poem: Thorns and Scarlet

Have a great Easter everyone and remember what we are celebrating! Today is Good Friday so I am going to church for the traditional three hour service (noon to 3 pm). Here's a link that explains, from a medical perspective, what Jesus went through on the cross - Medical Aspects of the Crucifixion.

And here's a poem I wrote several years ago for Good Friday. I hope you enjoy it. :)

Thorns and Scarlet

Out of slavery, out of sin, out of Egypt, enter in.
You our God and You our stay, You our Savior light the way.
Blood of lambs upon our door, that the wrath of God won't pour
On our homes, but rather save, redeem us when we were a slave.

And then You came and taught in love, the glories of the One above.
You came rebuked, reproved, and taught, and wept with sorrow as You sought
All the lost, too numb too feel; show them love that You may heal
Their hurts and failings of the past, as You put death to death at last.

So thorns and scarlet wrap around, You let Your hands and wrists be bound,
Beaten, spat on, mocked that day, the Son of God our crimes did pay.
I cannot fathom love that fierce, love that would His own hands pierce.
God let His anger fall on His Son, until He cried out, "It is done!"

All glory to God and God alone, the God who loved and did atone
For things that we should have to pay, but for us in love did lay
Down His life that we may live, through the Son He did forgive
All we've caused, pain and strife, and gave instead eternal life!


(With thanks to Shantyman magazine for the title.)

Walking With the Master, Day 6, Good Friday

Walking With the Master
Day 6

Jesus' crucifixion and death, Golgotha, Friday

Matthew 27:27-56 (KJV)
Matthew 27:27-56 (NIV)

For further study:

Mark 15:16-41; Luke 23:26-49; John 19:17-30 (KJV)
Mark 15:16-41; Luke 23:26-49; John 19:17-30 (NIV)

Ever wonder what Jesus went through his last 12 hours? Well, if you haven't seen The Passion, here's an article by a medical doctor explaining it:

Medical Aspects of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ by David Terasaka, M.D.

The burial of Jesus, Joseph's Tomb, Friday

Matthew 27:57-66 (KJV)
Matthew 27:57-66 (NIV)

For further study:

Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:31-42 (KJV)
Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:31-42 (NIV)

And here's a poem I write on Good Friday. I consider this one of the best poems I have ever written.
Thorns and Scarlet

Technorati tagged: religion, church, Holy Week, Easter, health, Jesus, God, faith, Christianity, Bible, Matthew, Good Friday

Week 5 Weigh-In

First, my weigh-in numbers.
Start: 154
Week 1: 150 (-4) - Week 2: 148.6 (-1.4)
Week 3: 146 (-2.6) - Week 4: 147.2 (+1.2)
Week 5: 145.6 (-1.6)
Total loss: -8.4

Now to catch up on my stats:
Calories eaten Thursday: 1326
Fat: 27g (19%)
Carbs: 72g (22%)
Protein: 114g (35%)

Weight Thursday morning: 140.4 (One week before: 142)
Calories burned in exercise Thursday: 88

Calories eaten Friday: 1272
Fat: 33g (23%)
Carbs: 89g (28%)
Protein: 87g (27%)

Weight Friday morning: 141 (One week before: 141.4)
Calories burned in exercise Friday: 209

Weight Saturday morning: 142 (One week before: 143.6)
Calories burned in exercise Saturday: 0

Weight this morning: 145.6 (One week ago: 147.2)
Calories burned in exercise today: 263

Great. I'm pretty much just back to where I was 2 weeks ago. I'm just 0.4 lower. *sigh* Must work even harder this week.

It was a busy weekend and the craziness isn't over yet, even though I'm thoroughly exhausted from the lack of sleep.

Friday I went to St. Paul's for their traditional three hour Good Friday service (noon- 3 p.m.). It started on time, but ran a good 20 minutes late. I had to "tincture" (dip my wafer in the wine) since I was sick and didn't want to share it with others by drinking from the cup.

Afterwords, Brad met me at the church and we did some urban walking. We got lost after stopping at a Starbucks for coffee, so that helped rack up some more steps. Total time: about 1 hour 28 minutes.

Saturday I went to my normal church, and Brad and I had beanless, riceless, burritos at my house. We went out to Starbucks for lattes in the evening. I went in my jammies.

This morning (Easter Sunday) I was up at 7:30 so I could get to St. Paul's latest service at 10 a.m. I dipped my wafer in the wine again so as not to make anyone else sick. The two ladies sitting next to me didn't go forward, so I had to squeeze past them. Thankfully, I'm small enough to do that without getting in people's faces. Losing weight effects all aspects of life. :)

Afterwords I walked to the gym (only about a 10 minute walk) to work out. Would you believe I forget my tank top workout shirt? So I worked out in my sports bra. I got some weird looks. It does cover everything, but I was uncomfortable. I have a pic of me wearing the same bra taken a few weeks back. As you can see, it's not TOO bad. I was able to get a full workout in before heading to work.

Technorati tagged: diet, low fat, weight loss, health, exercise, obese, overweight, NutriSystem, church, Easter, Jesus, God, faith, Christianity, Bible, Easter Sunday

Photo courtesy of Kishbee.

Walking With the Master, Day 6, Good Friday

Walking With the Master
Day 6

Jesus' crucifixion and death, Golgotha, Friday

Matthew 27:27-56 (KJV)
Matthew 27:27-56 (NIV)

For further study:

Mark 15:16-41; Luke 23:26-49; John 19:17-30 (KJV)
Mark 15:16-41; Luke 23:26-49; John 19:17-30 (NIV)

Ever wonder what Jesus went through his last 12 hours? Well, if you haven't seen The Passion, here's an article by a medical doctor explaining it:

Medical Aspects of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ by David Terasaka, M.D.

The burial of Jesus, Joseph's Tomb, Friday

Matthew 27:57-66 (KJV)
Matthew 27:57-66 (NIV)

For further study:

Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:31-42 (KJV)
Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:31-42 (NIV)

And here's a poem I write on Good Friday. I consider this one of the best poems I have ever written.
Thorns and Scarlet

Technorati tagged: religion, church, Holy Week, Easter, health, Jesus, God, faith, Christianity, Bible, Matthew, Good Friday

The Son Also Rises

Since I haven't gotten to an entry in the last week, I decided a short entry today would be better than nothing. Pardon any mispellings. I don't have the energy to edit tonight. So...here goes.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

This weekend provided plenty of opportunities for reflection on the meaning of Easter. I figure that over three days (Friday-Sunday) I spent about 8 hours in church services (!). Good Friday was 3 hours (12-3 pm), then my regular church Saturday morning, then Easter Vigil Saturday night and Easter Sunday morning services. It leaves one tired but happy. :-)

One thing I realized yet again on Friday was that when my sins were placed on Jesus on the cross, all of my sins were - which means that God looked at Jesus and saw Him practicing Witchcraft and Him worshipping other gods. That blows my mind! And that Jesus would do that willingly for me. Our sin was great, so His suffering for us was great.

Thank You Jesus for Your great sacrifice for us. We put You on the cross, yet You went willingly because You loved us when we still hated You. Thank You God, for Easter. Thank You for Your Son's death, and His triumpth over death. Truly we can now live and die in hope. Amen.

poem: Thorns and Scarlet

Thorns and Scarlet

Out of slavery, out of sin, out of Egypt, enter in.
You our God and You our stay, You our Savior light the way.
Blood of lambs upon our door, that the wrath of God won't pour
On our homes, but rather save, redeem us when we were a slave.

And then You came and taught in love, the glories of the One above.
You came rebuked, reproved, and taught, and wept with sorrow as You sought
All the lost, too numb too feel; show them love that You may heal
Their hurts and failings of the past, as You put death to death at last.

So thorns and scarlet wrap around, You let Your hands and wrists be bound,
Beaten, spat on, mocked that day, the Son of God our crimes did pay.
I cannot fathom love that fierce, love that would His own hands pierce.
God let His anger fall on His Son, until He cried out, "It is done!"

All glory to God and God alone, the God who loved and did atone
For things that we should have to pay, but for us in love did lay
Down His life that we may live, through the Son He did forgive
All we've caused, pain and strife, and gave instead eternal life!


(With thanks to Shantyman magazine for the title.)

Good Friday thoughts

Good Friday

Got home from Full Moon and H.& R.'s about 12:45 a.m. Then I overslept this morning again, by about an hour, waking up around 10.

So why am I trying to push Jehovah away? Am I trying to prove something? Am I truing to be better than God? Am I trying to punish God for leading/pulling me in the direction of Christianity, a leading/pulling that I have no control over? Perhaps. At least when I have my heels dug in I am taking control. Perhaps I am testing God, too, taunting Him, taking advantage of His love. My rebelliousness does have a certain allure - rebelling against God Himself. So far I'm holding my own, but the feeling of the need to search had not gone away.

So far the "coincidences" that are "supposed to get me on track" have been small. Today I saw a commercial for the Book of Mormon on T.V. A song, a commercial on the radio - these are small things. He better hit me with a metaphorical 2x4, or I won't come.

I hate Him, and I hate how He calls me. My rebelliousness feels good, and gives me a sense of power, even though I know it's wrong. If I can keep my anger against Him up for long enough, and continually remind myself of His vindictiveness. He might eventually stop bugging me. Right now He seems to be softening my heart toward Him, and I can't let that happen. If I can get myself to stop thinking about it so much, I will win. To that end, I am skipping Good Friday services at church this evening.

But then last Saturday comes to mind, and I find it hard to be angry at such a loving presence as I felt that night. My resolve wavers, and I find myself wavering between hate and love. Caught in the middle, I want to cry. Cry in the wrongness of my hate and sin, cry in the love He has for me - the very love I am abusing right now, cry to release the tension that is always around me.

But I hate Him, or am trying to. I am trying to hate this incredibly loving Being. It's hard. All I want is to pick up my Bible and start reading and thinking and studying. I find it difficult not to do so.

I guess I want to see if I can "force God's hand," make God do something He wouldn't normally do. I want to make Him come to get me; by running away I hope to make Him do that. He may not do anything precisely because He knows I'm trying to force Him to. It is not wise to try to force God to do something.

There is now more at stake than just me changing. There is now my pride at stake as well, and to see how long I can stay away. And a test of my strength vs. God's.

And yet there is this intense feeling that the answer has already been decided. Like no matter what I do, I will have to go to Jehovah.

Channel surfing tonight I happened upon a Jesus program, but it was on the Spanish channel so I couldn't understand it. Of course, it could be coincidence. It is Easter weekend.