I think for some Christians, the idea of Good Friday seems a bit strange when it’s all about Jesus dying on the cross and such a terrible death. How could people possibly think that someone dying in such a way was good? Christians should.

As a young man without Christ, I use to think it odd that Christians “Celebrated” the death of Jesus. It wasn’t until I understood that Christ dying was to set people free from sin and shame, that I finally appreciated the day. It is something I need to remind myself of regularly, lest I take his love and sacrifice for granted, and I slip back into a destructive lifestyle.

For the past year since the election, our country has been in an all out fight over each side of congress blaming the other side of breaking the law and conducting their job unfairly. Now this is nothing new, but it has heated up more than normal. This is the first time where an elected president is being attempted to being impeached by Democrats even before he was elected.

Somehow, we have gotten so messed up on the definition of what is “Just & Fair” that we think it means, “It’s just and fair if it goes my way”.

It seems to appear that after one year of investigating President Trump for collusion that the evidence is pointing to Hilary and the Democratic Party sneaking around and using the government agencies to attack and undermine our democracy and not President Trump. They appear to have broken the laws of our country and they don’t like being held accountable.

Have you ever considered how trusting we are at times?

Take Flying for instance. If you get on a Airbus 340-500 or bigger plane, you probably never met the pilot, yet you have faith he can operate the plane safely and get you to your destination in one piece. How do you know he has enough experience flying a piece of metal that weighs 805,000 pounds? The plane can carry 372 passengers and fly over 4,000 miles on one tank of fuel. It can fly at 567 miles an hour and is 223 feet long. Wow! We seem to just accept by “Faith” that the pilot can handle it. But why do we have such faith?

People have all kinds of methods of praying. Some feel they need to fold their hands. Some feel the need to kneel or lay prostrate on the floor or ground. Some lift their hand and heads, and others bow their heads. The question is ….. is there a right or wrong way to pray?

Some years ago, I had the privilege of visiting the Middle East, in particular, the land of Israel. While in Jerusalem, I went to the Western Wall also called the wailing wall, where people from all over the world come and bring their special prayers written on small pieces of paper to be put in the cracks between the stone. This wall is special because it is all that remains of Solomon’s original temple. 

Over the last 100 years or so, our lives have been so shaped by the huge technological advancements that we can start to believe man has figured out the universe pretty well and we don’t need God anymore.

This “belief” in our own intelligence and the power of huge super computers has made our culture believe that a belief in a supernatural creator is obsolete, and only for the weak-minded amongst us. That is until you pull back the “green curtain” like in the wizard of Oz.

I grew up watching the Wizard of Oz every year. It was in color, as few movies on tv were. In the movie there seems to be this “powerful” wizard that knew everything and could do anything. The problem was, he couldn’t. He was just a smart guy with a lot of fancy gadgets the “wowed” people.

The first Jaws movie came out in 1975. I was traveling to Nashville Tennessee that year and my friend persuaded me to go to the theater to watch it. I could not go swimming in the ocean for months after that because I would hear that music in my head.

Isn’t is amazing what movies can do in shaping our thinking and living?

Billy Graham’s body is being laid to rest here in Charlotte, North Carolina today.

Few ministers have impressed me like Billy Graham. Though he was a man who was not perfect, he reflected a key value which I wish many other ministers did: Humility!