The King is Coming -- Order Up a 21-Gun Salute

It’s Palm Sunday – just one week before Easter – oh the joy of our Risen Lord! But, hold on! Without this week, there would be no Resurrection Sunday! On this day, the disciples and the crowds were fanatical praisers and worshippers – waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Matthew 21:9. The crowds rejoiced in His powers of healing, in the miracles He’d performed; His popularity reigned supreme. He was SOMEBODY! While kings today ride in streamlined jets, King Jesus rode in on a donkey, a symbol of meekness and peace. How different His entry was – not a 21-gun salute, but the swishing of palm branches.

But those finding-fault Pharisees complained about all the raucous: "Teacher, reprove Your disciples!” Notice that they didn't call Jesus “King.” They called Him "teacher." To them, Jesus was no greater than any other teacher. He had become a threat to their "authority." This, SOMEBODY, was getting in their way! But our “rock-solid” Lord replied, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” And we took Christ’s words so seriously, that today we join those crowds of praising and worshipping our King of Kings and Lord of Lords! We will NOT allow the rocks and stones to outdo us!

Those of us who know Him as Savior and Lord cannot be silenced by a few who would “reprove” us. We know what this week represents. We stand in allegiance to Him as in this week, He was our humble, suffering, sacrificial servant. He suffered rejection, lies, beatings, floggings, being nailed to the cross and dying for us. We are doing our best to follow His lead because we've learned not to run away or cower in the face of difficulty. We want the world to know that Jesus Christ is King and it is worth the price of ridicule and rejection to proclaim Him as our Lord and Savior. This Holy Week, we continue to journey on with our precious Lord. What a gift it is to know the promise that awaits us if we stay with Him on the road. If we are faithful servants, we will also know the empty tomb, and best of all, we will abide with Him forever in eternity.

Not only did our King know precisely who He was when He entered Jerusalem, He knows who He is as He enters the Jerusalem of our lives. He touches ALL people – those with rank, and those who are broken, rejected, and unloved. He never refuses anyone who comes to Him for help. He helps those with shattered dreams and bruised spirits. That's the kind of Lord He is! That's the kind of KING He is! Today, He desires to transform us, touch our lives and make us new. He loves us so much that He was thinking about us then....and He is still thinking about us today. “Hosanna! Our King has come!

Peace, Sweet Peace -- Priceless

It is possible to have peace when storms are raging around us. I know, because I've experienced that peace. When "they" say "no more hope", there's the temptation to retreat, and to run for the storm shelter. We were no storm chasers, but we did know how to outwit the storm. This is the day we were told "no more hope, call in Hospice".

My husband’s name, Ronald, means “mighty wise ruler”. He lived up to that title as he was always in some form of leadership – guiding and directing business and ministry endeavors. Though we never expected our faith journey to lead us to that day, we still had the confidence that we were in a place of divine destiny. Our all-knowing, all-seeing God, knew we would be there, and He prepared us by giving us so much peace for the journey. Two verses of scripture resonated within me. “IN EVERYTHING (even this experience), give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you.” (I Thessalonians 5:18) Everything -- means everything – IN this experience -- to give Him thanks. And the second scripture was St. Paul’s words, “whatever state I’m in, to be content.” (Philippians 4:11).

That morning,a dear friend brought communion to us. How sweet was the presence of our Lord as we remembered what He did for us on Calvary. And as we thanked God for His love to us, I looked at my sweetheart, lying in his hospital bed, unable to move his legs or sit up beyond a 30 degree angle – yet so at peace, so at rest in this “state” that he was in.

Then, that visual gave way to a whole new perspective. I thought about a king – how he sits on his throne and everyone, and everything, is at his beckoned command – he is fed, dressed, and given whatever he desires. I started picturing that hospital bed as a throne. Yes! That’s it! My Ronald – my mighty, wise ruler…is on his throne, being ministered to as any other king would be – his food is brought to him, he is fed, he is dressed, he is massaged, he is loved, respected and admired. Everyone wants to please and serve him. And his responsibilities were to be at peace, and listening to His King’s voice, and to pass on to us, his subjects, the wisdom of God that he heard, and I can't begin to tell you the wisdom that poured from him to us during those days. From the beginning of that faith journey, we heard the words "Be still and know that I am God". There we were -- my king was on his throne, and I was making every effort to be like "Mary" who sat at the feet of Jesus, instead of hustling and bustling like Martha did. There are no adequate words to explain the peace we were in.

Yes, we received the "hope-less" medical prognosis, but it didn't matter, we never wavered from the spot of believing for a miracle! At any given time, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if my Honey had gotten off his throne, fully healed, restored and saying, “How about going for a walk?” And as I read these words from my blog to him, he smiled at me and gave me a king’s “thumbs up”!

And, that, and this, my friends, is the way we experienced peace then, and that's how I continue to be in that peace today. "Him I will keep in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on ME." Isaiah 26:3.
Peace, sweet peace.....PRICELESS.