Redirecting

He loves me with an everlasting love. Nothing I can do or say will ever sway the power of his love for me. He thinks of me night and day. He showers me with little gifts just because it makes his heart glad to see my smile. He is jealous of the things that take me away from him.

I have rejected him. I've run from him. I've left his body full of scars.
And still he loves me.
When I leave him, those arms that ached on the cross ache to hold me close.
His hands, the hands that I wounded, long to touch me with healing and comfort.

His love for me is so strong he would kill for me.

He did kill for me.
His own Self. His own Son. He made a sacrifice of his own flesh and blood.
So that I would know his love.

And then he conquered Death!
His love is so powerful that it shattered the reign of Death so that I could be with him!
Not only for proof of his love and power, but to give me the ability to share in it.

How can I not love Him?

This is the greatest story of love ever written. This man, my Lord, who is Love Himself, wants nothing so much as for me to be caught up with him in this beautiful extravagance of love. To share in his life. To share in his power. To know and be known.

He is beautiful. And I love him.

It's Christmas!

I had just typed this whole lovely post, and went to add a picture, and it vanished. The whole thing. All brilliantly typed at the last minute before I was to go to bed. Gone. The page froze, and I waited and waited, hoping against hope it would come back to life. It was a good post.
Alas.

Tis gone.

But I had just been saying that Christmas eve was productive and relaxing. The annual viewing of It's A Wonderful Life was quite satisfactory. So was dinner.

Now, I post this beautiful song to serve as a reminder.

Start at the manger on a cold winter night
Look for the star in the sky
and follow its light
It leads to a Savior for a world that is lost
Start
at the manger, then go to to the cross

Start at the manger at the
child in the hay
The gift of our Father in heaven,
the price He would
pay
To save all His children no matter the cost
Start at the manger, then
go to the cross

Imagine that you own the wealth of the world
All
of its silver and gold
What good will it do when tomorrow arrives
And
your heart is empty and cold

Start at the manger where redemption
began
When Jesus stepped down from His throne to die as a man
All of our
riches we will count them as loss
If we start at the manger, then go to
the cross.

Youth choir's singing that this Sunday. It's going to be so pretty. How amazing that Jesus chose to come down here and live like us, and with us to show us how we can live like Him, and with Him. He came, he lived, he died, he rose, and he lives again! We have such cause to rejoice!

Speaking of rejoicing, one of my (lesser, but great) reasons is .... *drumroll* Six Flags season passes!! My favorite!! That's what this family's getting for Christmas. I can't wait til they open! I'm so excited!! **squee!!**

I'm also getting a set of super great period dramas - think Jane Eyre, and Pride and Prejudice. (I picked it out myself, but it's wrapped and under the tree, so I think I'll pretend to be surprised just for the fun of it. I'm a terrible actor, though.)

Anyways, I've rewritten most of my former post now. **yawn** It's Christmas day!! The tree is twinkling in the dark, and the metallic gift bows are sparkling underneath it. There's a balmy breeze blowing in through the open windows, and the sound of the gentle rainfall is making me drowsy. (nothing like a Georgia Christmas) I've already got a pot of coffee ready to be turned on in the morning, so I think it's time to snuggle down in my bed, and drift off to sleep with my Josh Groban christmas music playing... Visions of sugarplums and rollercoasters, Mr. Darcy, and all that sort of thing, you know. ;-)

Wherever you are, whoever you're with, and whatever you're doing, I wish you a very happy Christmas. We are so blessed!

Love, Caitlin

Jesus is Alive!!

It's easy to just hear things and not give them much thought, isn't it?
For us "church people," it's so easy to tune something out, thinking "I already know this."

"Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures"

I've known that verse since I was little. But I'm guilty of only really thinking about the reality of it around holidays, or after a particularly convicting sermon.

It's hard to comprehend. Such a simple little verse, but absolutely impossible to fully understand.

He took ALL the sin, evil, sorrow, pain, and guilt of a fallen world; past, present, and future. All of it, into himself. That doesn't even make sense. People talk about how Jesus was tortured and crucified, and how they can't imagine what it must have been like, but I recently realized that wasn't the worst of it. The physical pain was probably bearable in comparison to the dead weight of thousands of years of guilt and pain inflicted on his perfect soul, shutting Him off from His Father. I mean, I hate it when I do something mean, and feel sick and guilty until I make it right. He took so much more than that. And so many can't even understand how it is that we really deserved to die.

But, the point of this holiday is to focus on his resurrection. I just wanted to expound a little on the "incomprehensible" part.

He rose again! He died, was embalmed, the stone was rolled over the door, and 3 days later, the stone was rolled away, his coverings were folded, and the tomb was empty. In the words of Julia from my preschool class: "His friends thoughted that some people had stolened Jesus's body, but they really hadn't. Mary was crying, and a man asked her "Mary, why are you crying?" and she turned around and saw that it was Jesus. He had rose up from the dead!"

Now THAT is pretty neat. He was dead, then he came back to life. And he's STILL alive.
The preacher this morning was saying that Jesus didn't die for us so that we could have a better life. He didn't. He didn't die for us to be close to us. He died for us so that we could have a completely NEW life, and so that his Spirit could live IN us. That is so amazing. And it doesn't even make sense. Not to a human perspective.

The fact that we serve a living God, the Son who was the ultimate sacrifice, the Spirit who dwells within us to give us power to live blamelessly and righteously, and the Father who loves us with a love we could never understand any more than the rest of the whole story, should so fully consume us that we should be as overwhelmed by it every day just as much as we are on Easter Sunday.

I really just wanted to post a short little reminder, but I have this way of turning things into sermons, without even making much sense. :D

The whole point is, Jesus is ALIVE! Let's live like it.

Happy Easter. :)