Amazing Death ... Really!

Hi Friends,

Today I am writing chapter 13 of Wrestling with Wonder, my new book that looks at the character of God though the journey of Mary, Jesus’ mother.  Well, this is the chapter on Jesus’ death.  Can you imagine what it must have been like for Mary to be there at the foot of the cross, look up, and see her son dead there?

What a horrific moment!  And yet . . .

We face moments of death in our lives too.  We face horrific things.  And yet . . .

Here are some thoughts I’ve been pondering as I write this chapter:

Death.  

I tremble as I type the word.

Death.

We’ve all tasted its bitter fruit.  Death of a loved one, death of a dream, death of a relationship ... the death of our hopes and all the promises of a bright future.

With Mary, we’ve all knelt in the darkness at the foot of a cross.  

We’ve all wept and shuddered, knowing death has come near.  

And then it arrives.  The darkness is complete, the is curtain torn.

It is finished.  

And yet, God has only just begun to change the world, our world.  He has only begun to change us.  And we discover that death is not the end we once believed.  It is but a doorway to the transformation of our souls.  

Mary could not have seen it.  She could not have known as she looked up at her dead son, as she experienced the worst moment of her life, that this very moment was the one that would change everything.  It was the moment of inexplicable glory.  

When all was lost ... all was saved.  You were saved, I was saved, Mary herself was saved from all her sins.  This was the moment God broke through and accomplished the most amazing, wondrous, incredible, beautiful thing of all time.

Her worst moment.

His death.

The moment of amazing wonder.

How could it be? 

May you find God in new and breathtaking ways even in the moments when you face the death of a dream, a loved one, or anything you've hoped for . . .