Happy Passover and Temple Tuesday

What timing! Medical and essential services personnel are on their call of duty. The rest of us are all snuggled in at our homes. Those of us in Christ, don’t work the frontlines or snuggle in fear – we carry on into each other (while apart) and into our Lord – our Place of Refuge (“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are His everlasting arms” Deuteronomy 33:27) and our Hiding Place (“You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.” Psalm 32:7) No fear – there!

I had seen the 1956 movie “The Ten Commandments” many times over the years. In fact, it was the first “theater” movie I ever saw. Of course, I remember it – it was scary – especially the part when the “death” clouds (or death angel) rolled in that killed all the firstborn children of the Egyptians after Pharaoh would not let God's people go. The movie was aired a few nights ago and I watched it again.

Tomorrow begins the Jewish holidays of Passover, April 8th -16th. This holiday is about the Passover sacrifice when God passed over the houses of the Israelites during the 10th plague on the Egyptians. God instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and put its blood on their doorposts. It represented the power to protect their families. And it did. In the movie you could hear the wailing coming from the Egyptian homes, but not the Israelites.

Amidst this pandemic, I somewhat followed applying the blood, by placing a picture of Jesus – Divine Mercy – that represents the blood and water poured out for us on Calvary – with the words: “Jesus, I trust in You” on my front door. Even more effective than a lamb's blood is my Lord's blood and I declare: “I am covered by the blood of Jesus, and 'no evil shall befall me or plague come near my dwelling.'" (Psalm 91:10).

I’ve seen where other Christians put red ribbons on the doorposts of their homes declaring the precious blood of Jesus to wash, purify, heal, guide, and protect them from evil, harm, sickness, and bless and make them holy. I love this symbolism – but more so, the faith in God’s Word and Christ’s blood that was as an atonement for our sins and our salvation.

Today is Holy Tuesday. We read in Matthew 21 how Jesus spent His entire day in the temple – teaching and using parables to make His points to religious leaders who doubted Him. Jesus knew this was His last week leading up to His death, so I suspect He was determined to leave an unforgettable “last impression”. He answered them so successfully that "no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions". Matthew 22:46

As we continue to journey during this Holy Week, on Thursday, we'll remember the Passover, the Last Supper and Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. Then on Good Friday, He was tortured, suffered, shed His blood for our healing and our redemption, and died. He was our Lamb that was slain. As despicable as it was....we can REJOICE! It is really good news! We know the end of the “The Ten Commandments” movie. God set His people free. And OUR movie expresses freedom, too!. DON"T lose hope! Just when we think the "movie" could get no worse, our Champion, Jesus Christ wins on Easter Sunday aka Resurrection Sunday……so, we win, too! So, why should we worry or fret? God has got this. God has got us!

Back and Forth -- Embracing the Past and Gearing up for an Amazing Future!

In usual "Wallace" fashion, we went to the opening night of the new Star Wars "Solo" movie. Indeed we are "star" struck with Star Wars, but, I'll admit, during the movie, I whispered to my daughter, "What's the matter with me? This isn't at all like one of my Hallmark movies! LOL!" Believe me, it wasn't! Spoiler Alert: The movie goes BACK in the Star Wars storyline to fill in the backstory of Harrison Ford's character of Han Solo. No doubt, a sequel will soon come that will take us FORTH to the future.

Last night we celebrated Payton's 18th birthday by going BACK and FORTH. Staci put together a slideshow that took us BACK to the past AND many of us wrote letters of advice for Payton's FUTURE. Staci and I were talking about this benchmark year and the hopes and dreams that Payton has for his future, but not before she reminisced about two-year-old Payton and 3 months old Alexia going with her clothes shopping.

Staci was in a department store dressing room of a department store with both little ones in tow. Overseeing Alexia was no problem. She was confined to her infant carrier. Staci undressed to start trying on some clothes when big brother scooted under the door and the captive was set free. Staci, barely clothed, ran from the dressing room to capture her escapee only to be alarmed that he had disappeared. With customers and employees of the store, the manhunt, rather toddler-hunt ensued. The escapee was finally apprehended sitting under a rack of clothes with a smile that could melt any heart. We went BACK in time and then we came back FORTH in time to embrace the Rite of Passage of this boy-to-man celebration.

Yesterday, I walked out to check on my little herb garden and was pleasantly surprised to see a gardenia bush growing right beside the garden. I've lived in this home for over a year now and never realized I had a gardenia bush. That, immediately took me BACK in time, to my Aunt Lillie Mae's home here in Dallas. Oh, how well I remember her incredibly fragrant and beautiful gardenia bush. It became one of my favorite flowers. Here I am way into the future and I am getting to love that "back" memory and my present and future thoughts.

For many circumstances in our lives, we're encouraged to NOT look BACK because of the stinging, hurtful and disappointing things we encountered. But, as God encouraged the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6 to remember how they were slaves to Pharoah but were freed, the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea and most of all to go FORTH in faith and trust in their delivering God.

Maybe, today, it would be good to look BACK at your own life. If God healed, restored, opened doors for you before, He can and WILL do it again. The FUTURE is bright. Let's go FORTH in the light of a new day with goodness and mercy chasing us down. Maybe it's time to look BACK -- to see how far we've come!

Today is the Ultimate #Throwback Thursday

#TBT -- Today is the ultimate #throwbackthursday.

This photo is one of the world's most famous paintings. It is the 15th Century mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and His Twelve Disciples. You can see how aghast they were at Jesus' announcement that one of them would betray Him.

Today is Holy Thursday when we remember more than a painting. It is the day before Jesus' crucifixion when He shared a Passover meal with His disciples. That meal invoked what we know as Holy Communion (Luke 22:19-20) where we hear His words: "As often as you do this, you do it in memory of Me!" That night, Jesus, the One celebrated as a King just days before, became a Servant when He washed His disciples’ feet as an act of humility and service. "No," Peter protested, "you will never wash my feet!" Jesus replied, "Unless I wash you, you won't belong to me." He set an example for us -- that we should love and serve one another.(John 13:3-17). At church tonight, we will not only remember and receive His love in Holy Communion, but there wil be a foot-washing ceremony in commemoration of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples.

For 3-1/2 years Jesus had poured His life into these men. After all the miracles they had seen, the tender and merciful acts of kindness and love He had shown, the many times He had said, "Do not be afraid" to them, somehow they still just didn't "get it". Only John would be standing off to the side of the cross tomorrow. The rest of them were too afraid to stand with Him. What if we had been there? Would we, too, have cowered in fear?

It certainly gives me pause for who I am today. Am I a devoted follower of Christ....even to the cross to bear witness of Him and His love for me? During this season of Lent (which ends this week) we've endeavored to spend quality time in the Holy Spirit's Wash-A-Teria, purposefully desiring cleansing and purifying to draw closer to our Lord and to be vessels that He can use. I continue to take these words to heart today. "Lord, wash me, cleanse me, purify me so that I too may be presented as a vessel of honor to you. I've said it before, I say it again "The purer the vessel the greater the flow". What an incredible flow of mercy, love, forgiveness, servitude and sacrifice that flowed from Jesus then, and continues to flow to us today. Oh Lord, may we be your servants today -- to follow, serve and love You, and others, as You served and loved.

May this beautiful song, "Make Me Your Servant" be your and my prayer today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rznoe3zKxM