It was Indeed a GOOD FRIDAY

In the past two weeks it seemed like all I was receiving was one bad news after the other.  A dear friend from college had requested prayer because her father was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.  A brother-in-Christ was struggling with major health issues and was admitted into the hospital.  We received a call from my brother-in-law informing us that doctors could not find the heart beat of their baby girl (my sister-in-law was 8 months pregnant) and that they were in the process of inducing labor.  While we were still making sense of the news of our niece, I received yet another email of a sister-in-Christ who had just been told she has non-hodgkin lymphoma.

The chain that linked the prayer warriors was definitely hot all week - a text here and a text there as news spread to step up prayers for one another.  Throughout the week, as many of the saints bowed their hearts to pray, their heads remained lifted with eyes stayed on the One who gives us the victory.  And as we entered the end of the Holy Week, we dusted ourselves off and went to the Good Friday service to worship the One who brings us the victory.  In our respective churches, each heard the Good News that our tired spirit so longed to hear - Jesus loves us - He is the One who gives us the victory.

It may seem that the term Good Friday is an oxymoron because it seems like there was nothing good about that day over two thousand years ago.  There is good in it.  You see - the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) - and because of our sinful state, our destiny was eternal death - but it no longer has to be - Jesus stood in our place and all who accepts this gift of LIFE will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).  As we are reminded of all that Jesus had suffered - we are also reminded of the warning that Jesus gave to his disciples in the wee hours before He faced his bogus trial that lead Him down the road to Calvary.  The warning was to watch and pray so that we wont be tempted - so that we will be able to stand strong in the face of the enemy, in the trials of these last days for we are indeed in the last days.

So be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might
Put on all His armor and fight the good fight
In all of our weakness, He becomes so strong
And He gives us the power and the strength to carry on

More power to ya when you're standing on His Word
When you're trusting with your whole heart in the message you have heard
More power to ya when we're all in one accord
They that wait upon the Lord, they shall renew
They shall renew their strength (MORE POWER TO YA by PETRA)

That GOOD FRIDAY over two thousand years ago was bleak and dreary.  The disciples who stood by and watched at ground zero felt the devastation to the very core of their being - they were confused, lost, scared, sad (if the word sad could ever satisfy what they must have felt).  But what they didn't know then - we know now - that Sunday came - He rose from the dead.


He came, He saw, He conquered Death and Hell
He came, He saw, He is alive and well
He was, He is, And only He forgives
He died, He rose, He lives
He came, He saw, He conquered (He Came He Saw He Conquered by PETRA)

The road is still long and hard (not comparable to the Via Dolorosa but hard none the less)  - and it may seem that no message will take away the heartache of missing a love one or take away the despair one feels when your love one has just been diagnosed of a scary illness - But we hang on to the good news that He loves us and He lives.  That is our hope, our comfort - that this place is all temporary - although we our living our GOOD FRIDAY - SUNDAY IS COMING and in a little while we'll be home with Jesus (the One who gives us the victory.)


This blog is dedicated to my mom - We will see each other again.
Have a blessed Easter