(Readers, if you weren’t able to open and read my April post, “Sunrise Hope at Easter,” due to a glitch in the system of the host provider, you may read it now on my website.)
As many of you read in April, I have not been able to write very much recently due to the loss of our 9-month-old great-granddaughter from complications of the flu in February. But when I heard the writing prompt for a writer’s workshop sponsored by Academy Christian Church, my imagination soared. I thought it might just be the opportunity I needed to get the creative juices flowing again. I was right.
What was the prompt? To choose a person in the Bible who had a personal encounter with Jesus and write about what they did the day after. Attendees were provided with a list of 30 such encounters, but we were free to choose anyone we wanted. I chose the woman at the well from John 4:1-45.
This woman is unnamed, so I named her Marta. I imagined her returning to the house she shared with a man not her husband, experiencing a sleepless night remembering the life-changing things the Messiah had said to her, a sinful Samaritan woman, and strategizing how she would leave her life of sin. The next morning, she rises before dawn and begins to prepare one last meal for this man I named Jamal when she realizes she left her water jug at the well. She goes to retrieve it and returns to find he is awake. She calmly explains why she can no longer live with him; he explodes and leaves.
That is a short summary of the three pages I wrote, but I like the ending another writer in the group imagined better. In her version of the story, the woman leaves, not knowing what will happen to her, but she encounters a group of people who tell her, “Join us on the road! We are going to follow Jesus!” Just imagine.
Another attendee wrote about the woman with the issue of bleeding in Mark 5:24-35 and Luke 8: 42-48. As you may recall she had suffered for over 12 years and, in desperation, worked her way through the crowd to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe and be miraculously healed. The day after? This writer imagined she wakes realizing that she doesn’t have to deal with the bloody rags that have been the bane of her existence for so long. She is clean. She tells her caregiver that she has the energy to go fetch the water at the well herself, where her amazed friends are so happy to see her. Hearing that a woman she knows is ill, she takes water to her, too, so thrilled that she can now minister to others again because her Lord ministered to her.
Other writers imagined what happened the day after to the man possessed by demons that Jesus transferred to the pigs (Mark 5:1-20), to the Centurion whose servant was healed from a distance (Matthew 8:5-13), or to Lazarus, who was raised from the dead (John 11:1-44). The writer speculating about Lazarus wondered, assuming he had been in the presence of God, if Lazarus was really that happy about being brought back to live on the earth again? Of course, his sisters Mary and Martha were thrilled and grateful that he was back, but was he? We can only imagine.
I’m grateful to the ladies of Academy Christian Church for welcoming me to their group with open arms, and grateful to discover that grief couldn’t permanently rob me of a gift the Lord graciously gave me so very long ago.
What about you? If you’ve had an encounter with Jesus, what did you do the next day? Who did you tell? How were you changed? I can only imagine.
No wonder so many people love to attend Easter sunrise services. A sunrise represents hope, and so it is the perfect representation of the hope we find in the message of Easter.
As enjoyable as the holiday season may be, we can all feel the need for physical renewal once it’s over. The “new year, new you” mantra strikes a chord with many of us.
As we looked up at the massive scaffolding surrounding the majestic cathedral we shared our tour guide’s view that Macron’s deadline would probably not be met. Naysayers were many, yet thousands of diligent artists, artisans and craftsmen began the pains-taking work of cleaning and repairing stained glass windows, recreating stone and wooden carvings from photos, restoring centuries old paintings and murals, and resurrecting the damaged organ—the largest in France. The billion-dollar project was funded in part by donations from all around the world—with 57 million coming from the United States.
After a year when so many lost their homes through war or natural disaster, I was especially grateful to decorate the place we’ve called home for almost 10 years and to share it with friends and family. This is where we live and this is home.
Once a week I gather around a table in an assisted living facility nearby with a group of seasoned saints to go over a lesson from The Hope of Glory. This is just the most recent of several groups I’ve been privileged to meet with over the years, but I’ve gotten to know and cherish these ladies in a special way.
Fall is here in all its glory. With each leaf that swirls and floats toward the ground, I’m reminded of what a wonderful time of year this is to make a change. Whether the change is monumental, or so small only you know the difference, it can have lasting benefits. Here are some fall-inspired ideas to get you started.
