Refuse to Let the Scene Be Familiar

The face that Moses had begged to see-was forbidden to see-was slapped bloody (Exodus 33:19-20). The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth's rebellion now twisted around his own brow...
"On your back with you!" One raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier's heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner's wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier's life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do "all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). The victim wills that the soldier live on- he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.
As the man swings, the Son recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm-the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless-the nerves perform exquisitely. "Up you go!" They lift the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can scarcely breathe.
But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day and unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being-the living excitement from our souls. The apple of his Father's eye turns brown with rot.
His Father! He must face his Father like this!
From heaven the Father now rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.
"Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped-murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten-fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk-you, who molest young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp-buying politicians, practicing exhortation, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics,, founded false religions, traded in slaves-relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?"
Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed.
The Father watches as his heart's treasure, the mirror image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah's stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.
"Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!"
But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.

From the book When God Weeps. An account of Christ's death written by Steven Estes and Joni Eareckson Tada.

Show Them God. They will go on Rejoicing.

Today we had Baptism at church and the First Preacher mentioned the following verses, the story of:

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”e 38And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

The preacher pointed out that when the angel took Philip away, Eunuch wasn't worried or saddened...he didnt search for Philip. Eunuch, who was now filled with the Spirit of God, knew he gained The One who is bigger than Philip. He gained an everlasting Love.

THe preacher was calling me to be the light rays of the Sun. To reflect God. To offer Him alone and to be able to do it in a way the person will gain that understanding of what they now really possess. That way, They too will be able to live, go on their way "REJOICING". For they have what no one can ever take away.

In Memory of Tania Gurskiy

Tania Gurskiy was born in July 9th 1983 and in September 2nd 2010 her short life ended which lasted only 27 years.
Tania was born in Ukraine, small city of Marefa and was the fourth child in her family of six children. From a young age she was known as a loving and kind person and everyone loved her. From age three, she started going to Sunday school with her older brother Andrey. She also started taking piano classes from first grade. In July 14th 1995 Tania and her family moved to Detroit, Michigan. Here she and her family were united with the rest of the relatives. Tania loved the nature, which she expressed through her art, she loved to draw and paint. On Saturdays they often spent time together and she liked to tell stories to her cousins.
On March, 31st 1999 Tania and her family moved to Sacramento, California, where she graduated High School. She found Jesus Christ as her saver and got baptized in a Russian Baptist church. Tania's best hobbies were playing piano and sing. She probably spends 1/3 of her life doing that. She also was invited to help one of the Sunday school groups with singing. She loved to sing in church with her younger sister, Alyona. You could always tell that it was Tania playing because she had the most beautiful unique style of playing. Whenever you would come over Gurskiy's house you could often hear Tania is playing the piano. Tania loved sing her heart out to the Lord, all of her songs where about God's Love and Heaven. Her dream was to record her own CD when she had some money.
She was always willing to help people in need, never turning them away. She would always help her aunt with translating, sometimes coming home for lunch, she did not eat, but translated or called places for her. She did all of this with love. She would often babysit; she loved her nieces and nephew. Littlie children loved Tania because she loved them, it almost seemed like they could see her sincerity towards them, never walking by a child with out giving them attention, knowing most of them by name. One time, when she got her car painted, one of the kids took a rock and started scratching her car's door and when she seen what had happened she did not say a word; she always showed people love and kindness.
Tania had an AA degree in Accounting, but she could not find a job at that time, so she took a job in a pharmacy as a clerk for money. It was meant to be a temporary job; her plans were to get in to "SacState" to continue her education.
On September 2nd, close to the time she usually took lunch, two people came to the store and asked for money and drugs. Fire shooting happened and Tania was tragically killed.
Tania was deeply Christian person. After her death, her family found her dairy where she expressed her prayers to the Lord. Through those notes we saw how deeply she loved God and how close was her relationship with Him. That was a big comfort to the family in such a tragic situation.
We, her family, want to believe that her death was in God's hands and her short life was planned by the Creator since her birth. And all the talents God gave her will glorify Him in Heavens. We hope that her sudden death will serve as a step forward for a lot of unchristian family and friends, so they can find a close relationship with God as Tania did.
Tania was unique and beautiful person inside and out. She was very patient, kind, loving and supporting. Tania was never married because she was waiting for the true and pure love, and her Prince came and took her to His everlasting Kingdom.

Taken from the original website: http://taniagurskiy.com/