Friday, April 18, 2014

A Bad Day

I woke up this morning wondering what I would write about today.  Some days these posts are written in advance, and some days not.  This is one of those "not" days, and I wasn't sure what I would write.  Then I spilled my coffee.

One of the realities of living with rheumatoid arthritis is that some days are better than others.  Starting the day by having a cup full of hot-just-out-of-the-pot coffee slip out of your hand is one of the not-so-good days.  At least I didn't spill it on myself and end up being burned.  But I did spill it onto the table that once belonged to my parents.  Super hot coffee onto the top of an antique table.  Not a great way to start my day.  I guess I can add table-top refinishing to my list of projects!  So far this Friday is shaping up to be a pretty bad day.

But my bad day is nothing compared to that Friday nearly 2000 years ago.  We call this Good Friday, but there was nothing good about it.  Certainly the result was good for us.  The price of our redemption was paid.  But the price that was paid was a cruel death on a Roman cross.

Today is the day we remember.  It's the day our attention is focused on the cross.  We don't like to pay attention to those details.  I think we prefer to just think of an artist's rendering of those events.  We want to distance ourself from the actual sights and sounds of that day.  If you have ever seen the movie "The Passion of the Christ", then you have a more realistic picture of what that day was like.  It was horrible.  It was a really bad day.

Jesus died on that Friday.  That isn't the end of the story!  And for that we are all so very grateful.  But we must never forget Friday.  Because it was on Friday, on that really bad day, that the price was paid for our sin.

Perhaps in the middle of your busyness today, you can find a quiet spot with your Bible and read the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion day. Take some time to remember the price that was paid on that really bad Friday.

"So they took Jesus, and he went out bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.  There they crucified him."           (John 19:17-18 ESV)



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