Great Friday

I've often felt we should do more to remember and honor Good Friday and this year we acted on it and attended a few special events. The boys and I went to a "Way of the Cross" display at a local church called Salem Alliance. I didn't know what to expect, but let's just say it wasn't set up to be "kid friendly". However, when we went into this room, my boys immediately picked up on that fact and behaved incredibly. Connor really enjoyed it and I think he got a lot out of it, later in the car he even repeated each of the stations we visited and could relate them to the meaning of Easter and what we celebrate.

Station 1 - Observing Passover

Station 2 - Betrayed

Station 3 - Abused

Station 4 - Crucified

Station 5 - Laid in the Tomb

Sation 6 - Alive

As a family we went to a service at a neat place called The Oregon Christian Convention Center in a nearby town called Turner. Again, I didn't know what to expect. Honestly, after being there for a while, I realized there was only ONE other small child in the whole place. I'm not sure why that was, but once again my kids amazed me. They sat through a service that ended up being 1 and 1/2 hours long without 1 complaint. They didn't fidget, fight or fret. They just soaked up what they could and enjoyed the worship music in between the readings from the bible.

I enjoyed the reading very much and am amazed how I can always be captivated by something new like I have never heard it before. Last night I was stuck on one of the events that happened when the soldiers captured Jesus in the garden. With just the touch of his hand, he healed the ear of one of the soldiers that had been cut off by Peter. Just one quick line to such an impossible thing by any man...just one glimpse into the power given to Jesus...just a few words used to prove that Jesus would do what God wanted him too and would not try to escape the will of God. All of those soldiers were first hand witnesses to a awesome healing, an unexplainable miracle, and failed to see God in it. Or, maybe they did see God in it, but failed to change their way of thinking.

May they be a lesson to us all.

Now, what is the deal with the guy losing his shirt and running off naked????