Step into these moments with Jesus, Himself...

Matthew 26

Jesus had just shared many truths with and given instructions to his disciples.  Everyone is tuned in.  The presence of God in a physical body is THERE with them.  And Jesus drops a bomb...

"As you know, the Passover celebration begins in two days, and I, the Son of Man, will be betrayed and crucified."

I, your leader, teacher and friend, with whom you have grown so close, in just a few days will be taken away from you and killed in the most horrible way you can imagine...

Matthew goes on to say:

At the same time, the leading priests and other leaders were meeting at the residence of Caiaphas, the high priest, to discuss how to capture Jesus secretly-

We want to get this done, but we have to keep it quiet so not too many people notice...

-and put Him to death.  "But not during Passover," they agreed, "or there will be a riot."

We just want to take care of this guy who is causing people to rebel against what we want.  But a riot, that would be messy, it would be a media circus, news helicopters everywhere, there might be shootings, it I would be messy and we might be found out; we might be blamed...

Matthew continues:

Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had leprosy.

Jesus, out of the love and kindness that was innately HIM, was once more breaking society's rules, and HAVING DINNER WITH A FREAKING LEPER... Someone few others would even give the time of day, but maybe Jesus knew this man needed some kindness, some company from a gentle friend that evening.

(And in walks the piece de resistance...)

Matthew continues:

During supper, a woman came in with a beautiful jar of expensive perfume and poured it over His head.

I know I am supposed to do this... This is the nicest thing I can offer this man, I don't even care what other people might think... This is meant to be, He has such a beautiful soul, this beautiful fragrance is appropriate... So here goes...

Back to Matthew:

The disciples were indignant when they saw this.  "What a waste of money," they said.  "She could have sold it for a fortune and given the money to the poor."

Get out of your tiny boxes, guys... Open your eyes and see the big picture of what is going on here...

Matthew tells us that Jesus replied,

"Why berate her for doing nothing such a good thing to me?"

Why you gotta hate?  This gift, from her very heart, is more precious to Me than you could ever understand.  Don't you dare say one more critical word about this beautiful, open-hearted, loving and kind woman...

Jesus continues:

"You will always have the poor among you, but I WILL NOT BE HERE WITH YOU MUCH LONGER.  She has poured this perfume on Me to prepare My body for burial."

Because, when the time comes for my burial, all of you will have run away and hidden.

(My insert here... Sometimes it takes a woman to do the things considered "strong" and "bold" and ""manly""... Just sayin'.)

Jesus:

"I assure you, wherever the Good News is preached THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, this woman's deed will be talked about in her memory."

So, let's look at what has happened here and see what we can learn.

1.  Sometimes you feel the Spirit calling you into places other people would strongly advise you not to go.

GO ANYWAY.

2.  Sometimes you feel the Spirit whispering to you that you ought to do something other people might criticize, or consider improper, or use as a basis for speaking hatefully about you, or for calling you crazy.

DO IT ANYWAY.

3.  Jesus knows the true reasons for whatever you do.  And, if your motives are pure, He will be delighted with you.

Romans 12:1 - "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship."

Ephesians 5:2 - "Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God."

Hebrews 13:15 - "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrificeof praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name."

Be blessed as you live today doing your best to love the Lord with all your heart, mind soul and strength!  Even in the midst of the massive cruelties and wrongdoing going on in lately, both in our home cities and around the world.

God will never leave us nor forsake us.

Amen.

Quite a Fine Friday

I had a really great day today!  I did a LOT but, having done all that, I feel great afterward.

At work, I had to clean the grody floor of the room they're going to convert into a new office for me.  (Remember saying "grody"?  Like in the 80s? Haha

Here is what part of the floor looked like before I got started:

And here is what it looked like after I finished:

Some lines remain- they are rust; this part of this room used to be filled with metal shelves.  Like for centuries.  But with bleach, water, a mop and a LOTTTT of elbow grease, I got the deed done.  Plus a high-powered hose and a drying fan (seen in the 2nd picture).  I like completing jobs where I can SEE what I've done.  That feels good.

I sweated BUCKETS.  Seriously.  I drank tons of water and it came right out my skin.. Haha.

THEN, after I finished that, I got the crazy idea that I wanted to go to CrossFit.  Crazy?  

Maybe.  Haha

Maybe I was just in the "flow" of being active.  Riiight.  But, whatever, I went and did MORE activity.  Warm-up (which is a workout of its own rite) then 2 other workouts.  The first workout, we did something called a Hollow Hold which is laying on your back, back flat to the ground, and lifting your straight legs and arms, shoulders off the mat, hold for 30 seconds.  Then double unders... Which is, jump roping, but bringing the rope around, under your feet, TWICE, during one jump.  That is CRAZY and I did SINGLE-unders.  Set of 30.  Then 10 Kettle Bell Swings.  Which, for me, were more about getting my form right than about strength.  I used a wimpy kettle bell... Literally, it was PINK.  But anyway.

So those 3 things, the whole set, over and over for 12 minutes.

THEN (yes, there was more) we did twelve lunges - everyone else held a barbell at their shoulders, I just used my body weight.  I could not have handled more.  Haha.  Then 24 Toes to Bar... Hang from a chin-up bar, raise your feet up and touch the bar.  And, again, because I cannot DO that... YET... I just lifted my knees as high as I could.  Ta-dah.  Don't be a hater; I'll get there.  Anyway, three sets of those two things.

So I'm only on my 2nd workout.  I have miles and miles of room to grow.  I choose to think of it that way; just unlimited potential.  Hahaha

And THEN I came home, finished mowing the back yard, watered the garden and all the flowers, and gave Luna a bath.

BAM.  I am DONE.  And my weekend is free so I can either do whatever I want, or be as lazy as I want.

Gotta love that.  Hehe

My head is killing me.  For the second night in a row.  Gotta figure out why this is happening.  Might be sinuses, having to do with allergies.  All I know is, it hurts.

I love my Lena and our fur family.  Gonna be a great weekend.  Have a good one, yourselves!

Flames and Conspiracy

I used that title to make people curious to read what was in this blog post.  The word "conspiracy" makes me think of juicy news or of finding out a big, eye-popping secret plan!  In the lessons I've been listening to in my self-initiated YouTube Seminary Study, I heard today about one of the Common Era's earliest big CONSPIRACY THEORIES.

In the year 64 A.D., the great city of Rome burned.  The fire started at night in a merchant area (think New Orleans' French Market).  Flames were then spread by  I think maybe a million people lived there at that time, and this huge fire destroyed or severely damaged at least half the city.

(Side note:  Contrary to folklore, Nero did not "fiddle while Rome burned" - he was, in fact, gone to his palace at Antium when the fire took place.)

After the fire, Rome was rebuilt - more flashy, fancy and fabulous than ever before.  Nero's palace, which had burned in with much of the city, was rebuilt.  The ashes of what had once been a city people called home became part of the foundation of a greater city... and a greater palace.

And so it was that rumors began to spread that Nero had ordered the burning of Rome.  The destruction of what was less desirable for the construction of something better.

Hearing this story made me think of New Orleans residents claiming the government broke the barrier holding back the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, to get rid of the Ninth Ward; the poorer, less "desirable" section of the Big Easy.  But no one can prove a thing.  From Nero to New Orleans, it's all just whisperings and words.

The burning of Rome loosed the rumors from conspiracy theorists of the first century A.D.

People look for somewhere to place blame when bad things happen.  Even when there is no way to truly determine the cause of those bad things.

While New Orleans has, for the most part, gotten back on its feet, the non-democratic civilization back in 64 A.D. suffered greatly after blaming Nero.  Nero found a scapegoat.  Nero blamed the new guys, so to speak... the Christians.  He had masses of believers tortured and killed, crucified and burned alive.

In the 1960's in the U.S., the big thing was not wanting to work for "The Man."  Maybe Nero was "The Man" of the first 60's in the Year of our Lord.  "The Man" wielded a heavy fist.  He used it.

Funny how history repeats itself in different forms.  Learning about Rome today was very interesting; just wanted to share my thoughts.

Later, friends!

Friday Night Lights... And sleepwalking??

Wow.  Last night, I went to bed at 11.  Got up at 5-ish this morning, worked 6:30-4.  And now it's past 11:30 at night and I'm still kickin.  Okay, not kickin; I'm laying in bed trying to stay awake.  Next to my sleeping most beautiful woman in the world.  Luna on the floor, her choice, I bought her a very decent bed.  Hippie laying against the side of my calf, Leroy hangin tight at the bottom corner of the bed.  I believe this is my favorite night of the week.  Stay up as late as I want then sleep as late as I want tomorrow.  Yessss.  :)

Jimmy Fallon is doing a great job with the Tonight Show.  Tonight I actually get to stay up and watch him and, if I can stay up, I will watch the guy after him.  Seth Myers.  Right now, the guy from The Voice is singing... Just heard his name but it now escapes me.... Oh yeah Blake Shelton.  Seems like a song about his new Gwen.  They seem really happy together.  I hope it works out for them and lasts.  Truly.

So I've been listening to these lessons on making your dreams happen.  I'll tell you, my dream is to not have to worry about money so I can spend my time doing things that matter to me, maybe for small pay or maybe just as a volunteer, freedom to live life pouring into others with needs, both people and animals..

So I thought, get a bunch of rental houses,, live off of that.  Take great care of my properties and my. Tenants,,  spend the rest of my time LIVING LIFE.   Now. It boils. Down.to money.    Which boils down to careful saving,, lots of prayer, and. Creative. Ideas on how to. Get that money more. Quickly than just with. The job I. Have now.

**No idea why. This keyboard keeps throwing out. Periods. And capital letters but I donT feel like. Correcting. All that.   You'll get it. Through context.  Anyway..

Just wanted to touch. Base.   I'm sleepy. As arag doll and. About o fffff

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Okay, now it's the next morning.  7:42 a.m.  I woke up in the other room.  On the sofa in the room I call my "office."  Thing is, I don't remember going there. And no, I wasn't drunk.  I remember setting this tablet down.  I don't remember turning off the tv or remember the last thing I saw on tv.  I don't remember going to the other room or why I went there.  When Lena wakes up, I'll have to ask her if I did anything weird because I have no idea.  Pretty freaky.  This is the first time I have woken up in a place with no recollection of how I ended up there.  Freaky........