Manna in the Morning

Today is Good Friday. Friday is the day that Jesus was convicted as a common Criminal and sentenced to die... but Sunday’s coming! Friday is the day that the crowds cried crucify... that was Friday... but Sunday’s coming! Friday is the day that Jesus was flogged and mocked and spit upon... that was Friday... but Sunday is coming! Friday was the day that he was made to carry his cross to the hill of Golgotha... that was Friday, but Sunday’s coming! Friday was the day they nailed the nails in his hands and feet... that was Friday but Sunday’s coming! Friday was the day that Jesus breathed his last... that was Friday but Sunday’s coming! Friday was the day that the sun refused to shine at midday... that was Friday but Sunday’s coming! Friday was the day they put his lifeless body in a cold tomb and sealed it with a stone... that was Friday but Sunday’s coming! Today is the day we call Good Friday but Sunday is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead! Hallelujah Christ is risen!!!

Have you ever noticed that no matter how busy our schedules are when someone dies almost everything on our schedules get relegated further down the list. Some things we thought just HAD to be done now suddenly don’t seem quite as important. Last week I conducted three funerals in three days! Needless to say some things that I thought were important became somewhat less important. Death seems to get our attention and rightly so. We seem to be so involved in life that we forget that this life is tentative...we are not even promised tomorrow. James warns us about this very thing. He says, “Look here, you people who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” (James 4:13-14). Standing beside three graves in as many days gives one pause. Is my life in order? Am I ready to die? Do I know where I am going? It is so comforting if the answers to those questions are in the affirmative. How about you? Are you ready?