A MARTYR DIES; BUT JESUS-- ALIVE!

Acts 7:59-60 from THE MESSAGE states:  "As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my life."  Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Master, don't blame them for this sin"--his last words.  Then, he died."

The martyr, Stephen, spoke like a hero, and dying, went into the arms of His Savior.  Heaven, at last!

The man, Saul, held the coats of those who stoned Stephen, abetting this terrible crime.  Saul himself
was later charged to arrest all Christians!  Then, even later, God called him, and Saul became Paul, perhaps the greatest missionary of all and author of much of the New Testament. Yet, as Saul, he condoned those who killed Stephen because Stephen loved Jesus.  Wow! Isn't God gracious?

Where was the world looking when all this happened?  Were they asleep?  Did they not hear?  One would expect the whole world would have noticed God and all He was doing.  But they did not hear, they did not see, they did not believe.

Then becomes Now!  Does the world not hear or are their ears tuned to what excites them without effort or participation?  Does the world still not see the lives which are changed due to God's deliverance?  Some say they tried God, but it didn't work!  Some may read part of the Bible and  expect....what? 

I encountered in a grocery store, a woman I worked with in my younger days, and she asked me, "Are you still religous?"  That word startled me.  Am I, was I ever, religious? I guess I am.  But I never thought of that word for me.  Why?  Is it a dirty word? I can't remember exactly how I answered her, but I think I might have said, "Well, perhaps I am!  I know I still love God and am grateful to Jesus for dying on a cross for me."  She shook her head as if to say, "Oh, I'm so sad for you."

What the world is missing they will not know until they need the Lord!  I hope it will not be too late.

I write a blog expressing words of love for Christ and all He is and all He has done for me and others around me.  I send it each day that I write into the clouds of the internet in the hopes that my simple words will connect someday in some way to some one who needs Christ. I have looked at this as a possible exercise of my ego and pray and hope that this is not so.  This is not writing of the caliber of professional expertise; it is only the mutterings of a grandmother who hopes her grandkids get some words that help them find the Christ in their own world for their own lives and the lives of those to come.  Have mercy on me, O Lord, if there is any hidden reason for these words.Amen.

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Jo