HE Is Risen!

When my daughters were in pre-school and grade school we got stuck with several homeless guinea pigs, hamsters, frogs and turtles. Every time someone brought some cute animal into the pre-school or grade school, the teachers didn’t have the heart to tell them “no”, but these animals needed to go somewhere else for the holidays and during the summer months when school was out.
One year the pre-school was given a guinea pig on a Friday and by Monday morning there were two of them! That took some special explaining to the pre-schoolers.
So, once the baby was weaned from his mother we took him home to live in an aquarium in my daughter’s room. We got the standard promise of “I’ll take care of him. You won’t have to do a thing.” Wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that one!
“Cuddles” lived with us in my daughter’s room for about 3 years. She kept leaving a light and a fan on for him when she would leave for school and that made my husband see kilowatt hours going round and round in his head. In order to keep peace, one day I turned off the fan and the light and left the guinea pig in his aquarium. What I didn’t realize was that my husband had turned off the air conditioner and opened all the windows in the house except my daughter’s bedroom. Needless to say, Cuddles didn’t make it.
I felt absolutely horrible. I blamed myself and had to explain to the girls what happened.
We had to make a coffin for him out of a shoe box with a silk pillow and blanket. Both of my daughters had a little something they wanted to say at the service and they sprinkled in some scripture liberally taken out of context. It was a lovely service and several of the neighborhood kids were there to pay their respects. We buried Cuddles under the Weeping Willow tree half way between the tree and our pool. The girls thought that was very appropriate. They could still be close to him when they were swimming.
We never really knew why our willow tree grew so quickly until one of our neighbors told us that they thrive on lots of water. We backwashed the pool every couple of days and let out gallons of water that went toward the tree so it never lacked water.
One summer day the girls and several neighborhood kids came running into the house yelling something. All I heard was, “He has risen just like Lazarus and Jesus!” I asked them who had risen and their unanimous response was, “Cuddles!”
I went outside to see what had the girls so upset and there was Cuddles’ casket, or what was left of it, floating on top of the ground where a puddle of water had formed from the pool to the willow tree. My youngest daughter kept yelling, “See, he is risen just like Jesus!”
We had to take the children into the house and do some explaining. As much as my heart broke for my daughters because they thought they had another chance with Cuddles, I was so excited that they paid attention to the Biblical stories they were taught in school. They understood and accepted Jesus rising from the dead.
Well, needless to say, we had to have another funeral and several more talks on the difference between Cuddles and Jesus. Oh, to have that child-like faith!
Jesus recognized how complete and unwavering the faith of a child is. Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3-4
Jesus is a Man of His Word. He promised He would rise from His grave to live again-and He did! When the women went to Jesus’ grave they were greeted by an angel that said, “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.” Matthew 28:6
He IS risen…He is risen INDEED!

MEN-O-Pause........................

MEN-O-Pause…
Last week I talked my husband and another couple into going to see “Menopause-The Musical.” My husband was a really good sport. There were two words in that title he never thought he would find entertaining-“menopause” and “musical.”
There were four women in this play that sang and danced for an hour and a half without any intermissions. They all looked too young to know what they were singing about, but the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s styled songs were very accurate.
There were more women than men at the play, but you saw every head nodding at one time or another in agreement with one of the poignant songs.
One actress sang a sultry “We’re Having a Heat Wave, A Tropical Heat Wave”, then another sang the old Bee Gee’s favorite “Night Sweats”, I mean “Night Fever!”
As the cast discussed how tired they were because of this particular season of their life, they went into full chorus with “Puff, My God, I’m Draggin’.”
As the play went on to explore the many personalities of women in menopause, the actors sang, “The Great Pretender.” Then, discussing the various pills they consumed to dig themselves out of depression, they sang “A New Attitude.”
There were a couple of women sitting behind us making observations about how men should be more understanding and, somehow, are responsible for this female malady. They also were contemplating how many words have “men” in them such as “menopause, mental illness, menstrual cramps, menacing and meningitis. They further observed that it appears that all problems begin with “men!” I’m sure there are many men who believe all problems of this world begin with women.
Take, for example, the story of Adam and Eve. They were given a beautiful, lush environment to live in with everything they needed. Within all this beauty, they had only one rule-do not eat from the
“tree of knowledge.” Genesis 2:9, 16-17.
Eve, obviously, was not a fan of rules much because she was told by a snake that it would be okay to eat from that tree even though her Creator told her not to. Eve made a conscious decision to be disobedient to God and justified it by believing God really didn’t mean what He said. That concept created a whole other world of future problems for men and women.
And, when confronted by God, what did Adam do? He did the most logical thing-he blamed the woman! When God confronted the woman, she blamed the slimy snake. Neither of them wanted to accept responsibility for their own actions.
Can you imagine how bad Eve felt after she figured out how bad this decision was? God had provided everything she needed in her life. She didn’t have to do anything but enjoy it. She realized she was naked and tried to hide from God, but He is the Creator, He knows everything about everything. This probably was the beginning of women having negative body image issues.
I’m not sure why God gave us that “free will” stuff because it usually gets me into trouble. Unfortunately, I know myself well enough to know that I would have done the same thing Eve did. I know that I can justify to myself that God isn’t paying attention or that He really didn’t mean what He said in scripture, He was only making suggestions.
Part of my daily devotions is that God will just take over for me. I know that I can be my own worst enemy. He knows that, too, and loves me in spite of myself! That gives me the faith I need to live my life.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
David advises us, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in men.” Psalm 118:8
Now THAT will make you take PAUSE!