When Laughter Works Better Than Tears

          Sometimes, you just gotta laugh. Things aren't going well, so you get frustrated or even angry. But whatever is going on, you just have to make the best of it and laugh when you can.

          I maybe shouldn't be sharing this for the world to read, but my brother's forgetfulness has turned into full-blown dementia. Hubby and I are doing our best, but I'm not gonna cry about it, so I'm gonna have to laugh instead.

          A couple of months ago, my brother called one morning to say his record player wasn't working, and he couldn't figure out why because it was working fine the day before. He asked if we could run out and buy him a new one, even though we had just bought it for him a few months before.

          I told him we'd come over to see what was wrong and if we could fix it. We got there, and it's not plugged in.

          We asked, "Where's the cord to plug it in?"

          Tom: "It's never been plugged in. It must be on a battery."

          Us: "No, there was a cord for it when we bought it for you three months ago. We plugged it in when we set it up for you. So, where is the cord?"

          Tom: "There never was one."

          And there was none. We looked around his house as much as we felt safe (not going in his drawers for any reason), but nowhere in his house could we find it. No clue what he could have done with it. He had two razors with similar plugs, and we tried both of them, but neither fit.

          After ten more minutes of conversations that continued to go in circles ("but it has never been plugged in"), we told him we would take it home and see what we could do. We were sure that somewhere in our bags full of misfit electronics, we had a plug that would fit.

          So, we brought the record player home and dug through our stuff. I found three likely candidates.

          The first one fit but didn't bring the turn table to life.

          The second one fit, and as soon as we plugged it in, the device made a little sighing noise. Yeah! Success.

          Before I could get the record on the turn table and check for music, I smelled smoke. Sure enough, smoke was rolling out of a tiny hole in the back of the device.

          I pulled the plug from the wall, and Hubby pulled the cord from the record player. 

          Hubby: "I guess we'll have to buy him a whole new record player."

          Me: "I could try the third cord."

          Hubby: "NOOOO!"

(The picture above is the box the new record player came in. I thought we should save it for awhile in case we had to take it back to the store when my brother couldn't figure out how to work it. I think it's time for the box to go, before I am listed off my rocker as well. Also, I keep reading "Big Bass" like the fish and rhymes with another name for donkey, instead of bass as in bass, tenor, soprano.)

Pure Joy

 

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

          “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

          Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

          Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

          She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

          Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

          Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:11-18, New International Version)

Joy, pure joy. How else could anyone describe how Mary felt in that moment. If you are a believer, you can feel that joy right now. And some day hold onto Jesus when you meet Him in heaven. 

(The picture here is from my trip to Kenya in 2013, when my daughter and I visited the IDP camp at Maai Mahu. I love the smile on this precious one’s face. She doesn’t have much, just enough food to survive each day, dirty clothes, a canvas shelter to live in with her family, but she was filled with pure joy when she met us.)

Surely, this was the Son of God

 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

          The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

          But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

          Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

          Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

          It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:32-45, NIV) 

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54, NIV)

(The picture is from Ayacucho, Peru, when I was there in 2009. I'm sure I've shared this picture before. Ayacucho is known as the city of churches, so not too hard to find lots of crosses.)

What Weight are you Carrying?

 

I was going to share the entire first twenty-six verses of Luke chapter 23 with you today. Tomorrow, Good Friday, you will get the rest of the story. But I had too much to share from my personal life, and – well – there was one verse that said enough.

You know how the story goes. Jesus had been arrested. The church leaders turned Him over to Pontious Pilate, the Roman governor, for questioning. 

There was a tradition during Passover each year to release one prisoner. Pilate asked the crowd if they wanted Jesus or a murderer, Barabbas, to be released. They shouted, “Release Barabbas! Crucify Jesus!”

Jesus was taken away. The Roman soldiers mocked Him and beat Him, then took Him off to be crucified. After all that He had endured, carrying the wooden cross along the road to Golgotha got the best of His physical body. His spiritual body could hold the weight of the world, but He was an earthly man too.

     As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. (Luke 23:26, New Living Translation)

I’ve had a rough week. I feel like I’ve had a burden thrown on my shoulders that I just can’t deal with. I lay on the couch yesterday afternoon and prayed to God, “Please lift this burden from me.”

As I mentioned, I’d already planned on including the above verse today. But in that moment of prayer, it struck me.

Simon from Cyrene only carried that cross for a little while, and I only have to handle my problems for a little while as well. Jesus will carry all of my burdens for all of my life if I only turn my probems over to Him. Or as in the words of Matthew 11:28-30 in the New International Version:

     "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

(Today’s picture is one I took when I was in Kenya in 2015.)

Denied

Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will abandon me tonight. Scripture says, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep in the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am brought back to life, I will go to Galilee ahead of you.”

Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else abandons you, I never will.”

Jesus replied to Peter, “I can guarantee this truth: Before a rooster crows tonight, you will say three times that you don’t know me.”

Peter told him, “Even if I have to die with you, I’ll never say that I don’t know you!” All the other disciples said the same thing. (Matthew 26, verses 31 – 35)

Shortly after this, Jesus went to the Garden to pray. When He had finished and had rejoined His disciples, a crowd arrived, led by Judas Iscariot. Jesus was arrested and dragged off.

And His closest followers?  Then all the disciples abandoned him and ran away. (verse 56)

Even Peter? Peter followed at a distance until he came to the chief priest’s courtyard. He went inside and sat with the guards to see how this would turn out. (verse 58)

While Peter silently watched, the crowd demanded death penalty for Jesus. And then he must have walked out.

Peter was sitting in the courtyard. A female servant came to him and said, “You, too, were with Jesus the Galilean.”

But Peter denied it in front of them all by saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

As he went to the entrance, another female servant saw him. She told those who were there, “This man was with Jesus from Nazareth.”

Again Peter denied it and swore with an oath, “I don’t know the man!”

After a little while the men standing there approached Peter and said, “It’s obvious you’re also one of them. Your accent gives you away!”

Then Peter began to curse and swear with an oath, “I don’t know the man!” Just then a rooster crowed. Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before a rooster crows, you will say three times that you don’t know me.” Then Peter went outside and cried bitterly. (Matthew 26, verses 69-75)

Jesus is being led away to be handed over to the governor, Pontius Pilate, to be beaten, tortured, ultimately crucified. I picture Jesus turning His head for a moment to find Peter in the crowd. Their eyes lock for a second.

Bitterly. Desperately. Intensely. With great anguish. I can’t imagine the pain Peter experienced at that instant. Just as his Teacher, Leader, and Friend predicted, Peter denied that he even knew Him.   

Would you deny that you know Jesus? Have you already denied Him? And if Jesus was right in front of you now, how would that make you feel?

(Today’s picture is one which my daughter took when she was in Kenya for six months in 2010.)

1984? 2025? 1933? 1962?

Over the weekend, I finished reading the novel “1984” by George Orwell. I read it the first time probably a few years before 1984, because I had to for a class and I was young and thought it was crazy to read a book with that title when I was staring down that particular year.

I don’t remember much from that first reading, except how terrifying it was. And yet thinking that none of that could ever happen. That was way before the Hunger Games series and other recent dystopian books and movies. We were still living in the Cold War, and maybe we had been desensitized by it after the Cuban Missile Crisis. I’ve lived through a lot, but that doesn’t mean I knew what was going on. I was a dumb kid, not a jaded near-senior citizen with an over-active imagination and internet access.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve heard of the book I’m talking about, but if you still don’t know anything about it, check it out on Google. I wish I could recommend you read it for yourself, but I don’t want that liability.

Whether you know the premise of the book or nor, here are some quotes. They may chill you to the bone.

     “I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don't want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.”

     “Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”

     “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”

     “It was possible, no doubt, to imagine a society in which wealth, in the sense of personal possessions and luxuries, should be evenly distributed, while power remained in the hands of a small privileged caste. But in practice such a society could not long remain stable. For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realize that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.”

     “You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia 

Jesus Prays

Then Jesus brought them to a garden grove, Gethsemane, and told them to sit down and wait while he went on ahead to pray. He took Peter with him and Zebedee’s two sons James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and despair.

Then he told them, “My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death . . . stay here . . . stay awake with me.”

He went forward a little, and fell face downward on the ground, and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup be taken away from me. But I want your will, not mine.”

Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep. “Peter,” he called, “couldn’t you even stay awake with me one hour? Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For the spirit indeed is willing, but how weak the body is!”

Again he left them and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot go away until I drink it all, your will be done.”

He returned to them again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, so he went back to prayer the third time, saying the same things again.

Then he came to the disciples and said, “Sleep on now and take your rest . . . but no! The time has come! I am betrayed into the hands of evil men! Up! Let’s be going! Look! Here comes the man who is betraying me!” (Matthew 26:36-46, Living Bible)

It’s Thursday night, and Jesus has just eaten His Last Supper and instituted Communion. In only a few hours, Judas Iscariot will turn Him over to the authorities. The next day, He will be convicted during a mock trial, beaten, and sentenced to die. He knows what is coming, and though He has brought it up several times, His disciples still don’t understand how this week will end.

Jesus takes His closest disciples to a garden to pray. They fall asleep on Him, not once, not twice, but three times!

Which is what I do most nights after I go to bed. After I turn out the lights and get all comfy, I start saying my prayers. I don’t get through the Lord’s Prayer. My mind wanders as I try to confess my sins for the day. I forget all the things I’m thankful for. I can’t remember all the needs I wanted to bring to the Lord in prayer. And as many times as I pull my brain back to the matter at hand, I can never finish that prayer. My mind keeps wandering, or I simply fall asleep.

I keep thinking I need to change my routine and say my prayers while I’m still sitting up in bed. Or maybe while I’m still in the living room, after I’ve turned off the TV and before I’ve brushed my teeth.

But there I am, no better than the men who followed Jesus when He lived among them. He forgave them, and I know He’ll forgive me. But I still need to keep trying.  

(The picture is of the rose garden at the Green Lake Christian Conference Center when I was there in 2011 for a writers’ conference.)