1st Peter Chapter 1: 18).... knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19) but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

Welcome. Wednesday is here. Today is April 4, 2012. This is passion week and we who are believers in Jesus are thinking about all that took place in the final days leading up to His death, His burial, and the great victory won in His resurrection! I've been listening at BibleGateway.com-Audio Bibles to the different biblical accounts from the four Gospels. I'm not a huge fan of the New International Version, NIV, but I do love to hear Max Mclean read the Scriptures and that is the version he has recorded. I saw him once at a conference and all I can say is God has allowed him to use his talent as an actor to further the hearing of God's Word. I know some are squeamish about the blood Jesus shed, but it was required in order to pay for the sins of the world. That payment is available to every man, woman, boy, and girl. Therefore, the good news coming out of this week some two thousand years ago is how that each of us can fill in our name into the verse, "For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son, that whosoever, including _____________ ,(fill in your name), believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. That personalizes it and gives us reason to be remembering this week and all it means. One young lady from our fellowship who is away at college put this up on her Facebook: Live every day as if someone died for you, because Someone did!  Amen, Hallelujah, that when He said whosoever, He included me.

Talk about a sight for sore eyes. The other evening at a special meeting of our local fellowship, the couple who purchases stock items for our Church, came walking down the hallway, looking for me. They were carrying two, two pound bags of Community for our classroom. Back in the fellowship hall kitchen they have those big round tubs that say coffee on the label, but myself and another fellow have been furnishing the Community for our Sunday class gathering for several years. I just believe we should give every person at least one reason to praise the Lord on Sunday morning. Just joking. Please don't write me about my attempt to bring a smile because it's all just for fun. At a recent Church wide function held in the auditorium, one of my class members asked if I knew if the coffee being served was Community. I told him I didn't think so. He said he thought it tasted pretty much okay but he didn't think it tasted quite like Community. Are we not supposed to be teaching folks discernment? Obviously when it comes to choosing, choosy folks in my class know the difference between things other than peanut butter. What's that you say? I should be more focused on spiritual discernment? I can assure you, we do our best to make that a part of our teaching as well. Excuse me while I have another sip and think some about the issues you raised.

The mania over the lottery last week was both striking and telling. People began to share their dreams on Facebook as to what they would do if they won the big money, the largest payout in history. A young man put up his sentiments about the whole debacle: "You and I essentially have the same odds of winning the big money because I didn't buy a ticket." Someone said the amount of purchased tickets was over 1.2 billion dollars. I read this week where one of the supposed winners claimed to have purchased this particular ticket on her own. She swears it is not one of the tickets she bought for the McDonald's crew she works with. Supposedly, they have those numbers locked in their safe. She has already received death threats. The road to easy street can have a few pot holes, I suppose. Don't get me wrong. I do not condemn people who buy lottery tickets. They can spend their money on whatever they choose. I'm almost certain that I have never purchased a lottery ticket. I say almost because I've been here a long time and my memory may not be 100% but to the best of my recollection, I have never purchased one. The article I read about the potential winner in Baltimore said that some of her coworkers stood pounding on her front door for over twenty minutes. When she finally opened the door one of them said they didn't think this was worth losing her life over. Yikes. I thought they would have been there to congratulate her. They say that money talks. In this case maybe some of what it is saying is pretty ugly. But, we move on, and I do hope that we all will seek to make the best of the day that God has given to us, here on Wednesday. And, may He add His blessings to it. Amen.      .....More later.