This coming Saturday 4/6 would have been our 29th wedding anniversary. I remember Mike talking after our awesome two week vacation to St. Martin in celebration of our 20th that we needed to really do something special for our 30th......... Our women's group would usually be meeting this coming Wednesday night but because we are taking a break from our small groups in April - they are offering three different modules to take and one will be meeting this Wednesday night. So....our women's group will be meeting Saturday night from 6:30 to ??? I think that will definitely be a good way to spend my un-anniversary evening - with a bunch of fun ladies.
The Well - the building my church has been remodeling for about a year now will have a "soft" Open House on 4/27/13! That's also the third anniversary of Mike's death so I'll be glad to be with my church family for a big part of that day.
Anyway.....here's some pix so you can see what has been going on at The Well. Okay I've tried many times to upload pix to my blog but it's just not working. You can go to Living Waters Fellowship's Facebook page (www.facebook.com) to see pictures of The Well and our Easter breakfast today.
A friend and I went to see a movie yesterday and we about fell over when we were told it would cost $14.95 for a movie that started at 11:10 in the morning! We found out it was in 3D....ok so we recycle the 3D glasses after the movie, do you really need to charge that much for it? We saw "G.I. Joe Retaliation" and it was good. Now if Mike would have been there he would have told the kid selling the movie tickets that he "only wanted to buy one". Ok, he would have had to buy two to get one for me but I think you get what he was trying to say.....that was way too much money for a movie :)
Today I was at church at 7:30 a.m. helping set up for our 2nd Annual Easter breakfast before our church service. We had lots of good food to eat. Then I headed to Jordan Creek Town Centre to look for jeans. I wanted to pop in to the Super Target out that way too - but when I drove by it, it was closed. Part of me was really glad they were closed in observance of Easter. I get to the mall before noon and thought I'd see if "Olympus Has Fallen" was going to start at the movie theater any time soon and it was going to start in five minutes so I bought a ticket.....$6.95 thank you very much. What a normal matinee san 3D costs. Anyway.....I thought I'd watch the movie and then go to a couple of stores. The movie was AWESOME!!!! When I came out of the movie theater I realized the mall wasn't open. So Jordan Creek was closed to observe Easter - good for them.
It's really hit me the past couple of weeks the suffering Jesus went through for all of us on Good Friday. Remember the hole in my hand a couple of Septembers ago? I looked at it once when it was at its worst and thought maybe, just maybe my hole was the size of the hole in Jesus' hands when they drove the nails in. Well, I've really thought about having a crown of thorns smashed down on my head and having to balance my whole weight on two feet nailed to a cross. It really got to me. And then a friend emailed me what you will see below. Makes you really stop and think.
I hope everyone had a great Easter!
THE (SCIENTIFIC)
DEATH OF JESUS
At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.
At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.
Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long. At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.
At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.
The nails were driven into His wrist.
Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed.
There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.
The Roman guards knew that when the nails
were being hammered into the wrist,
that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus
to use His back muscles to support himself
so that He could breathe.
Both of His feet were nailed together.
Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail
that impaled His feet to the cross.
Jesus could not support himself with His legs
because of the pain, so He was forced to alternate
between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breathe.
Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage.
Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.
Yes, over 3 hours!
Can you imagine this kind of suffering?
A few minutes before He died,
Jesus stopped bleeding.
He was simply pouring water from his wounds.
From common images, we see wounds to His hands
and feet and even the spear wound to His side...
But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body.
A hammer driving large nails through the wrist,
the feet overlapped and an even large nail
hammered through the arches,
then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear.
But before the nails and the spear,
Jesus was whipped and beaten.
The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body.
The beating so horrific that His face was torn
and his beard ripped from His face.
The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.
Most men would not have survived this torture.
He had no more blood to bleed out,
only water poured from His wounds.
The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters
(just less than a gallon) of blood.
Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood;
He had three nails hammered into His members;
a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that,
a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest.
All these without mentioning the humiliation
He passed after carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers,
while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones
(the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part,
where His hands were nailed).
Jesus had to endure this experience,
so that we can have free access to God.
So that our sins could be "washed" away.
All of them, with no exception!
JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR US!
