“I had some prayer and Bible study time and then went down for breakfast.” If only every day could start this way. In a perfect world we would be able to set our life in order and have the right priorities in their place. The reality is that our spouse may have been up earlier than we were and has something on their mind to tell us when we wake up. Or we woke up late and our prayers are said in the shower. Sound familiar yet?

“I blew it this morning from the time I woke up.” I actually record in my journal two times I had to patch things up after an argument with my wife, one in front of our children. I also had to work with someone else on their issues and then that night preach in the pulpit. My message was called “Stop complaining”. I was obviously preaching to myself. What is funny is that after the message it was confession time. I almost could’ve had a line and people taking a number. I didn’t mind though because our confession is healthy for us. If we confess then God can work with us. Once we say “God I messed up, forgive me please!” His grace and mercy do the work of forgiving us and cleansing us.

Seeing life in a positive way seems harder than it sounds.  We seem to gravitate to the negative and automatically see things in the perspective of defeat or discouragement.  Life likes to give us just enough slack to keep us from falling off a cliff. I do believe we have to work at seeing things on the brighter side.  I’m a mom of 3 kids and all of them bring so much love and joy. Our 3rd child Titus taught me joy in a new way.  When he was in the belly we thought for sure he was a girl and we were going to call him Mia Joy translated: my joy. Well he came out a boy so that put us in a new path to naming him, Titus which means “strength.” I do believe all that time saying Mia Joy was a word for him. He came out smiling and the nurses said he was delivered sunny side up. He was born on Easter Sunday; and life always comes from death. Jesus rose on that special day and Titus was born all these decades later. He is our child who just loves life is so joyful majority of the time. He is the funniest kid and sees life on the positive side of the spectrum.

“It was simple and beautiful.” There are many things in life that are beautiful because of their complexity. The systems of nature can be so complex that they blow the mind. Some things are beautiful because of their diversity. I love the human population and the cultures of the world largely for their diversity. It is wonderful that we aren’t all the same or it would be really boring. Some things are beautiful because of their variety. When I look at the different kinds of the same thing it blows my mind. How many types of birds are there? Some things are beautiful because of their simplicity. Like the gospel. Jesus came for us, died for us, and because He lives we live by faith in Him. That’s it. It is a simple gospel and it is beautiful.

“I got home and my mom and the kids had built a fort in the living room with the couch cushions.” Do you have memories of building couch cushion forts as a kid? I remember building tents, forts, cities and even a summer camp in our living room. Who needed fancy toys when you had building blocks as big as you were?! My brother and I would often play for hours with the simplest of items; a stick, a ball, dirt clods, a shovel. One item and a whole lot of imagination was all we needed for an afternoon of fun.

“I always love looking into the eyes of the people getting saved. It never gets old seeing the faces of people ready to be brought to life. Some smiling, some in tears, some afraid, and some ready. I pray they all are fruit that remains.” I get the unique privilege as a preaching pastor to give altar calls and to see the fruit of my labors in the gospel. We cast the net and then we gather in the results. The most wonderful part of it all is that it never gets old. We do an altar call every service and it never gets old. I never tire of seeing the joy of someone who is happy to be in church giving their heart to the Lord. I never tire of seeing the tears of repentance streaming down the faces of men and women who are leaving behind a world that chewed them up and spat them out. I never tire of seeing the broken and the hurting come to Jesus for healing and restoration.

We asked some of our leaders involved with Women’s Ministry what they took away from Easter and the Passion week messages, and here were their responses. We encourage you to do some of your own reflections with the questions we ask after each thought.

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.” — Matthew‬ ‭22:8-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Easter is almost here! Like literally this weekend! Here are 3 easy ways to invite someone, last minute to an Easter service. Because, let’s be honest, most people have not completely planned their weekend anyways.

Awkward That’s one word that describes well a specific Saturday morning, some 2,000 years ago. What does it feel like the day after your entire world falls apart? Or the morning that follows the most emotionally confusing moments of life? Added to this pressure is what can seem like a shattering silence from Heaven. We can think, “Surely God knows what happened! Why isn’t He saying anything? Doesn’t He already know my prayers?”

I told him to stay humble, stay teachable, forgive quickly and apologize quickly. It is good advice for all of us. There are times I know God is speaking through me to others. I am sure any of you readers who are Christians can identify a time when you were used of God to speak to someone else. At times we find that those same words God speaks through us are spoken to us.