The Hobbit

Over a year ago my friends and I started doing movie marathons. We choose a series and watch about one movie a week so it takes us a long time to go through a series. The upside is that we watch them close enough together to really get immersed in the experience without cramming so much in a weekend that we're sick of the story line, or just spacing out and missing details.

About a month ago we decided to watch the Lord of the Rings movies, starting with the three Hobbit movies that I'd never seen before. Predictably, I found a few things to blog about.

The scene I want to talk about today comes in the third Hobbit movie. For those who don't know the story there's a dragon who has been sleeping in a mountain, by the time you get to the third movie-    *SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT* 

Okay, now that we settled that- by the time you get to the third movie the dragon is awake and it's attacking the town of Laketown. There's only one thing that can defeat it, a special black arrow and there's only one fatal spot. where there is a scale missing on the dragon's hide. The archer, Bard, has to hit that exact spot while the dragon is flying but the dragon, Smaug, breathes fire and destroys the bow. 

Bard's son is in the tower with him and Bard, in order to save everyone, has to stretch the bow string between two posts and rest the arrow on his son's shoulder in order to stabilize it so he can get off the shot. His son keeps looking over his shoulder, looking at his town going up in flames, people screaming and trying to escape and the dragon wreaking havoc to all he knows and loves. 

Bard calls to him, "Bain. Look at me. You look at me."

It got me thinking, isn't that what our Heavenly Father says to us? Look at me. Don't look at the chaos that your life has descended into, don't look at the mistakes you've made, don't look at the uncertainty of the future, look at the Father. Keep your eyes on Him, no matter what, and He will deal with everything. Our job is only to trust, no matter how awful things look, our job is to keep our eyes on Him, His job is to deal with everything else.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

A Day of Mourning

Did you know that today is a day of mourning? Or at least it was once, over two thousand years ago. Because that year something terrifying happened. This man, Jesus, who thousands of people had come to believe was the Messiah, the Holy one, sent by God to redeem them from their sins, He went into Jerusalem almost a week before this day.

That day was celebrated. It was like the arrival of a King. Jesus rode on the back of a colt that had never been ridden before. People lined the streets and laid down palm branches and coats for the donkey to walk on as they shouted "Hosana to the son of David!" "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosana in the highest heaven!"

The crowds went ahead of him shouting and followed him shouting. The stirred the whole city with this triumphant arrival. But then just a few days later on Friday the unthinkable happened. One of Jesus most trusted disciples, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Him to His enemies and handed Him over to the chief priests and the Pharisees.

He was made to stand trial while yet another friend, following at a distance, denied that He even knew Him. Not just once but three times. And then when the farce of a trial was completed and all His friends had disappeared Jesus, who had never, not even once, sinned but lived a perfect life was beaten, tortured, mocked, humiliated and forced to carry a cross along the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha where He was nailed to the wood, raised up for all to mock and the sins of the entire world, past, present and future were laid on Him.

That pain was far greater then the physical torture He had suffered and the sin was so great that the Father God turned His face away. The world went black and Jesus in His final moment cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they have done." And then He died. The curtain in the temple that separated the Holy of Holies where God dwelt, and the rest of the temple where the people entered, ripped from top to bottom in that moment.

And thousands, perhaps even more, mourned. And many more realized that they hadn't just killed a man they'd murdered the Son of God. And they were scared.

But our story doesn't end with this tragic day of Good Friday. It doesn't even end the next day, today, Saturday when so many mourned. If it did I would have no reason to write about it today, or write at all to be honest. Instead our story continues.

Easter Sunday came and some women went down to tomb where Jesus' body had been laid. But when they got there they didn't find the dead body of Jesus, instead they found that the huge rock blocking the tomb had been rolled away and a angel was sitting there!

He told the women not to be afraid because Jesus had risen from the dead just as He had said He would! The angel told them to look inside the tomb themselves and then to go tell the disciples. When they did Peter and John also came to see for themselves and Jesus' body was indeed gone. He had risen.

Over the next 40 days Jesus appeared many times to these disciples and others and huge crowds. He continued to teach and even more came to believe in Him. Then He ascended to heaven but someday He'll come back.

Jesus was not just a man. He was and is the Son of God. Jesus was crucified. He did rise again. He is coming back. And that is why we celebrate even as we remember the grief and sacrifice that our Lord made when He died on the cross for our sins. That if you "declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

Happy Easter everyone! He is risen!

You Might Be Moving If...

A couple of weeks ago my dad helped my sister move. Then last weekend he helped me move. Also last weekend a friend of mine moved. And yesterday I got a call saying another friend of mine will be moving shortly. With all this moving going on it seemed appropriate to do a post about it.

There's so many things that happen during moving. You're excited about where you're going while sad about where you're leaving and nervous about all the unknowns you'll be facing. There's stress and exhaustion but gratefulness to those who step up to help you out. So this post is called "You Might Be Moving If..." and will describe just a few of the things I and others have experienced lately in our moving adventures.

You might be moving if finding the coffee and coffee pot allows life to move forward again.

You might be moving if you go from laughing one moment to tears the next because you just found an unpacked cupboard.

You might be moving if you look at a stack of boxes and think 'I could never use this many' then use three times as many as you thought you would.

You might be moving if getting the washer and dryer hooked up makes you feel like a real adult.

You might be moving if your big accomplishment for the week is hanging the curtain rod and curtains by yourself.

You might be moving if you set aside an entire day just to track down utilities companies to get things turned on/off for the houses.

You might be moving if you're driving home from a long day at work and suddenly realize that you're on the road to the old house, not the new one.

You might be moving if 'all this space!' turns into 'where are we going to put all this stuff?'.

You might be moving if your weekends turn into let's get the painting done one weekend, move the next, and how many weekends will it take to unpack?

You might be moving if getting the internet set up is more important the getting your clothes put away. After all that's what clean laundry baskets are for right?

You might be moving when you thought you had everything you needed then realized you're missing about half of what you actually need.

You might be moving if you go through all your things before you pack up and assure yourself you've gotten rid of everything you need and then the moment you unpack you get rid of at least ten more things and wonder why you packed them if the first place.

And finally you might be moving if you'd rather do anything else then have to even think about moving again.

Now to be fair not all of these apply to just moving, I mean let's be real- sometimes finding the coffee pot when you stumble out of bed is a real accomplishment and life doesn't really go on without it. However all of these can apply to moving but they also can.

Hopefully you're not in the process of moving but if you are then just know that all the craziness, stress and exhaustion is normal but you'll get through it. We all do. But if you're not moving I hope you just have a great weekend!

Other People

A while back I was talking to my roommates. In one of my more neurotic moments I told them that I was concerned that I was too dependent on other people. Thankfully the girls are used to me saying things that don't always make sense and they didn't laugh outright. Instead they reminded me of a very important truth. We are created for fellowship, with God and with others.

See it's not like I rely on other people to do everything for me. As Kimberly pointed out- "You don't follow me around like a little lost puppy going 'Kimberly, am I pretty?'"

I'm pretty independent. I do things for myself and I don't constantly try to find my value in others. But I do talk to my friends when I need advice or am having a hard time. I do call my parents and ask for advice. I do ask people for help when I need it and I do let people step in and do things for me if they've offered- like scheduling appointments when I'm overwhelmed and trying to juggle too many things. Or giving me a gift because they know that I'm having a lot going on.

For whatever reason that day (and plenty of other days if I'm honest) I got it my head that I needed to do it all by myself. The girls, gently but rightly pointed out the fallacy in that argument. As true friends often do they pointed out that I was letting the devil manipulate my thoughts to make me feel guilty for something that wasn't wrong.

Yes, our ultimate dependence should always be on God. He should be the one we rely on for all of our needs but God has blessed us with the gift of friends and family and He doesn't expect us to do it all on our own.

Galatians 6:2 "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."