Category: Jesus

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Tag Along With Me to Jail

I have been involved in local jail ministry for the most part of thirty years. It is not glorious work. It is not scary as some might think. I have never felt threatened and most of the guys are usually respectable and appreciative.

The jail we visit is set up like a dormitory with bunks on two sides and tables in the middle. Lately, our jail ministry team has been alternating weeks and I have been going alone twice per month.

There is nothing fancy of what we do. No fanfare, no bells and whistles. Just an old buzzard of a preacher telling the story of Jesus to a bunch of jail birds.

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Disappointment

I suppose disappointment is a human condition that affects us all. We often wallow in the disappointment in ourselves and boil over our emotions in the disappointment of others.

There is a portion of scripture I often default to in times of disappointment that shakes me back into reality. It is in Proverbs 13:12a (NKJV), “Hope deferred makes the heart sick…” My paraphrase is, “Expectations not met, breaks the heart.”

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Where Do We Go From Here?

PRAY FOR THE FAMILIES OF UVALDE, TEXAS!

It is horrible thing when two neighbors have a quarrel, and one kills the other. It is so unthinkable when an evil person kills at random one or more who are innocent and vulnerable with whom he had no quarrel. It is unthinkable because normal, descent folks just cannot imagine why anyone would do such a thing—it is unthinkable.

There is the usual rush to put a “why” on the “what”. Most of us who have an ounce of compassion first think about those in our lives who approximate the same age as the victims, then a deep sick feeling wells up in our souls to the point we quickly change the channel in our mind to something less painful. We whisper a prayer for the hurting while our souls scream, “WHY?”

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Arrogance of Mankind

We find ourselves attracted to confident people but at the same time appalled at arrogance. It is a thin line from one to the other. As a person of faith, I find it unthinkable and sickening to see a person being arrogant toward God.

Recently when I was praying, in my prayer I was praising God for Who He Is. I almost became convicted with the absurdity of my prayer. How could I even imagine who God really is? His greatness is so beyond me.

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Suffering and the Kingdom

I remember some of the old timers from our valley and ridges talking about folks who were going through difficult times and using the rhetorical phrase, “I don’t know how they have ‘walkin’ around sense?”

That’s the truth. When you look at the suffering of some folks, you think, “How do they keep their senses about them?” I am amazed how some people go through horrific things and seem to weather the storm with supernatural strength. Well, it is with supernatural strength. God gives the that extra “Umph!” to get them over the line.

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If Tombs Could Talk!

So I began as a large outcropping of bedrock, just outside of the ancient city of Jerusalem near the place called Golgotha. As a huge rock, I often wondered what I would eventually become.  Maybe I would be hewn into stones for a great building. Perhaps, I would become a monument for a great king. I could be cut into pieces and used as a fortress wall. My mass may be chipped into pavement for a king’s highway or perhaps small stones for a fancy garden wall.

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The Executioner’s Dream

A Story of the Executioner at Golgotha by Harry L. Whitt

After their scourging, we herded the three men through the jeering streets to Golgotha. The citizens of Jerusalem hate us only a bit less than we hate them. Being assigned to the occupation force of Judea is a good point for a possible promotion but today the city is set on edge. One of the three is a popular prophet to the common people but hated by the elites of their counsel.

Finally, we are out of the bustle of the city streets and bring the three miserable souls to the top of the hill, the place of the skull. The rock outcropping resembles a skull, and today it the place of execution for all to see.

The schemer who devised the crucifixion is to be congratulated. Nothing puts the fear and dread in occupied people as the crucifixion. It is an agonizing death to endure and to witness. I have killed countless men in warfare with sword and spear, but this is the most gruesome of all.

The poor creatures are hammered on the cross with hand forged spikes which tear flesh and sinew. We set their knees at a bend, so they can push up to catch a breath of air, and then hang by their arms until they began to smother. This reeling up and down until their last life fades from their bodies takes sometimes days. It is a wretched sight for wretched souls.

We put the so-called prophet in the middle as he is the most renown. The other two are common thieves. The middle one gets the most attention as some of his mourners are at the foot of his cross. Some say his mother is present along with mostly women and a few men. Why do they come to see? I do not know.

His scourging left his back nothing but ribbons of flesh with clotted blood. He cried out as we laid him on the splintered wood. Then we raised his cross and the jar of the upright going from empty hole to solid earth left him with a quiver in his body that took some time cease.

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