store yelling, "That boat in the window is mine." To which the owner replied, "Sorry kid. I hear lots of sad stories. But it can be yours if you pay for it. The price is $5. The young boy quickly rain home, gathered all his money and ran back to the pawn shop. He went it and gave the owner the $5, and with great joy clutched the boat. As he walked out of the store he was heard to say: "Little boat, you are mine now for two reasons. I made you and I bought you.""Katy, you are mine. I made you and I bought you."
"Little girl, you are mine. I made you and I bought you."
"Little boy, you are mine. I made you and I bought you."
I hope you guys have a great day reflecting and remembering the greatest sacrifice and the greatest triumph of all. IT IS FINISHED!!
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