On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground.
“Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. “He is not here, but He has been resurrected! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?” And they remembered His words. ~Luke 24:1-8
In Luke's telling of the Resurrection story, these three women come back to where the eleven remaining apostles had gathered, bringing with them their incredible announcement of the empty tomb. They woke up and went out in sorrow, but they return rejoicing.
Luke writes:
'But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. So he went home, amazed at what had happened.' Luke 24:11-12
May we, as the three women did, be about the business of rejoicing and sharing our incredible news of the resurrected Christ.
May we, like Peter, be amazed today...and every day!
For the tomb is empty! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
I'd planned on posting here early this morning, but circumstances beyond my control hindered me from doing so. As often happens (more than I care to admit), I had way too much going on before I ran out the door for church to be in a worshipful, let alone focused, state of mind, and I was trying hard to avoid being late (again), so I could at least be worshipful and focused when I walked sprinted into church.
I had a completely different song all set to go here, too. Not that it wasn't a good one -- it is. Yet obviously, it's meant for another time. I woke up with today's song firmly implanted in my head. And now I know why.
Once I got to church, the unexpected happened. Without going into loads of details, we had a medical incident happen midway through the first service, involving one of our older saints, who is my neighbor and who catches a ride with us to church almost every Sunday. It was, to say the least, disconcerting and a bit scary, but I was amazed at how many people stepped up to the plate immediately to assist and how lovingly, how tenderly and how well it was done. Our young pastor handled it all with such calm, compassion, grace, mercy and love, calling everyone who was not assisting to just lift up their hands and cry out loud to the LORD on this person's behalf and encouraging all to worship and praise Him in the midst of the goings on. Which they promptly did. I've not seen anything like it, really.
I am thankful and grateful that nothing -- NOTHING -- takes our Father God by surprise. He made sure that particular people with professional medical backgrounds were at church today, at this particular service time, and that they were easily and quickly accessible before the paramedics arrived to take over. He surrounded this person with church members who had loving hearts, cool heads, a good understanding of and compassion for the elderly and strong arms to help and comfort.
It's several hours later and while I'm still a bit shaky from it all, mostly I'm in awe, once again, over how awesome and amazing God truly is, and just how worthy He is of our praise and worship.
Some of the lyrics to this song are as follows:
'I stand amazed at Who You are,
I'm overcome by what You've done.'
'I'm here right now, I need You now
I lift Your Name above the doubt,
This is my offering for You.'
'I leave my burden at Your feet
In You I find my victory,
There is nothing You can't do.'
No, there certainly is NOTHING God can't do.
Two things I would like to ask of all of you reading this post. First, even though most or all of you may not know this elder saint (unless you're from my church and were at this particular service today), would you please take a moment to lift her up in prayer? I'm still unsuccessful at getting in touch with any of her immediate family to let them know what transpired today and where she is. Thankfully, some members of our church family went to the hospital and are still there with her.
And second, won't you join me in giving all worship and praise to our God? For it truly is ALL for Him.
