Thankful for.. Good Friday, a curtain torn in two, our only hope being the best and most solid hope, darkness covering the land as the punishment brings us peace, that we know the three days later story, for my Lord and my God not giving up, not stepping off the cross despite the taunting crowd. Thankful that there is a way to live with God in this world, that freedom is on offer and that the mercies are wide and flowing from the heart of our Maker. Crazy love.
Day 44
Thankful for… Sitting in the sunshine, drinking smoothie, catching up with an old friend, swimming the depths of conversation and encouragement. After finishing all my work for the day curling up on the sofa in the warmth with a good book and the lovely Norah Jones wrapping the sunshine around me.
Friday
“A murderer they save, the prince of life they slay.”
“Guilty vile and helpless we,
Spotless Lamb of God was he,
Full atonement, can it be?
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!”
“He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering and acquainted with grief…”
“…by his wounds, we are healed..”
“Come and weep, come and mourn,
For your sin that pierced him there,
So much deeper than the wounds of thorn and nail,
All our pride, all our greed, all our fallenness and shame,
And the Lord has laid the punishment on him.
We worship at your feet, where wrath and mercy meet
And a guilty world is washed by love’s pure stream
For us he was made sin, O help me take it in,
Deep wounds of love cry out, Father Forgive.
I worship, I worship the Lamb who was slain.”
“Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine,
Never was love, dear King, Never was grief like thine.
This is my friend, in whose sweet praise,
I all my days could gladly spend”
Posted in Life on the journey, Songs along the way
Tagged cross, God, Jesus, mercy, wrath
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Thursday
The beginning of the end. The beginning of the future. The time has now come. The time is here. The time has come to bow. The upper room. Twelve sit and eat. One man breaks bread and one man’s heart is broken. Tomorrow is a world away. Tomorrow will come soon. Hymns are sung. Conversations are spun. You cannot come where I am going, one day you will understand. In this world you will have trouble. Take heart I will overcome the world. Take heart, I will come and make my home with you. Take heart and love, love one another as I have loved you. Tomorrow you will see the extent of my love. Tomorrow.
Declarations are made, I will never abandon, never leave, I will never forsake. Promises that can only be broken are uttered as one man’s heart breaks. This is how it must be, this is how is has to be, this is the new wine, the new covenant. You must bow, you must take off your shoes to be part of this, take off your shoes, eat the bread, drink the wine and try not to hide from the breaking heart of one man.
Hymns are sung, conversations are spun. Now it’s time to leave. Who will stay and watch? Who understands the strange beauty of this breaking man’s heart? Who knows why he looks so sad and yet so set because the time has now come? Wait, watch, please, don’t fall asleep. Tonight, the night, of all nights, I need friends, come, wait and watch and please don’t fall. Asleep.
Wretched, the Trinity wrestles through the night. Another way, is there not another way? Silence as the painful truth shines. There is no other way. This is it. Your will. Not mine. The end. I will go. This heart is broken.
Here they come. One man stands alone to face the night.
Day 43
Thankful for… A God who doesn’t condemn but who forgives and restores and is wonderfully kind.
Sitting at the Beach Hut at lunch time with two small children and husbandface, enjoying random games, strange chat and more.
The Long Walk Home 