WHEN I STOP TO THINK

Am I the only one who has a friend who seems determined to keep me humble?  No matter what the circumstance, just as I begin to think PERHAPS this is all working out okay and I am not really so bad after all--

they sneak up behind me or come in swinging  from the side and the next thing I know--GOT YOU!  Some disparaging remark hits me blindsided.  The ZINGER leaves me shaking my head and wondering, "Did they just REALLY say that?"  I am left rolling the remark around in the gray matter for days to come.  WHAT did I do to deserve that???

How about just when you those around you seem to think you have your act together and all is right with the world.  Perhaps some recognition has come your way, but at a minimum you can enter a room filled with people and goodwill flows all around you. You love the world and the world seems to love you.  WHAM--something occurs--perhaps even out of your control--and the tide turns.  Now when you enter the room, eyes turn away, and perhaps vicious gossip swirls all around.  The crowd has turned from adoration to a mob bent upon vicious attacks.  Can anything be more painful than rejection by those you thought loved you~or at the least tolerated you.  Life can change in a second--one day respect and the next condemnation.

As I have contemplated Holy Week and all it held, it has rung true that Jesus experienced this very thing.  A triumphant parade celebrating the Messiah~who had come to save ~began this week.  It begins to escalate with the pharisees stirring the pot, determined to get rid of the threat to their good business.  One day a parade and another a banquet and the next a call for crucifixion.  Rejection by the very crowd who cheered his entry into the city destined to be the place he dies.  The world turned from praise to scorn with the final complete betrayal in one short week.  How must He have felt to know He had been abandoned, scorned,  betrayed, and headed for great pain and ultimate death--through no fault of His own?  

I pray you stop this week and contemplate all that happened in one short week and the ultimate victory for us all that came from it.  When I stop to think of all Jesus did for me that I might live eternally, it absolutely is beyond my comprehension.  What a GREAT Savior we worship!  Thank You, Jesus!

And many spread their cloaks on the road,

and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.

And those who went before and those who followed were shouting,

"Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!

Hosanna in the highest!"