Yesterday...

My daughter loves to be outside. I love to be outside. In fact yesterday we left the house before 10...went for a short run...played in the park...ate lunch in the park...and didn't get back home until 1:30. Culley was a trooper all morning long and absolutely loved the adventure. She then took a 3 1/2 hour nap from which I had to wake her for church last night.



Speaking of church. Our spring Bible conference happens to be during the passion week this year. We are incredibly blessed to have Dr. Bookman with us. He is a scholar on the life of Christ, an tremendously intelligent man, and he has an amazing ability to make it all understandable for little 'ole me. Last night he taught for two sessions. Each session I was frantically writing down notes and attempting to get every minute detail. So much was new to me. I know...I grew up in a Christian home and I've gone to church my entire life...it shouldn't be new to me. BUT there is so much to the life of Christ and so much beauty that I miss because I don't take the time to soak it in...to study the culture surrounding His life and understanding the impact that so much of what was recorded would have on the people of His day. Bookman urged us to understand the drama of the narrative...it is there that we will more fully understand Christ.

I am full of random thoughts and my mind jumps from one thing that he taught last night to another. In my attempt to slow down my mind and really try to meditate on what I learned there is a point that remains vivid and strong in my rambling mind:

Bookman emphasised that we must take rather seriously the very humanity of Christ. We cannot under appreciate His humanity. He lived on earth the very life that I live. He struggled through pain and sorrow. He was tempted and tested. He suffered. He was refined through trials. He was tempted to take His eyes off of the exact purpose of His life. He was hated and despised. He felt sadness and wept over those who rejected Him. He prayed for strength and discipline. He longed for God's presence and healing. The amazing fact is that I have access to the same power, the same Holy Spirit, the same comforter that He did. Yes, he lived a perfect life. But that does not lessen His struggles and pain on earth. Sometimes I flippantly think that because He was God it was easy for Him. I callously dismiss His humanity because His "Godness" could always take over. Friends...do we really, truly, and fully understand that His humanity was real. He truly can relate...He really is our high priest who intercedes because He knows...He understands. Bookman writes, "In His incarnation, Jesus took upon Himself genuine human nature. Thus, except at those relatively occasional times when the Holy Spirit directed Jesus to access His divine attributes, He lived out His life under the actual and real limitations intrinsic to unfallen humanity."

The passion week is the greatest week in all of history. It stands as a pivotal point in history...and it stands as a pivotal point in every human's eternity. Do we treat it flippantly? Is our heart callous because of all the Sunday school stories we've heard? Is it just another family get-together with too much food? I challenge you to read each of the gospels' telling of this week. Soak it in...and love Jesus more because of what He lived and died for...your eternal salvation for God's ultimate glory.

***If you are interested in more from Bookman, you can visit his website at: www.bookmanministries.com