SHINE
Easter is my
favorite holiday of all because it is a holiday of HOPE. The resurrection of Christ, that He died and
then rose again, conquering death for all of us, is the very picture of
hope. I wrote a poem many years ago when
I was still in high school and I thought I would share it with you this month:
Easter Is....
Colored eggs and candy
The Easter bunny too,
Are all a part of Easter
And what it means to you
But these aren't important
When you think about it
all,
Christ up on the cross
To save us when we fall.
Imagine how it must have
felt
To see that empty tomb,
The doubts they must have
had
But what else could they
assume?
Putting the pieces
together
Seeing their mistakes,
The guilt they must have
felt
Knowing Christ had died
for all their sakes.
But now Easter is a happy
time
To rejoice and for all to
sing,
For Jesus Christ has risen
Our Eternal Lord and King!
Marla Graham
3-1-89
SHINE 2008
Legacy
We have had several planning meetings already and things
are really coming together for this year’s conference. I had an opportunity to hear a tape of Lynn
Austin, this year’s speaker, and I am more excited than ever that she is
coming. I hope you have marked your
calendar for October 4, 2008 and that you are telling all your friends! We would love to come to your church or Bible
study and talk about SHINE so let us know if you are interested! You can email me at shinewomensministry@yahoo.com
Words of Wisdom
I have never been as anxious for
spring as I have this year. If I were to
write a book about this winter I would call it, The Looooong
Winter! And so, like you, I have been
looking for any sign of Spring I can find.
A robin, a heron at the river, temperatures above freezing, anything
that could say that spring is on its way.
As I sit writing this, however, the weatherman is forecasting another
winter storm to hit our area and my weary soul shutters at the thought.
I am
ready for sunshine, bike rides, and open windows.
All this anxious waiting got me
thinking…and convicted me. You see as
eager as I am for spring and as diligent as I have been looking for its
arrival, shouldn’t I be just as anxiously watching for Christ’s return? Shouldn’t I be listening and looking for
signs, hopeful of His arrival? Even more
so, shouldn’t I be preparing for His arrival?
In Luke 12:40 Jesus tells his disciples, “You also must be ready,
because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.” Actually that whole parable is worth a
read. It starts at Luke 12:35 and ends
with the verse above. So when you get a
chance, grab a cup of coffee and your Bible and read through it.
Okay, so what does that mean,
“preparing for His arrival?” Well of
course we can read His word, study the prophesies
about His return, and pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal things to us. But, there is much more we can be doing. If I knew that the town of
Well Christ’s return will not be a
tornado, and for those who belong to Him it will be a day of celebration rather
than a day of disaster. But, I need to
be just as concerned with those in my house, are they prepared for Christ’s
return? Do they understand why I am
telling them these things. Do my neighbor’s know? Are they prepared? Matthew 24:36 tells us that no one “knows the
day or the hour” that He will return. Friend, it could be today…are you ready? Are those you love ready? Are those you work with ready? Are your neighbors ready?
Paul warns the believers in his day
about becoming lazy in their faith and reminds them to be diligent about the
work of Christ. (2 Thess
3:6-15) We too need to be diligent in
our faith. We need to be sharing the
truth of God’s word with everyone around us, in hopeful expectation of His
return. In doing that, we will leave a
great legacy of faith to our world whether Christ comes today, next year, or
ten years from now.
Waiting for the sound of
thundering hoof beats…Rev 19:11-16