These next three days are what life is all about. They were the pivotal moment in earth’s history. The importance of what happened cannot be overstated. The importance of what happened should not be understated. And yet, because of the way us Christians live act speak demean misconstrue ignore sleep reject waste fear rebel judge abandon deny cower confuse neglect so many people will carry on today with life as normal. They will… eat drink be merry laugh drive work entertain shop sell build party learn vacation worry win lose write speak carry on as if life is all about this world, and God is just an afterthought. Yet, God sent His Son into the world. Out of weakness, He suffered. Out of love, He died. And in power, He rose again. I wish I had the words to convey just how incredible, true, and powerful Jesus’ death and resurrection really is. As a pastor, I feel it is my duty to somehow get it through everyone’s heads what this all means. But I keep coming up short. I can’t do it justice. I just wish that everyone understood. I wish that instead of mocking, they would kneel. Instead of dismissing, they would confess. Instead of ignoring, they would come face-to-face with their Creator and receive His forgiveness. I wish that all that Jesus did would have a much bigger effect on the world. I wish it would have a much bigger effect on us Christians and on those who have yet to believe. As C.S. Lewis said, “Christianity…presents us with something knottier–a God so full of mercy that He becomes man and dies by torture to avert that final ruin from His creatures, and who yet, where that heroic remedy fails, seems unwilling or even able to arrest the ruin by an act of mere power.” Oh, that we might all come to the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. That God might be able to peel through the many layers of our hearts that prevent us from standing bare before the truth. If that were to happen, today would indeed be a good...

The past several weeks, my mind has been too preoccupied with life circumstances to have the energy to blog. I am hoping things are settling down for a bit! When putting Naomi to bed one night this past week, she told me that Sunday was her favorite day of the week, because we get to go to church and learn about Jesus. Woohoo! Then she looked at me seriously and told me that one of the stories she learned about Jesus is that He cried–but she was quick to qualify that it only happened one time. “Oh yes,” I said. “There’s one verse in the Bible that tells us that Jesus cried. When His friend Lazarus died, it says that ‘Jesus wept.'” But then she corrected me. There was another time! When Jesus was “praying on a rock”! I immediately realized she was talking about Jesus praying in the garden, just before He was arrested. And that time, He was crying so deeply that it appeared as if there were tears of blood coming down His face. How could I have forgotten the other time Jesus cried? Hebrews 5:7-8 tells us that Jesus had to learn obedience through suffering. When Jesus prayed and cried asking God if there were any other way, apparently there wasn’t. One of the things I’ve been thinking about recently is God’s willingness to let His Church flounder so much. Much of my motivation as a pastor comes from my desire to see a church that is abandoned to God–and not superficially. There are lots of churches that have “passionate” worship services, but most of those churches also tend to have an attitude of “Look how great our church is.” In contrast, I want to see a church in America have the same qualities I imagine a persecuted church has: a real nuts-and-bolts devotion to Christ. I have a feeling that if you take away all the trappings of those “passionate” churches in America, much of the passion will also be lost. But what is the likelihood of finding a church with the strengths of the persecuted church in a land of self-absorption? Sometimes I feel like I have more passion for God’s church than...