Lent (sorry this one is late)

Day 31: March 24th
The legend of the dogwood
“In Jesus' time, the dogwood grew
To a stately size and a lovely hue.
'Twas strong and firm it's branches interwoven
For the cross of Christ its timbers were chosen.
Seeing the distress at this use of their wood
Christ made a promise which still holds good:
"Never again shall the dogwood grow
Large enough to be used so.
Slender and twisted, it shall be
With blossoms like the cross for all to see.
As blood stains the petals marked in brown
The blossom's center wears a thorny crown.
All who see it will remember Me
Crucified on a cross from the dogwood tree.
Cherished and protected, this tree shall be
A reminder to all of my agony."
There is no biblical basis for this story but it is a nice poem to remind us of something we don’t usually think about which is the Cross itself. Have you ever gotten a splitter? They call it the old rugged cross for a reason. When they hung someone on a cross it was two pieces of wood that were not smooth. They were full of splitters and would have been painful to lean up against.
As we get one day closer to Easter think about the cross that Jesus bore for us and how He said for us to take up our cross and follow him. Knowing that the cross isn’t pretty, was heavy, and full of rough spots how does that make you feel?




Day 32: March 25th
The Disciples
While we have been taking this journey towards Easter we are following in the footsteps of many men and women. One group of those men and women are important to note and that are those are the first 12 disciples that followed Jesus closely.
Think about their journey. It started out with Jesus coming and asking them to follow Him. Some of them had expectations that they followed Him with. Some just wanted to learn more about God. As Jesus taught the disciples were the ones who continually asked Jesus to explain what He was saying. They wanted more information. They wanted to dig deeper into the words of Jesus was speaking.
As we go through our journey to Easter. There are a lot of things we can learn from those who have gone before us. Their perseverance and determination, they spent almost every moment with Jesus, they had their moments of failures, and they learned from Jesus and their failures.
What else can we learn from the disciples of Jesus?


Read: Matthew 9: 35 - 10: 8; Mark 3: 13 – 19; Luke 6: 12 – 18; John 1: 35 - 42







Day 33: March 26th
Hallelujah!
George Fredrick Handel is one of the greatest composers that ever lived. The king of England asked Handel to write something for the Easter Season from a set of verses in the Bible. That is exactly what Handel did when he wrote the Messiah. It means “he who is an unexpected savior.” One of the best known works from this score is “The Hallelujah Chorus.” When Handel performed his chorus to the king of England the king was very moved. In fact when it got to “The Hallelujah Chorus” he stood up. No one remains seated when the king stands so everyone in the audience stood up. From that day on whenever “The Hallelujah Chorus” is sung people stand to sing it.
A small piece of “The Hallelujah Chorus”
The kingdom of this world;
is become
the kingdom of our Lord,
and of His Christ
and of His Christ

And He shall reign for ever and ever
And he shall reign forever and ever
And he shall reign forever and ever
And he shall reign forever and ever

King of kings forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
and lord of lords forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
King of kings forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
and lord of lords forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
King of kings forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
and lord of lords
King of kings and lord of lords

And he shall reign
And he shall reign
And he shall reign
He shall reign
And he shall reign forever and ever