Peter’s Denial of Jesus
After arresting him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest; Peter was following at a distance. Luke 22:54
One of the high priest’s maids came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said, “You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus. “But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” Mark 14:66-68
Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord: May it be done to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38
On March 25 (nine months before Christmas), we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her of God’s great plan for her to be the mother of Jesus.
I can only imagine this young teenage girl never dreamed she would become the Mother of God!
Her fiat (Latin for yes) launched God’s great plan of salvation, bringing Jesus into the world.
Pause and ponder:
Think of a time that God brought a surprise into your life.
Thank Him for this unexpected gift.
Look not to what is seen
for it is transitory.
But look to the unseen
for it’s eternal glory.
When a five-year-old looks at the blue sky and says, “that’s my favorite place to look for God,” he is seeking the unseen. And he is seeing a tiny shimmer of the glory of heaven here on earth.
This scripture poem, “Look Not,” was inspired by 2 Corinthians 4:18, as well as a five-year-old’s observation.
The darkest day of the year is near. On December 21, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere will have the longest night of the year and the shortest period of daylight. There will be over five hours more darkness than we had back in June. That’s a lot of darkness. Below are some quotes about light to help brighten and bring some hope into our cold, dark Advent season. Continue reading
The words “the Boogie Man will get you” terrified me as a child. This was one of the many fictitious reasons I was afraid of the dark. Along with the imaginary witches in my closet, the werewolves outside my window, and the monsters under my bed. Continue reading
I was eight. I was sick. It was severe. I had all the classic symptoms. Distress, sadness, anxiety, and most prominently the shedding of endless tears. It went on day after day after day. The diagnosis? Homesickness. It was my first time to attend summer camp and I was not enjoying it at all. Neither was my big sister who was a camp counselor. I had thoroughly embarrassed her. Continue reading
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. (Mark 5:24) And understandably so. Jesus had just healed a man possessed with numerous demons and was on his way to the house of a synagogue official who had begged him to heal his gravely ill daughter.
Where is the newborn king? This was the question that drove the Magi on their long journey. They were wise, so they went to the most logical place to find the newborn king of the Jews, the holy city of Jerusalem- but unfortunately it was the wrong place! Continue reading
I couldn’t wait to get out of the elevator. When the doors finally opened I darted down the hall Continue reading
Can you imagine a financial advisor taking his client’s money that he is supposed to invest and burying it in the ground? Or a car salesman going off to hide “in a hole” when a customer comes to him wanting to purchase an automobile? Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? Both would be without a job real soon. In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells his disciples a parable that addresses this very issue. Continue reading
