"Good Friday" Meditation

I copied this poem from John Stumbo's blog--couldn't resist posting it here. John is a Christian Missionary Alliance pastor in Salem, OR. whose blog address is on my list. He has suffered extremely the last couple of years with some unidentifiable, debilitating disease. He has made some progress back, but is still needing further healing. I'm assuming John wrote this poem, it as he didn't give credit to another. If I find out different, I'll let you know. I pray it will bless you wherever you are today.

The Friday We Call "Good"
When we wish someone a "good day," we don't wish for their death.
How then dare we call this Friday, "good"?
If we had lived in Jerusalem that Friday, we would have only called this a good day
if we had been Christ's enemies.
The protectors of the status quo, the fickle mob, the demonic forces and Satan himself,
they thought it a very good day indeed.
But those who followed Him, those who loved Him, those who knew who He really was,
thought it the worst day of history.

Good Friday is good only if God Himself is truly good.

After all, what is good about betrayal, mockery, abuse, beatings, torment and blood-thirsty violence?
All of these were suffered by Jesus.
What good do we possibly see as evil is victorious, injustice rules and hatred overpowers love?
What good do we find in death?
Death is our enemy. Death is feared. Death is avoided at all costs. Death is a tragedy,
especially for someone so young.
How do we have the audacity to look upon something so tragic, so heinous and horrific
and declare it "good"?

Good Friday is good only if God Himself is truly good.

Everyone in our culture today wants to believe that if there is a God, He is good.
No one wants a "bad" God.
But the great weakness of our culture--Christian or not--is that we want to be the ones
who define "goodness."
Health, prosperity, long life, harmony with others and the world…these are all good.
Anything less is not.
We will define the term, we will act as judge, we will determine good and evil.
We shall be as God.

But Good Friday is only good, if the God of Good Friday is good.

Our reasoning continues: since we know what is good, we know that a good God would only give us
what we consider to be good.
Certainly if suffering or hardship enters our lives, it comes from the hand of another,
but never His.
But what if we're short-sighted? What if His definition of "good" looks to a farther horizon than ours?
What if we're blind?
Could it be that God is indeed very good--that He, in fact, is the definition of goodness--
but He is utterly different than we expect?

Good Friday is indeed good because the God of Good Friday is good.

On that day when the sky became a shroud, the earth trembled and the righteous wept,
God knew what we could not:
Suffering was necessary, bloodshed mandatory, evil temporary
and death the entry to life.
The Definition and Definer of Good revealed that His power is so great, his authority so complete,
that even the cruelest of this world is redeemable.
The worst day of all of human history became good because God is good...
good beyond our imagination.

May His goodness bring new hope to your suffering today.

Death and Dying

WARNING, don’t read this if you don’t like morbidity. I’m about to talk about one of two inevitables, death and taxes…I really hate them both. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.

The older I get, the harder life is getting because people I know and love are disappearing from the earth, I mean dying. I’m tempted to shake my fist at God because so much of it I don’t understand, because I love life, because I love people, and then I fall to my knees when I realize how little I can do about it. You see, I can believe what I want about God, but it doesn’t change Whom He is one bit—it only changes who I am.

We think we are SO in control. Death and taxes are only two obvious items completely out of our control. Can you make yourself taller by choosing to be so? Can you turn yourself into an Olympic athlete without the required health and talent? Can you make the sun come out on a cloudy day? How many more and better questions I could ask that show how powerless I am in multiple ways? Who am I, Susie Talbot, to shake my fist at God when He determines it’s time for His created one to die?

We saw the new movie EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES, the true story of a family fighting for the lives of their two beautiful children.  It was inspiring at the very least. The love that went on within that family was truly Brady Bunchish and better. They didn’t let the children’s Pompe disease get in the way of fun and laughter every day in every way they could make it happen. The outcome of the real life story is amazing. I won’t ruin the story’s outcome if you haven’t seen it.

My point—the parents fought a good fight to find a cure for their children. They didn’t give up. Do I fight that hard for the people I know and love? It’s bad enough for the body to die, but if the soul perishes without saving knowledge and grace from God, through Jesus Christ because His children don’t speak up, then that is true disaster.

If you read my blog, you probably already know what fuels me. You also know that I do love people and would be the last one to pound religion on them. Even God doesn’t pound on anyone to follow Him. He only knocks at the door of each heart, which must be opened from the inside. He won’t barge in, but only knocks. He’s gentle. He leaves it up to us whether or not we choose to open that door.

It’s not about being good. That’s impossible. If you know me, you know that I’ve failed often at that. It’s about being open to Truth. If you don’t know Truth yet, ask a “higher power” out there for it and it’ll come to you. Remember the movie line, “If you build, they will come.” If you seek the truth, you will find Him, the One Who knit you together in your mother’s womb.

Yep, we’re still gonna die, but if there is a remote chance that our spirit man within us lives on, I’m prepared. Not because I’m more special than anybody, but because of Who He is. If you’ve read this, I pray you too are prepared.

This is my love letter to you, From Susie