April 20 -A New Day

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." - John 14:1-3

As mothers' keep vigil over their dying children, silence and an aching, heart-wrenching dread fills them at the inevitable taking place before their eyes. Every few minutes the silence is broken as the gut-wrenching cries of loss and grief scream the agony of yet another mother's broken heart....another child has died....died for the simple want of food and water.

It was a normal enough day with no sign of the disaster that was to strike like a thief in the night before the day was done. Life had followed it's usual pattern, and the working day was drawing to a close. The women were busy preparing food for their men and the children when they returned home from school.

It was then it struck – an earthquake. An approaching roar filled the air, and within seconds, the earth rose and fell like sea-waves, cracking apart into deep fissures....the school building was totally destroyed....two hundred children lay buried under the rubble.

Mothers, at great risk to their own lives, left their cooking, racing to the school, and digging into the earth with their bare hands, screaming for
help to move the stones, hoping to discover their children would be alive under the rubble....if they were, how long ould theylast without food and water?

It is April 3^rd in the year AD33-36. A mother watches as the blood from His wounds falls to the ground, and listens to the abuse hurled at her
Son, watching Him die in agony, nailed to a cross between two criminals....Jesus Christ, the blameless Son of God, willingly giving His life, for us - dying in our place, and thereby taking on His own shoulders every wrong thought, word, action and inclination of our individual lives – (I wonder, as she stood there, did Mary realise her Son was dying for her too? If so, how much more intense her pain would be!)

Jesus didn't deserve it. Didn't deserve the ridicule, flogging, abuse, being stripped naked and nailed to a cross to be scoffed at by the crowds. But, He did it because He loves us. Loves us that much that He couldn't bear to face eternity without us, and this was the only way to ensure we will have Eternal Life.

Each of these mothers have so much in common with us and our lives today.

With mother number one her children are dying for want of bread and water. Right at this moment, around the world, famine and disease are claiming the lives of millions of children and adults. The Western world and it's affluent societies have much to answer for as, every day, tonnes of unused and discarded household food is dumped onto rubbish tips. But the greatest need of all in the world today, is not the bread and water with a short shelf life, but the Bread and Water that leads to eternal life.-

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not .... Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life." ... as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ... on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. John 6:35

This is the answer also to mother number two's situation. Many young people seeking 'freedom' venture into a life that crooks it's finger offering glitz, glamour and independence. Fed-up with conformity and rules, they long to experience a bit of life on the wild-side. They walk away from home, breaking all connections with family and faith. For a while they live what they regard as, the high-life, then out of the blue, the earthquake strikes, and they lie buried under the ruins of a life that could have, should have, been so, so different.

During all this time the mother had clawed at the 'earth' of every organisation, legal and illegal, screaming at them to help her move the stones and find her son – to bring him home and assure him that the Bread and Water he had rejected was still available.

“but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I .... Jesus and the Samaritan Woman ... "Sir," the woman replied, "You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where ... Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: 'Streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 14.

Down through the ages, the anguished cry, “Why Lord, Why? continues to escape our lips as we say “goodbye” to loved ones, or hear the doctor tell us “Sorry, but there is nothing more we can do for you” I cam't tell you anymore than you know yourselves . The depth, height, and width of the “Why;s” is unknown to me.

All I do know is from personal experience over the years as I've stood where you've stood at these times when the question of “Why Lord? Why? Where are you?” is inescapable Jesus has been right there at my side, assuring me that that wasn't the end – just the end of the beginning.

On the Friday our Saviour hung on the Cross, arms widespread to embrace the whole world, regardless of creed, colour, and status. On the Sunday HE ROSE AGAIN - HE LIVES! and SO WILL WE WITH OUR LOVED ONES! His death bought us ETERNAL LIFE. All we need do is ACCEPT and BELIEVE.

Click on the picture to listen to our music . David Phelps singing “End of the Beginning (Live)