Sunday Quote 32810

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."



This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:


"Say to the Daughter of Zion,
'See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"


When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"


The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

Matthew 21:1-11, NIV


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Sunday Quote 32110

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.


Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"


Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."


Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Matthew 16: 21-28, NIV


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Two Letters

Dwight Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied Commander in charge of all of the Allied Forces in Europe during WWII.  During the final preparations for the invasion of Europe, Operation Overlord, he penned two letters, intending that one or the other would be distributed after the first day of the invasion.  One letter was an anouncement of the success of the invasion, how our troops were fighting hard and winning a foothold against Hitler in Europe.

The other letter was an anouncement of failure.  The invasion failed, and what survivors are left are returning to England to regroup for a later date.

Eisenhower didn't have to use the second note.  We know that the invasion was ultimately a success, and that the Allied Powers prevailed against Hitler's evil.

Sunday Quote 31410

Robb McCoy at his blog The Fat Pastor has this to say about Jesus and His impending trial:

So he sat there in Gethsemane and he prayed. He prayed for another way out. He prayed in anguish. He prayed as a man who could feel pain, who would be hurt by betrayal, who would be scarred by the scourge, and would bleed when nails were driven into his arms and legs. He prayed as a man who knew that if he would follow God’s will, he would be charged, convicted, mocked, humiliated, abandoned, and nailed to a cross. Knowing all of this full well he prayed, “Not my will, but yours.” Then he rose and stood up for all that he had lived for.

As we approach Easter, this is a powerful reminder of the choices we face each day.  How many times could Jesus have backed down, but didn't?  How many times, in the course of his earthly ministry, could he have toed the line and not rocked the boat?  How many times could he have accepted the status quo?

How many times do we?


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Do It

The Rogue Warrior series of novels is one of my guilty pleasures.  The plotlines are paper-thin and ridiculously repetative, and in the grand scheme of literature, they have little or no redeeming value.  The characters are static and cliche, as is the dialogue, and the books are riddled with enough salty language to raise your sodium levels to unsafe heights.  All in all, it is exactly the kind of book one would expect from a boisterous, over-the-top ex Navy SEAL like CDR Richard "Dick" Marcinko.

Let me put it this way: if James Bond didn't have his dashing British pedigree to fall back on, then he would be a character in these books.

Sunday Quote 30710

Tony Woodlief of Sand in the Gears on "Christianizing" the history of this nation.

It seems far more likely that we are born into this country, fellow Christians, not because God decided to bless us, but because He knows our weak faiths and frames couldn’t handle being truly oppressed in places like Somalia or Pakistan or China. Think about it — God can place you anywhere in history and space, and he chooses not to make you a martyr under the Romans or Muslims or Communists, but an upper-middle class white person in the most prosperous, healthiest, and safest country on the planet. You think that’s because you’re especially righteous? Think again. If America is a special haven carved out by God, it’s because he knew his weakest children needed a safe place.

Touche, Tony.  Touche.


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Zealots

Seth Godin wrote a blog post recently about zealots.

Although his writing is geared more for a marketing and business audience, much of what he says can apply to our Christian walk as well.

His post on zealots is a post that I think we could all learn something from.