Some Easter quotes, from The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey

Here as I mentioned are some quotes toward the end of the book and if you have read through the other ones you might not even need to read the book now ; )



"I have marveled at, and sometimes openly questioned, the self-restraint God has shown throughout history, allowing the Genghis Khans, and the Hitlers and the Stalin's to have their way. But nothing- nothing- compares to the self restraint shown that dark Friday in Jerusalem."



He quotes M. Scott Peck here, " There are dozens of ways to deal with evil and several ways to conquer it. All of them are facets of the truth that the only ultimate way to conquer evil is to let it be smothered within a willing, living human being. When it is absorbed there like blood in a sponge or a spear into one's heart, it loses it's power and goes no further. The healing of evil- scientifically or otherwise- can be accomplished only by the love of individuals. A willing sacrifice is required... I do not know how this occurs. But I know that it does... Whenever this happens there is slight shift in the balance of power in the world."

"One reason I am open to belief, I admit, is that at a very deep level I want the Easter story to be true. Faith grows out of the subsoil of yearning, and something primal in human beings cries out against the reign of death. Whether hope takes the form of Egyptian pharaohs stashing their jewels and chariots in pyramids, or the modern American obsession with keeping bodies alive until the last possible nanosecond and then preserving them fluids in double-sealed caskets, we humans resist the idea of death having the final say. We want to believe otherwise."

Book Review- The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey

I just finished this book The Jesus I Never Knew, and I have to say that the time frame of it's contents right before Easter have made me want to stand up and shout. This is a wonderful book that displays a beautiful portrait of Jesus. As I mentioned in a previous blog it hangs out in the Beatitudes for a while and then quickly goes into the Sinless Savior who is a friend to sinners. He talks at length at how Jesus whole time here on earth was a balancing act. He portrayed a teacher who was not doing away with God's laws but at the same time bringing grace into areas that grace was not permitted.
My book is flagged with so many tags where I have highlighted so much, sometimes almost whole pages, and that to me is a sure sign of a winner. I know this book came out a while ago but if anyone is looking for a great book right before Easter to help you remember the Jesus you fell in love with I highly recommend , The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. To me it is the Jesus I have known but sometimes I forget and we all need reminders.
Here are some of my favorite quotes-

"Among people who walled off a separate sanctum for God in the temple and shrank from pronouncing or spelling out the name, God made a surprise appearance as a baby in a manger. What can be less scary than a newborn with his limbs wrapped tight against his body? In Jesus , God found a way of relating to human beings that did not involve fear."

"As I look back on the three temptations, I see that Satan proposed an enticing improvement. He tempted Jesus toward the good parts of being human without the bad: to savor the taste of bread without being subject to the fixed rules of hunger and of agriculture, to confront risk with no real danger, to enjoy fame and power without the prospect of painful rejection- in short, to wear a crown but not a cross. (The temptation that Jesus resisted, many of us, his followers, still long for.)

"Now that I am an adult, the crisis of the Sermon on the Mount still has not gone away. Though I have tried at times to dismiss it as rhetorical excess, the more I study Jesus, the more I realize that the statements contained here lie at the heart of his message. If I fail to understand this teaching, I fail to understand him."

"In the Beatitudes, Jesus honored people who may not enjoy many privileges in this life. To the poor, the mourners, the meek, the hungry, the persecuted, the poor in heart, he offered assurance that their service would not go unrecognized."

"Yet, as C.S. Lewis reminds us, we dare not discount the value of future rewards. One need only listen to the songs composed by American slaves to realize this consolation of belief. "Swing low sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home." "When I get to heaven goin' to put on my robe, goin' to shout all over God's heaven." If the slave masters had written these songs for the slaves to sing, they would be an obscenity; rather, they come from the mouths of the slaves themselves, people who had little hope in this world but abiding hope in a world to come. For them, all hope centered in Jesus."

"Various scenes in the Gospels give a good picture of the kind of people who impressed Jesus. A widow who placed her last two cents in the offering. A dishonest tax collector so riddled with anxiety that he climbed a tree to get a better view of Jesus. A nameless, nondescript child. A woman with a string of five unhappy marriages. A blind beggar. An adulteress. A man with leprosy. Strength, good looks, connections, and the competitive instinct may bring a person success in a society like ours, but those very qualities may block entrance to the kingdom of heaven. Dependence, Sorrow, repentance, a longing to change-these are the gates to God's kingdom."

"Jesus came , he told us, not to destroy life but that we may have it more abundantly, "life....to the full". Paradoxically, we get this abundant life in ways we may not have counted on. We get it by investing in others, by taking courageous stands for justice, by ministering to the weak and needy, by pursuing God and not self."


These like I said are just a few and there are more to come later this week I will post the ones that get into the real meanings we celebrate Easter.
If you stuck this one out you must have some time on your hands :)

1 week

In one week I will be traveling to Europe to see my sister Jenny and some friends in Germany. I am so very excited but could really use some prayers support to get everything in order here on the homefront taken care of before I head out. This week my kiddos are out of school on spring break and so I am really looking forward to having the time with them before I go. That part I couldn't have planned better if I tried. BUT, with them being home it will be hard to get the things done that I need to , phone calls, grocery shopping, lot's o laundry (so the big guy doesn't have to worry bout stinky underwear) etc. so that being said I am wondering how it's all going to work. I know it will, I just don't want to procrastinate and cause more chaos for myself than what is necessary. Also, if everyone could pray that while I am gone Moses would be given Superman strength to do both our jobs. "What a man , what a man, what a MIGHTY GOOD man" (just singing) and also for safe travel for me and my traveling companion Andre. We will be all over the map over there and I really don't want to get lost where I don't know the language.
I am pretty sure that I won't have time to blog but if I do I will leave some updates.

I have a wart or is wort?

I have a wort on the bottom of my foot. My husband tells me that this isn't just any wort it is what's called a planters wort. So instead of being the visible bumpy ugly thing on your skin this is inside my skin and it feels like I am walking on a pebble stone all day. It's very annoying and sometimes down right painful. I heard that these lil boogers are not easily rid of. Apparently, my mom in law had one on her foot and she tried to remove it several times to no avail. I don't really have money for all that nonsense, nor the time to investigate so I was hoping maybe some of you bloggers out there might know of something helpful that I could try. I am going to try using the regular wort stuff with a band-aid over it so it doesn't wipe off. Here's hoping that works cause it's really annoying.

Good enough to pass on

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it be comes your destiny.


This was in a recent email I recieved and thought the reminder was a good one. Good enough to pass on.
More personal blog coming soon.

Psalm 130:5-6 One of my all time favorites

"I wait for the Lord , my soul waits, and in his words I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning." Psalm 130:5-6

Have you ever tried to stay up all night? Usually we do this sort of thing when we are young ins. Like on Christmas eve how many of us were so determined to stay up all night to sneak a peek of the Jolly ole Elf and never made it past midnight. This scripture reminds me of how hard it can be when you are waiting for something that you want so badly and it seems it will never come. I am sure the watchmen who's job it was to protect the village at night could barely keep their eyes open and then suddenly the world around them would start to get brighter and lighter and they probably felt a surge of energy come over them. The soldiers in boot camp get taught right away how hard it is to stay up all night. I have heard that they give you maybe 2 hours of sleep at first. I wouldn't survive the first night. Sleep deprivation can do wacky things to a person and so can being deprived of nourishment for our souls. My need for the Bread of Life is stronger than ever. When you start to see daybreak after a long, long night it is a beautiful feeling. I am thankful that after the night of my soul there is always a morning if I place my hope in Jesus he never fails me. His grace, mercy, and patience with me astounds me. His love, peace, and joy are what I wait for. His words give me hope like no other.