God be with us through the different seasons of life, be they summer or winter, springtime or harvest, life or death, orderliness or disarray.
Be with us, O God, especially in this time of winter, this time of frozenness when light is sparse. Sustain us. Establish us on Jesus Christ. Lighten our darkness so much so that we would glow with your radiance... and then clothe us with the beggars cloak so that we won't be blinded by self-righteousness, but that people would see a spirit that is humble, one that they undoubtedly know is trusting and holding dearly to you.
Amen.

tempted One, faithful One, saving One

In the garden of Eden, satan tempted both Adam and Eve by using selfish tactics. He claimed they would be better off if they went against God's will to stay away from the forbidden fruit... They believed satan, and it has forever changed history.

In the desert somewhere in the middle east, sometime around 2000 years ago, satan tempted Jesus (the second Adam so says Romans) using selfish tactics. Satan claimed He would be better off if He went against God the Father's will to embrace the way of the cross to enter His Kingdom... Jesus was the tempted One. Yet Jesus was the faithful One seeing through the trickery of the devil, better yet, being so infused with the will of God that anything other than it was unmistakably a lie, twisted, and not for Him! Jesus was, is, and always will be the saving One as He stayed obedient to the task that we couldn't, He became the flawless sacrifice for all the fallen children descending from Adam (yes you and I!) so that we could be in right relationship with God.

I am in gratitude in this moment I think of your story of victory Jesus, for it can be our story as well. What hope we truly have in you!

What would be just?

On my way home from work today I was listening to Adler on CJOB 68, and he had an interesting conversation brewing.
Apparently, not too long ago, there were a group of thieves aged 13-15 in Camrose, Alberta who broke into a home a couple of times, and then proceeded to steal things and then... something really quite awful; they took the house cat and put it in a microwave oven until it died.
Now Adler asked an interesting question (interesting to me because it was the first thing on his mind, and the first thing on the minds everyone that hears the story), he asked his listeners "if you could decided the punishment for these kids, what would it be?" People were sending comments in that ranged from years in prison (or something like it) to comments like "I think they should get their faces smashed in!" Apparently there have been death threats for these kids... Apparently when these kids serve their "time" (and they will get out soon, whatever the sentencing is) there are people ready to drive them out.
What would you say to this question "what should the punishment be?" Is that even the right question to be asking?

+3C on January 6, 2008 at 5pm. I like it.