Easter celebration!

It's Easter!! Hooray!! Happy Easter everybody! :) I am still in Knoxville.. I decided to stay here this weekend and celebrate with John [because had clinicals Fri, Sat, and Sun from 7a-7p]. So, on Friday night I got to go to a simulcast of David Platt's "Secret Church" where we intensely studied scripture from 6:30 pm- 2 am. Saturday I visited my precious Sis and her husband in Johnson City, and today I went to Calvary and am now getting ready to go to the store to get stuff to make our Easter dinner [which is super non-traditional and will consist of either grilled chicken ceasar salad or south western egg rolls]. I couldn't let this Easter slip by without posting 3 things that I think are well worth your time and attention. So, check it out.

1. In response to this previous post about some of my lady friends in Haiti, I received a response most thoughtful from my uncle, Bruce Beckman. In light of Easter, I thought it was a perfect collection of thoughts to entertain on this day.

"It has been observed and the testimony is there from several women that have been abused by their husbands both verbally and physically. Many have testified and it seems commonplace for many husbands to take in younger women and commit adultery with them even in the presence of their wives.  They also talk down to them and say, “they are not pretty any more," they physically abuse them and the multiple bruises display the evidence. What is worse is law enforcement looks the other way and allows this moral evil to take place daily.
 
You may ask, “If God is good, how can He permit such evil to continue?” But, how can God also ask His only son, our Lord, to suffer and die the horrific death on the cross that He did? This was the greatest evil to ever take place! For God to allow his creatures to abuse(by striking him, spitting on him, & and by  mocking him, and making him wear a crown of thorns and be nailed the cross) his very Word that came into the world in the form of one of us, as a creature in the flesh, and “dwelt amongst us”. The abusive situations in Haiti are closer to us and seem more of a reality because it affects us with a rippling effect that resounds throughout the world much like that of the rippling effect on a lake when a stone is cast into the water.  Millions of people in the world have no idea this is taking place in Haiti, of course, but they are still yet affected by this moral evil that resounds through the world.  How can this effect people in Tennessee or Russia or Australia? We are all God’s children and all connected and part of the one family of God. What we do to the “least of our brothers we do to him.” He, Christ is the new temple of God, the church, the new Jerusalem, the Mystical body. We are all members of this body of Christ of which he is its head.  All parts are needed and when one part is suffering it affects all the parts, much like your human body. When you stub your toe it affects the rest of you.
 
But God allowed this evil of the cross to take place and other evils to continue in our current society to bring about a greater good.  He allowed his only Son to die on the cross so that he could defeat death by rising into new life, the life which we all seek. He brought his Son back to him and opened the door to heaven forever! “What he opens, no one closes.” But also, “what he closes no one opens.”
 
From what has been said of the testimonies from these abused women and their peaceful attitudes towards their abusive situations,  they know the door is opened to them and that the door only passes through Christ.  We must pray for the husbands to be converted. They are choosing the creature over the creator! This is idolatry which scripture warns about from the beginning.  To worship even your spouse more than God is idolatry. We must only love others in a right-ordered manner beginning with God first, because He is love, and resounding through our spouse and everyone else we come in contact with daily, even our enemies, or even those that abuse us.  As for the law enforcement officials that continue to do nothing about this situation, their sin is greater because they can put a stop to this evil by upholding the law! God is a God of justice and it will be served.  The greater good seems to be the example of courage and perseverance of these Christian women,  which has the same rippling effect as the evil does, but in a positive way. They are truly living testaments to you and others of Christ by “loving their enemies” and “taking up their crosses daily” and following Jesus.  He will never give us more then we can handle and as for all the evil in the world, Jesus has already conquered it by the cross of love!"

I so appreciate Bruce's heart and perspective, and the reminder of how my life should look.. of how I need to take up my cross daily with the assurance and faith that JESUS IS COMING BACK!

2. Me and 2 of my sisters [Cheney and Kylie] took turns making Easter sweets and sending each other pictures, since we are in 3 different towns this year. Below are the results [which, in my opinion, aren't too shabby!] oh and p.s. of course we didn't make them up, just got them from Pinterest. Isn't that what everyone is doing these days?!

Cheney's Easter Cake Pops

Kylie's Rice Krispy Easter Baskets

Chelsey's Peanut Butter Chocolate Easter Bird Nests

3. And last but not least, this is a video entitled "What if Jesus had a twitter?" and it tells the Easter story via tweets. It's powerful, and completely worth your 5 minutes. Watch it!

And, thats all folks! Keep celerating the Risen Savior, even after the day is over. Love & prayers!

sadness: necessary

I must tell you before you read this that tonight I am fighting a cloud of sadness that seems to be looming over my head. Many things are contributing to this cloud and filling it with sad rain, but the tears don't seem to be helping to get rid of it so maybe sharing my thoughts and emotions with you will. I want to make a list of things that are making me sad at this very moment:

• I am doing a clinical rotation for nursing school on an post surgery/oncology floor, and yesterday I had several patients who's lives have literally been turned upside down by a diagnosis of cancer. Most all the patients and their families feel so overwhelmingly out of control that it is painful to watch them even just as they sit and watch tv together.
• A sweet friend who I never got the chance to meet passed away this afternoon. Jean Michel was 16 years old and came here from Haiti this week to have a heart surgery that he would have died without. However, went in to surgery this morning and was not strong enough to make it through. The Lord took him home today! You can see pictures and read more here
• I just got finished reading updates on a blog that I follow about a young family whose daughter has cancer. It is heartbreaking to see how it effects every aspect of their lives. Lucy's Story is definitely worth reading.
• I went to a Good Friday service at Calvary Baptist tonight to remember the sacrifice that was made for all people 2011 years ago. God is so good to remind me of things that I have not noticed in a while, or things that I ignore. He did that tonight, and it makes me sad. I will elaborate below but I'm tired of these bullets so I want to start a new paragraph. 

Anyway.. it was an interactive service in which different people read an account of the events that took place in the 24 hours leading up to the dead of Christ. All my life I have heard the Easter story, and I have always been most effected thinking about the physical pain that Christ endured for me. As a quick recap, lets recall that he was punched and slapped (Matt 26:67), crowned with thorns (Matt 27:29), hit on the head (Matt 27:30), beaten with a whip (John 19:1), pierced in the side (John 19:34), and finally crucified (Mark 15:24). To think of all of these things together and lump them as "the death of Christ" is just not giving the complete picture. To think of these things individually and visualize what Jesus was actually going through is heartbreaking.

However, I think that most people would agree that no matter how painful physical pain may be, sometimes emotional pain is still worse. I know for me I would choose physical hurt over emotional any day. My feelings are tender and matters of the heart cut my much deeper than a physical ailment. I think this is true for most people, at least until they are hurt so many times that they become numb (which is an even sadder situation). As we learn in Hebrews 4:15 ("For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin."), Jesus had human emotions just like our own. Thinking about this led me to the heartbreaking reality of the emotional pain that Jesus suffered for me, a kind of pain that may have hurt Him more than any physical act inflicted on Him.

The various instances of emotional suffering that Christ endured include blatant betrayal by Judas, one of His 12 best friends (Matt 26:16), denial by Peter, another one of His 12 best friends (Matt 26:75), having a murderer's life be more respected than His own (Matt 27:21), being stripped of his clothes in front of people (Matt 27:28), being made to wear a royal robe and soldiers bowing before Him in mockery (Mark 15:19), being spit on (Matt 27:30), and mockery to 'save Himself' while He hung on the cross (Mark 15:31). I know that is a lot of scripture references, but they are all so intricate. To think of all of these things together and lump them as "the suffering of Christ" is just not giving the complete picture. To think of these things individually and visualize what Jesus was actually going through is heartbreaking.

[Lord, We are so unworthy, but You suffered and died for us anyway. We deserve nothing, yet You gave us everything. I don't want to take the pain that You endured lightly any more. Remind me DAILY of how much You hurt that day Jesus, and how much You hurt each time I renail You to the tree when I betray You or deny You or choose something else over You or embarrass You or mock You for who You are.  Forgive me Lord, and make me more like You. Let every person reading this blog be heartbroken over the sacrifice You made for us, that they may all believe and be changed after knowing how much You love us. Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross to save me!]