A Contemplation of the Cross...Why Good Friday Really Is Good!

Every year James and I have a tradition of going to Passion City's Good Friday service at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Alpharetta. I always look forward to hearing from Louie, worshiping with Chris (and whoever else), and most of all, taking the time to contemplate the cross and what Jesus has done for me-every day, but especially on Good Friday.


So our afternoon started out pretty cool because we saw this guy--

& I immediately thought of this verse. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24 


According to Facebook, this guy walked from somewhere in Habersham down to Toccoa Walmart and back-apparently 28 miles. What a trek! What an awesome ministry opportunity for Easter weekend. James & I both got a little misty-eyed and wanted to stop and hug him. This was such a great reminder of how we should all be taking up the cross, dying daily to ourselves, for the cause of Christ.


And after eating Chipotle (Thanks Ida for the giftcard!) we headed to Alpharetta. Thank goodness we brought two blankets and a hoodie, because I underestimated April showers and it was a freezing, damp, and windy night under the foggy ATL sky. 


Kristian Stanfill opened the service by singing "How He Loves"---one of my most favorite songs ever. I love the lyrics: 

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, 

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy. 

When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, 

And I realize just how beautiful You are, 

And how great Your affections are for me. 

And oh, how He loves us oh 

Oh how He loves us, 

How He loves us all 

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, 

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy. 

When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, 

And I realize just how beautiful You are, 

And how great Your affections are for me. 

And oh, how He loves us oh, 

Oh how He loves us, 

How He loves us all 

He loves us, 

Oh how He loves us, 

Oh how He loves us, 

Oh how He loves. 

And we are His portion and He is our prize, 

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, 

If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking. 

And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss, 

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest, 

I don't have time to maintain these regrets, 

When I think about, the way… 

That He loves us, 

Oh how He loves us, 

Oh how He loves us, 

Oh how He loves. 

Yeah, He loves us, 

Oh how He loves us, 

Oh how He loves us, 

Oh how He loves. 

Yeah, He loves us, 

Oh how He loves us, 

Oh how He loves us, 

Oh how He loves.

Him? Jealous for ME? He wants me to spend my time at His feet because He loves me more than I'll ever know. The God of Heaven that created all things is JEALOUS for me--What a great feeling for GOOD FRIDAY! 

Oh, have I mentioned that we got there right on time around 7:30 and were barely able to find a seat on the crowded hill? There were over 12,000 of us packed in there. PTL! Wouldn't have missed it for the world!! I love seeing so many people ready to celebrate Good Friday and it gets more packed every year!

After Kristian finished, my favorite singer of all time came out to lead worship. I know James gets soooooo tired of Chris Tomlin 24/7 but I really can't help it. I'd love to be able to attend Passion every worship service! (They meet on Sunday nights in different places all over ATL....)

Then, Louie came out and started doing his thing. If you've never heard a sermon from Louie, I highly suggest it. He has such a way of explaining how great God is and really makes you think.  In fact, I bet the Good Friday service is already on Youtube.

He read from Colossians 1, which happens to be one of my all-time favorite chapters of the Bible. To tie in in with Good Friday, he spoke specifically about Jesus rescuing us from the dominion of darkness so that we have the forgiveness of sin. He went on to discuss the trinity and how Jesus has been around since before the beginning of time and how we are all created by Him and for Him.

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Doesn't this just make you want to shout "Thank you Jesus"!?!?! Moving on...more about the being created by Him and for Him--how many times to do we stop and actually think about that? It's so easy to get caught up in the hooplah of life that we forget to stop...wait....and think that HE is how we got here and WHY we are here! We are not here for our own purposes or to control our own lives, but to live for Him and bring glory and honor to His name. Louie goes on to re-emphasize this with a passage from 1 Peter 2:

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy....

But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. ²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
 ²² “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
 ²³ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴ “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” ²⁵ For “you were like sheep going astray,”but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.



 We have LIFE. POWER. TRIUMPH. HOPE. All because of HIM--and what do we choose to do with it? Hide our victory under a rock or declare Him to the ends of the earth? When Jesus breathed His last breath, he said "It is FINISHED." Death is finished. Guilt is finished. Shame is finished. Self-righteousness is finished. Sin is finished. 

Thank you, Jesus, for bearing the burden of my sin so that I can live victoriously through You. Thank you for dying so that I might have life everlasting. Thank you, God, for the hope I have in You because I know You conquered death at the cross.

Louie went onto my favorite part of the night where he used a metaphor for symphonies and how we are all part of God's symphony. He talked about what everything--heavens & earth and everything in it--must sound it to God. He showed some examples of stars and how they vibrate and give off different pitches--all 200 billion times 200 billion of them. Talk about a symphony. I just wish you could hear it! And then he talked about how even though we can't hear seed pods bursting, God can. Louie showed some videos of whales singing their songs and added them to his remix. Before we knew what was going on, Louie had this symphony playing of different stars, whales, and eventually---us singing worship. It was so cool (for lack of a better adjective).  Louie then talked about how everything in and above the entire world is singing praises to Him- yet He cares for us most because we are made in His image and desires a relationship with us. Louie talked about how if we are living our lives for self, then we are not being a part of God's symphony (or at least we are "out of tune"). He also talked about how ultimately Jesus just wants us to be the part of His symphony that He created and that it doesn't matter what it sounds (looks) like to us, because His view/hearing is the only thing that matters. This is a perfect explanation of Psalm 148.

Praise the LORD from the heavens; 

   praise him in the heights above. 

² Praise him, all his angels; 

   praise him, all his heavenly hosts. 

³ Praise him, sun and moon; 

   praise him, all you shining stars. 

⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens 

   and you waters above the skies.

 ⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD, 

   for at his command they were created, 

⁶ and he established them for ever and ever— 

   he issued a decree that will never pass away.

 ⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth, 

   you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, 

⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds, 

   stormy winds that do his bidding, 

⁹ you mountains and all hills, 

   fruit trees and all cedars, 

¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle, 

   small creatures and flying birds, 

¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations, 

   you princes and all rulers on earth, 

¹² young men and women, 

   old men and children.

 ¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD, 

   for his name alone is exalted; 

   his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. 

¹⁴ And he has raised up for his people a horn,^[b] 

   the praise of all his faithful servants, 

   of Israel, the people close to his heart.

So I said all this to say that I believe God is asking each of us this important question-

What song are you singing for Me?

Happy Easter, Everyone! May we let the meaning of the day overflow our hearts & minds! 


ps. Every year James and I buy a Good Friday t-shirt for all of the proceeds to benefit some world disaster. Last year, Haiti. This year, Japan. Is that where we are headed next? Maybe!

pps. It's also good to know that everyone hasn't forgotten about Haiti also. Louie spoke about his trip from a while back and about how even though the news & media have turned to something else, God still has a lot of work for the Body of Christ to accomplish in Haiti. Needless to say, I'm barely holding back tears at this point. They took up a love offering for Haiti-Rising as we watched a video of a boy's daily walk to school in Haiti through the city of Port-au-Prince. Anyone want to guess how tore up I was? Just a little :-) .....

Look @ this face!

If you have a little extra money & are feeling generous on this Easter weekend (or just want to check out the site), PLEASE go visit now!!

www.haiti-rising.com

Love y'all!

My Bucket List

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." -Helen Keller

Dana's Bucket List

1.) Go on a Long Term Mission Trip
2.) Be Completely Debt Free
3.) Drive on the Road to Hana (Maui)

4.) Own My Own Monogramming Business or Bakery
5.)  Have a really nice sewing machine
6.) Go to Japan

7.) Build Our Own House (that includes a giant bathroom & closet...I don't really care about anything else)
8.) Wear a size 6
9.) Visit Georgetown Cupcakes in D.C./Georgetown

10.) Be able to give away/tithe more than we live off of (PLEASE Read Crazy Love...so inspirational)


The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate; to have it make some difference that you have lived, and lived well." Ralph Waldo Emerson

11.) Bless a Stranger
12.) Run a 5K
13.) Direct a Wedding
14.) Donate to Locks of Love
15.) Go On A Carriage Ride With James

16.) Read through the ENTIRE Bible (without cheating through the OT lineage)
17.) Work at the Soup Kitchen on Thanksgiving/Christmas with my family
18.) Have a picture taken with Chris Tomlin (meet someone "famous" that I actually like)
19.) Catch a Foul Ball at a Turner Field

20.) Go on a Roadtrip Across America

21.) Ride in a Limo
22.) Go back to NYC (and actually get to see a Broadway Show)

23.) Be Voted Teacher of the Year
24.) Overcome My Fear Of Flying
25.) Take My Parents to the Grand Canyon or cruise with them to Alaska
26.) Go to Africa

27.) Adopt a child from Haiti/Africa (please, nobody go crazy over that...it's a bucket list, okay :-)

AHHH!!! Love this little girl!!! (& her sister)




28.) Have 1 carat diamond earrings (there's a little materialism coming out in me)

29.) Visit Charleston & Savannah

30.) Be completely "caught up" on scrap-booking
31. ) Go on a Gondola Ride Through Venice

32.) Tour the Ancient Roman Ruins
33.) Visit Jerusalem 
34.) Go to Australia
35.) Zipline (legitimately through some rain forest or over the ocean, not through a cow pasture)

36.) Go to Sandals for our anniversary 6.26

37.) Have a kid in the FFA
38.) Have a kid who is an "athletic superstar" (You can guess whose idea this is)
39.) Meet Jack Johnson (came really close on our honeymoon!)

40.) Do the Daniel fast

41.) Visit the Louvre

42.) Go Dancing with James (somewhere besides a wedding)
43.) Go to the UNICEF Snowflake Ball in NYC
44.) Swim with Dolphins
45.) Spend the night at the Georgia Aquarium

46.) Renew our vows
47.) Celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary

48.) Celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary
49.) Raise a happy and healthy child (no, not any time soon, people! I've got too much to cross off this list!)
50.) Spend two weeks straight at a beach


“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” 
-Ralph Waldo Emerson


51.) See a Cirque de Solei show
52.) Go to the Kentucky Derby & Wear One of Those Fancy-Smancy Hats

53.) Sing a duet with James @ Church & Rock It for Jesus!!!!
54.) Go to the World Series (to cheer on the BRAVES, of course!)
55.) Ice-skate at Rockefellar Center @ Christmastime 

56.) Go with my mama on a mission trip (hint, hint)
57.) Do one of those photo-a-day for a year things
58.) Complete grad school and get a pay raise
59.) Have a grown student come back to me and tell me what a difference I made in his/her life
60.) Save $1000 and spend it all on a shopping spree for myself (without feeling really guilty like I always do when I shop)
61.) Save $1000 and spend it all on OTHER PEOPLE
62.) Live somewhere besides Toccoa
63.) Become fluent in another language....be it Kreyole, Spanish, Japanese, whatever....
64.) Own several pair of TOMS & do "One Day Without Shoes" ( couldn't do it this year or last b/c of being in school that day)

65.) Buy James a new guitar as a complete SUPRISE!
66.) Have my own signature recipe for something
67.) Read David Platt's new book "Radical Together"
68.) Finally get Hercules, the chocolate lab puppy with gorgeous blue eyes

69.) Do something radical for Jesus
70.) Takes James to the Georgia National Fair in Perry

71.) Pay for the meal of the person behind me in the drive-thru 
72.) Make 500 dresses for Little Dresses for Africa/Haiti
73.) Go without Diet Coke (or any carbonated beverage) for an entire week
74.) Make a really cute cake
75.) Go a week without a computer or cell phone
76.) Complete a Beth Moore Bible study
77.) Memorize a Bible verse a month, at least
78.) Attend Passion 2012
79.) Try 5 New Foods (0/5)
80.) Drink only water for an entire week
81.) Go to Secret Church
82.) Purchase a cute little stamp with our monogram and address on it

Kind of like this

83.) Find someone from my past and apologize

84.) Plant a tree each year we are married

85.) Wash someone's feet (I soooo wish we had done this at our wedding!)

86.) Become an expert on one book of the Bible

87.) Be completely organized in my tools & resources for school

88.) Experience a miracle

89.) Fast for an extended period of time

90.) Buy five outfits from J. Crew

91.) Cut my hair and like it

92.) Find a really good hair stylist & stay "faithful"

93.) Win something on 104.7 THE FISH

94.) Convince James that wrestling is fake

95.) Help James decorate his own classroom

96.) Make a Daily Quiet Time a Top Priority

97.) Win Free Chick-Fil-A for a Year (again!)

98.) See lost family/friends come to know Jesus (HE knows who they are!)99.) Adopt a World Vision Child

100.) Blog my way through this list!

“Life is too short to let it pass you by. We only have one shot at this and then it's gone.”

Alaska or Grand Canyon?

2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NIV) 
⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

"If you're bored with life - or you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don't have enoug