TUESDAY, DAY 6 OF LENT 2025

My chapter for today was John 6, but after beginning reading I realized I couldn't choose just one small segment and ignore the rest of the chapter, so I decided on a "change of plans" alteration. Instead of commenting on only one thing in each chapter, I will just divide the chapters up when there is more than one thing I want to address. Works for me! 

The first portion of John 6 relates the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. Jesus was on the far side of the lake - a lake knows variously as Galilee, Genessaret, Tiberias, Kinnaret. And he had a following of people who were apparently so intent on hearing him, that they didn't think ahead that they might get hungry. Only one young boy had a lunch along with him - 5 small barley loaves and 2 fish. 

I wish we could hear the dialogue that ensued when Andrew (presumably) asked the boy if he'd be willing to give his lunch to Jesus to see what he could do with it. The disciples had witnessed the results of Jesus turning water jars full of water into fine wine, so why not fish and barley rolls into lunch for 5000? It could have crossed their minds, but whether it did  or not, they obeyed in anticipation when Jesus instructed them to have the people sit down. It is believed that the numbering of the 5000 was "men only" so in reality it was potentially a much larger crowd. No matter. Five loaves and 2 cooked fish fed all that were present - and afterward Jesus instructed his disciples to gather all of the leftovers, and they accumulated twelve baskets of leftover fragments of the impromptu picnic lunch.

And people believed! Their inclination was to make him King, but he didn't come to be an earthly king with an earthly kingdom, so he withdrew to the mountain by himself. 

This is one of the earliest stories we learn as children in Sunday School. It is a foundational witness to the reality that God can do ANYTHING! And it is instructive to my faith - that when something seems insurmountable, HE has a plan! 

Just a little aside, a friend sent me a  cute little visual about PEACE, LOVE & JOY. It was the first thing on my mind this morning. Peace - yes I have internal peace. Check. Love - yes I love deeply and that is intact. Check. Joy....  That's a bit harder in the face of huge challenges that would try to knock me off my feet.... And then God reminded me that true joy is simply choosing Jesus every day. "The Joy of the Lord is my strength" simply means that having the Lord in my life equates to Joy, a joy that the world cannot understand, and it doesn't equate to feeling, but to practice and intentionality. I CHOOSE Joy. I choose Jesus. Even in the challenges. Even in the storm. He is enough!

MONDAY, DAY 5 OF LENT 2025

 My chapter for today is John 5. We are still very early in observing Jesus' 3 years of ministry and already - after the 3rd miracle John records [1- Water into wine; 2 - Healing the son of an official from Capernaum (without even going to see him!) and now #3 - ), with this miracle being healing a man by the pool of Bethesda, the Jews wanted to kill him. In reality it wasn't just because he healed a man, but because Jesus called God his Father, making himself equal with God.

But, seriously, wouldn't common sense have informed them to take another look! This man had been an invalid for 38 years! Wouldn't that have informed the Jews that if he were healed on that particular day, that the one who healed him had just performed a miracle - and wouldn't that have been cause for piquing their interest instead of their ire? 

I love that Jesus asked the man, "Do you want to be healed? In essence he asks all of humanity that: do you want to be healed? And the greatest healing of all is salvation and thereby a changed life that alters our eternal destination. And it only comes through Jesus! Verse 24 reiterates that: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." We didn't earn it. We don't deserve it. It is only God's grace poured out on us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ - and most people in his lifetime refused to accept him! 

John 5 lays out a treatise for belief - but most will reject him, even today. 

The most important question any of us will ever respond to is: What will you do with Jesus? He doesn't promise us life on earth will be easy, but he does promise an eternal life with him that will be phenomenal! 

And while we are here, he promises to walk with us through everything. No matter what! I can't imagine life without him!

 

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF EASTER, LENT 2025

In 2018 when I adapted my 2010 Blog entries to create a book I realized I had too many entries for the "40" days of Lent. My research at that point taught me that Sundays are not included in those 40 days. Instead, each Sunday was "a Sunday of Easter", so today begins that acknowledgment.

Yesterday I shared a little about 'the woman at the well'. For my entry today I merely want to share the lyrics to a song I used to sing as special music about that woman. Sadly, I don't have the song in my possession, don't recall the author or performer's name, and cannot locate it online, so if you know the answers to those unknowns, please let me know! I would love to give credit where credit is due!

A stranger to me, he said he knew me. 

Then he described the state of my life; how could it be?

He had no vessel. How could he draw water?

But he spoke of more than I had hoped for -

"This water is yours!"

 

     Come see this man. Come taste the water.

     He knows you thirst. He knows you hurt. He understands.

     Look in his eyes. See his compassion.

     He's never far from where you are. Come see this man. 

 

To any who will choose joy for sorrow

This water is free. Come taste and see that he is good.

Come if you're fainting, in need of refreshing. 

In your desert place, one glimpse of his face,

You're thirsty no more!

 

     Come see this man. Come taste the water.

     He knows you thirst. He knows you hurt. He understands.

     Look in his eyes. See his compassion.

     He's never far from where you are. Come see this man. 

He's never far from where you are..... Come see this man!

 

Another song inspired by the story of the woman at the well - one that I sang in my youth - is this one:

 

Like the woman at the well I was seeking

for things that did not satisfy

And then I heard my Savior speaking, 

"Draw from this well that never shall run dry!"

 

     Fill my cup, Lord, I lift it up, Lord, 

     Come and quench this thirsting of my soul.

     Bread of heaven, feed me 'til I want no more

     Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole. 

This song has other verses, but the first verse is the one I remember best.

I relate to that woman at the well. Do you? 

 

SATURDAY, DAY 4 OF LENT, 2025

 My chapter for today was John 4. The very first account in the chapter is of the Samaritan woman - the "woman at the well". I love, love, love this story! From this perspective, I do not see it as an accidental "just happening to go through Samaria on the way to Galilee", but a Divine Appointment. Today I paid attention to a portion of the conversation that I had not noticed before. In reporting the story, John states that the Samaritan woman asked Jesus if he was greater than Jacob. Jesus didn't take the bait. Answering that question in that timing could have diverted them away from what his intention was in engaging her in conversation. But - eventually actually he did give her the answer by stating that he, the one talking to her, was the Messiah! 

He met her where she was. Revealed more to her than she told him. Because of that she believed. And - she became one of the very first evangelist/ missionaries by going back to her town where people did know her past, and sharing the good news! 

In their era, Jews didn't talk to Samaritans. And certainly not a Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman. But Jesus did! 5 husbands and the man she was living with now was not her husband. No problem. Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart. She had sought love in all the wrong places, and now she met love personified. I love, love, love this story! 

There is a lot more in this chapter, but I have vowed to keep my posts this year short!

FRIDAY, DAY 3 OF LENT 2025

My daily Bible reading for today was John 3. What a magnificent chapter! 

We "read" the reminder that Nicodemus believed in Jesus - and that he came to him by night. We aren't told that Nicodemus did that because he was concerned about what others of his sect would think, but it is an easy presumption. 

And in the context of Jesus' explanation to Nicodemus, we have what I believe to be the most recognizable verse in the Bible - John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (followed by 3:17:) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. (From memory - I suspect it is closest to the NIV!) 

What an amazing God! That he would love his created beings - even me -  so much that he would take on human form by being born of a virgin, and then live life as a human for 33 years and become known to humanity before being crucified, dying on a cross to be the final sacrifice ever needed to redeem his created. There is a lot we cannot fathom in that story, but once we know HIM and learn to trust him, we just know that we know....  He is TRUTH! He loves us! He walks with us, guiding and directing us if we let him. AMAZING! He wants a relationship with every person who accepts him!

 If I "so love" what does that look like in the world I live in? That's a huge question!

THURSDAY, DAY 2 of LENT 2025

Oh my goodness. I left out the ellipsis in yesterday's entry.  Genesis begins "In the beginning God..." and I related the beginning of John 1 to the first words of Genesis, but in John it actually states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  If I were to connect the two appropriately I needed the ellipsis:  In the beginning...God. 

Interestingly, the verses beyond the ellipsis are equally foundational to our faith in Jesus - affirming Jesus for being whom he claimed to be: "All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (ESV) The pre-incarnate Jesus (before He was birthed into this world and given that name) was part of the Trinity, and was God, Creator. It's hard to wrap our finite minds around that - but the Holy Spirit made that reality clear to John, and John started his book with that truth.

My chapter for today was John 2. In John 2, we learn of Jesus' first miracle: turning water into wine so that the bridal couple - particularly, the groom - did not experience embarrassment by running out of wine. And Jesus didn't skimp on the volume or the quality of the wine. That one miracle cemented his disciples' belief in Him. 

The miracle that cemented my faith in God was in the Fall of 1970 when he saved my baby I was pregnant with from being miscarried. It is part of my testimony! I prayed and said, "God, I don't know if you really exist, but if you do, and if you will save my baby I will recommit my life to you." The bleeding stopped. God saved my baby, and he saved me! And through it all since that day, I am fully committed to faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

What about you? What is your defining moment that propelled you to absolute commitment? 

ASH WEDNESDAY 2025

 I have not committed (yet) to write every day during Lent - but I at least have to start!

 My Bible Reading for today was John 1. In the beginning God....  Just like Genesis 1:1, an affirmation that God is the Creator, that He was there in the beginning, and is with us still. And one of the joys of the Lenten journey is that we know the end of the story! We know that no man has seen God at any time - but that Jesus made the Father known to us by God Himself taking on flesh and coming to be born as a baby so we could relate to Him. So - even if we come broken, battered, bruised...God is here with us.

It was touching to see several people on T V today with ashes smeared across their foreheads - honoring the day: the beginning of Lent! 

For each of us - whether we observe that tradition or not - I pray this will be a wonderful time of reflection and renewal.

If you do not have a Lenten journey reading plan, one option is to purchase an online version of the book, LEAD ME TO THE CROSS by Lola Rice Cain, on Amazon. Or, just choose a couple of books of the Gospels to read throughout the 40 days, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you. That is the most profitable option. One on one with God. I highly recommend that as a discipline.