Ring the Bell for Jesus!

My girl has been practicing the bells with the other kids for the Easter program, and as a bonus she was able to bring her 7 year old friend with us to church today as a visitor. When my daughter's friend saw the other kids standing up on the stage to ring the bells for Jesus, she was in, 110% for her Savior. Right away she stood with them.
No inhibition. No practice.
Just the decision to stand up for Him, to ring her bell the best she could for Jesus Christ.  God, give me that same child-like desire to ring the bell for the wandering souls!

It just so happens that the pastor's sermon was about this verse:
1 Corinthians 15:1
'Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.'

When I think of a bell ringing, I think of its purpose.
Think of an alarm clock. A 4-alarm firehouse bell.  A church bell.  A dinner bell. Wedding bells.
All of them share the same voice.
Awake! Attention! Celebrate! Fellowship! Rejoice!......Come!

Jesus rose today.
He rings the bell for all of us, calling us to come to the Father.

A Matter of the Heart

Scripture Reference:

Luke 8:4-15

My daughter started growing grass just a few days ago.  We're all taken back with how quickly it has sprouted up, almost before our very eyes.
It's amazing what a seed does when it's planted in good soil.  How quickly that seed is received and the rebirth of new life breaks out and reaches for the sky.  And when that young sprout is nourished with light and water, it grows strong and sure.  
By contrast, there is another plant in our house.  A flower that I bought with my girl on our last daddy-daughter date, a couple of weeks ago.  We planted this beautiful, aromatic, vibrant young flower in a pot, and we filled it with the same soil as the grass.  But it was compacted in the pot. The water couldn't soak in, and the plant couldn't breathe. It also didn't spend any time on the window sill, and the roots, I think, were too big for the little pot.  There wasn't the proper room to grow. The pedals clutched together into a ball and withered, and what was once full of life is now choking away.   My daughter, three times this morning, has said to me,
"Daddy, we need to take that flower back to the greenhouse.  There's something wrong with it."
We'll go to the greenhouse, but I already know what they are going to say.
"How is this our fault? What did you expect? The soil is too hard, the water couldn't seep in, it hasn't had enough light, and this pot is too small!"
Still, there is life left in this flower.  It's not too late.  Things started out all wrong and we didn't give it our best, but there's a fighting chance, if we just change things up a bit.  It's been hard-pressed, but with a little lovin' it can persevere.

The heart of man is just like the soil.  We can receive the Good News of Jesus Christ, but it all depends on the condition of our heart.  Is the soil prepared today?
Will we nourish the seed?  Will we give it room to breathe, to live, to grow, will we yield to it and allow it to change us, to rearrange us?
Or will we press it, push against it, smother it....will we deny it?

Luke 8:4-15While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.

 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” His disciples asked him what this parable meant.

 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“ ‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’  “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. 

It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'!

We poured some wine vinegar into a bowl this morning, soaked it up with some napkin like a sponge, and put it to our tongues.  The taste was awful, the moisture was sucked out of our mouths, and the smell was terrible.  Then we imagined how that would feel in a wound, picturing Jesus up on the cross with cuts, scrapes and bruises all over his face and body...  Flogged, beaten, with that crown of thorns pushed down on his face.
When we read about the man who took the sponge and offered it to Jesus on a stick, we gloss over the entire meaning.  2000 years later we are lost in translation, but imagine that wet, dripping vinegar, being pushed up in His face, seeping in to those open wounds.  That extra, added, undeserved insult, just to top it all off....
and then He died for us all.