Good? Friday...a revisit

Today I'd just like to share with you the scripture concerning Jesus' arrest, sentencing, and crucifixion. The Rev, JMonster, and I are grateful for the sacrifice that our Lord, Jesus Christ, made for us on the cross. We are humbled that He loves us so much that He was willing to die for each of us. As Easter comes upon us, let us remember that sacrifice and love, and be moved to share it with others.

John 18-19 (New International Version)

John 18

Jesus Arrested

¹When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

²Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. ³So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

⁴Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?"

⁵"Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.

"I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) ⁶When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.

⁷Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?"
And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."

⁸"I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go." ⁹This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."

¹⁰Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)

¹¹Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"

Jesus Taken to Annas

¹²Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him ¹³and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. ¹⁴Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.

Peter's First Denial

¹⁵Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, ¹⁶but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.

¹⁷"You are not one of his disciples, are you?" the girl at the door asked Peter.
He replied, "I am not."

¹⁸It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

The High Priest Questions Jesus

¹⁹Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

²⁰"I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. ²¹Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said."

²²When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. "Is this the way you answer the high priest?" he demanded.

²³"If I said something wrong," Jesus replied, "testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?" ²⁴Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter's Second and Third Denials

²⁵As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, "You are not one of his disciples, are you?"
He denied it, saying, "I am not."

²⁶One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?" ²⁷Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.

Jesus Before Pilate

²⁸Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?"

³⁰"If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."

³¹Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law."

"But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. ³²This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

³³Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

³⁴"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"

³⁵"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"

³⁶Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

³⁷"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

³⁸"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?"

⁴⁰They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

John 19

Jesus Sentenced to be Crucified

¹Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ²The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.

⁴Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." ⁵When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"

⁶As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!"
But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."

⁷The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."

⁸When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰"Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"

¹¹Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

¹²From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."

¹³When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). ¹⁴It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.
"Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!"
"Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked.
"We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered.

¹⁶Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. ¹⁷Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). ¹⁸Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:|sc JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁰Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. ²¹The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews."

²²Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

²⁴"Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
"They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did.

²⁵Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," ²⁷and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The Death of Jesus

²⁸Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." ²⁹A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. ³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

³¹Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³²The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. ³³But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. ³⁵The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," ³⁷and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."

The Burial of Jesus

³⁸Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. ⁴⁰Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. ⁴¹At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴²Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Although this day is ultimately good for us, I'm not quite sure who had the audacity to label it Good Friday. Black Friday would be more appropriate, in my mind.

Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday on Maunday Thursday...

My life is filled with blessings to be thankful for,
but this week I choose to focus on Resurrection Week.

Starting with Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly on a donkey while people cheered and waved palm branches.

Followed by Jesus rousting the heathens from the temples, ticking off the rabbis, and praying and preaching to the masses.

To Maunday Thursday, when Jesus knew he would be betrayed and yet he ate supper with his disciples, washed their feet, and reminded them to remember him when they broke bread and drank wine.

Good Friday, which wasn't good at all.

And Easter Sunday, when the tomb was found open and Jesus had risen.

All for my sin.

For this I am thankful.

Infertility, adoption, and kiddos (part 9)

If you'd like a refresher or just need to catch up, go HERE, HERE, HERE , HERE ,HERE , HERE , HERE and HERE. (Now THAT is getting to be a long list. I'll try and finish this up in just one or two more parts so you won't get tired of catching up!)

I had just found out I wasn't pregnant after our second IVF cycle following JMonster. I cried for a few days, wiped my tears, and moved on.

On July 14th we went to dinner with some friends at a restaurant in Phipps Plaza in Atlanta. This is THE mall...you know, where you go to see celebrities and other rich and famous people?

I started feeling bad toward the end of dinner. Just a minor stomach ache, nothing too bad. JMonster was getting antsy so our friend Stacey and I took him to walk around the mall.

The longer we walked, the worse the pain got. In fact, I told her to take JMonster back to the restaurant and get The Rev. Something was wrong...

I sat down on a bench to wait. The pain hit me in waves.

I laid down on the bench.

People started staring as I moaned and held my stomach.

The Rev came and our friends went and got the car. They pulled up outside a nearby exit and I climbed in. The pain had subsided somewhat so I decided to call The Doc rather than just head straight to the ER.

He said I probably had a cyst on my ovary and it ruptured. Take some pain meds and I should be fine...no need for the ER.

We headed home and I went to the restroom. And that's when I noticed the blood.

I called The Doc. I called my ob/gyn office.

The ob/gyn office said pretty much the same thing The Doc had back at the mall.

The Doc said I'd be fine.

Then he called back...

"Take a pregnancy test."

"I'm NOT pregnant!"

"Just humor me..."

So The Rev and our friend Phil ran to the store and bought a pregnancy test.

PREGNANT.

I have to say that the last thing you want to see when you're feeling THIS bad is PREGNANT on a digital pregnancy test. Especially when The Doc is concerned about an ectopic...

He told me not to panic, but to get to an emergency room.

So I did.

Thank goodness for Phil and Stacey! They stayed with JMonster throughout the night.

Miscarriage. Again.

The doc on call for my ob/gyn office didn't even bother to come in to the ER! Told me over the phone and said for me to come in on Monday and follow up. (tongue stuck out for a raspberry)

It's a funny feeling to have a miscarriage when you don't even think you're pregnant.

I went in Monday and had more blood work...just to be sure my numbers were going down.

They weren't. They didn't quite double, but almost. That's what they expect when you're pregnant, not having a miscarriage! Was it possible? Could I really be pregnant? I had a hard time letting myself get my hope up...

So I ended up at the ob/gyn's office several days that week for bloodwork and ultrasounds. In the end they realized I WAS pregnant, but it was on my ovary. Or so they think. There was something on there, but it was hard to see and my numbers were going up but not fast enough for them to indicate a healthy, viable pregnancy.

We decided that a methotrexate shot was the best course for ending the pregnancy. Here I was, wanting to be pregnant, and we were doing something to stop a pregnancy. Felt surreal.

The numbers finally went down and they declared me healthy.

STILL down to just two frozen embryos, but a lot more to think about...

GO HERE FOR PART 10

What happens when my head is buried in the sand...

Never saw this when it originally happened...

And now I wish I had never seen it! A civilian national security force? Really!?!

This is how it happens. One small step and then we slip down that slippery slope...

Thanks to American Daughter for the heads up.

Missional Monday

Breakaway is a non-denominational, weekly Bible study on the campus of Texas A&M University. We exist to introduce college students to Jesus Christ and call them to walk with Him for a lifetime. We accomplish this through worship, Bible teaching and resources. While not affiliated with any one church, we work hard to connect students to local, Bible-believing churches. By God's power and for His glory, we live to proclaim the gospel of Christ to college students and connect them to Christ's community and His mission.


Breakaway was a HUGE part of my college experience. Many of the people involved in its beginnings were and are good friends of mine. This is an organization which has been blessed...and I pray it continues to bless as well.

Please take some time and check out this wonderful organization on their website! See if their mission can help you match your passion with your purpose.

Perfect Pairings

1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Funnnyyy...

Things I find funny...


...politics..."poli-" comes from the latin for many and tics are blood sucking creatures. Think about it.

..."Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." ~Ronald Reagan

...'Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it wrongly, and applying unsuitable remedies'. ~Sir Ernest Benn

..."When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." ~PJ O'Rourke

...Seen on an Obama supporter bumper sticker: "If at first you don't succeed, change the rules."

..."UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It's the Post Office that's always having problems." –Obama attempting to make the case for government-run healthcare, Portsmouth, N.H., August 11, 2009

..."I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." -- Obama defending his tax plan to Joe the Plumber, Toledo, Ohio, October 12, 2008

..."We've got a philosophical difference, which we've debated repeatedly, and that is that Senator Clinton believes the only way to achieve universal health care is to force everybody to purchase it. And my belief is, the reason that people don't have it is not because they don't want it but because they can't afford it." Barack Obama, speaking at a Democratic presidential debate February 21, 2008