Author: E.Y. Redal

What Were They Thinking?

Did you have a “Jesus is risen” kind of Easter? I hope you did. My thoughts were on Saturday. I don’t think very many people were thinking about what was going on that Saturday, I know I never have. But this year, that’s what I thought about.

Put yourself back to that day. Judas had killed himself, Peter had sworn he had never known him, The rest of his close friends had run away to hide. They surely didn’t want to be killed! Only John stayed by Mary, the mother of Jesus, to the end. They had watched him scorned, spit on, lashed with a rope with a sharp metal piece at the end and finally he was crucified. They weren’t prepared for that!

On Saturday all of them were sorrow filled. The close friends came out of hiding and were in a room somewhere. John and Mary and some other folks joined them in that room. They wondered if they should go around the country giving the messages that Jesus taught them, or forget him completely. yet he had told them he would die and come back again! They couldn’t understand. Why did he die like that! Together they must have felt sorrow, confusion and anger all at the same time.

I think it must have been a terrible Saturday for all of them except Mary, who had experienced the angel coming to her, telling her that Jesus was the Son of God! She knew he would return and waited patiently for him.

Well, their sorrow ended on Sunday and so should ours! Jesus rose from the dead and entered that room where his closest friends were! Can you imagine the happiness they felt on that Sunday? There was no question, they would carry that message we still hear! Yes, our sorrow should end too, if only we remember that Saturday! Our Easter would certainly be more joyful

And so we still hear the messages because of those men. Isn’t it amazing who God uses to spread his Gospel? Perhaps he could even use you!

It’s Hard To Be Over 80!

It really is difficult to be over 80 these days. Everything seems to be going too fast. And nothing lasts at all. It isn’t only the computers, tablets and cell phones either although those are out of date after a year! I have talked to several ladies who say the same thing about tome going too fast but they don’t even own any of those things. I have a computer and a tablet but I thought a smart phone was going too far so I bought a dumb phone.

It’s difficult when the kids and grandkids come home and they don’t have much to say but they are busy talking or playing games on their tablets or cell phones. All is quiet, too quiet! They don’t think anything about it. It’s just the way to live these days.

But still time goes whizzing by. You look at the news and hear things like Issis  chopping another head off a Christian and yet we, here in America don’t do anything about it! We just don’t seem to care. If those radical Islamics came over here, we’d care! There have been thousands of Christian men, women and little children killed, churches burned or bombed and Christians trying to run away but I guess we are too busy on our tablets or smart phones.

When I was a kid, Herbert Hoover was our president, we had no electricity in our small town, we had a few cars around but most of the farmers still used horses in their fields and to get around. Washing clothes was an all day affair and the women always hung them outdoors. We learned our math, history, reading and science very well and there seemed to be time to visit our next door neighbor where we really talked. There was always time to play games outside too. Sundays were always quiet, no stores were open but churches were packed and Sunday afternoon was family time. We talked about what we did during the week and took naps. Time just seemed to go slower even though we had to work harder.

There are times I wish we could go back to those days, but I am sure I would want to stay in today where we have all the things that make life easier. Maybe it isn’t so hard to be in the 80’s.