Day One

Ash Wednesday begins.....

And it begins on a very sad note. A young mom and her 2 young daughters died in a horrific house fire near Atlanta last night. She was a young lady who I first met when we attended Discovery UMC. She wasn't married then and was young and she helped start the Dance Ministry at DUMC and she also was a part of a Small Group that I was in/led at the time.  That was about 18 years ago. She even went to Florida with our small group one week-end. Kathy had lots of issues that she would share but despite them, she remained steadfast in her love of Jesus. We shared a lot in our small group and tried to encourage her and love on her.  I like to believe that the love she got in that group helped her to continue in her own dance ministry while at DUMC...Time passed-- she moved/ got married and had children and we changed churches. In recent years we stayed connected via FaceBook after she married and had children. She bought her girls tee shirts for Super Carter and proudly posted them on my FB wall of the girls and herself wearing them .....Katie was watching the news last night in Atlanta and heard the area/ the children's ages, etc. and was hoping against hope it wasn't Kathy that was in the fire that they were reporting  b/c Tucker, Ga. was where she lived and that was the area that was mentioned--along with the girls ages. Sadly, shockingly,  it was them. I know neither Katie nor I slept well last night. Images of her face and her children's faces haunted my dreams. But, also I was remembering when she would dance. when "I Could Only Imagine" song came out, Kathy put that song to a liturgical dance.At the time she danced to it, she was going through some personal issues. No matter what was going on in her life, she always had a heart for Christ. I'll never forget that morning she danced to that song. She was about 17 years old then.  It was powerful and moving. This is how I want to remember her now. Because now she doesn't have to "imagine" what her eyes will see in heaven. She is seeing it firsthand. And with her girls she loved so much (ages 7 and 12). I pray for her husband who was burned last night but survived. He has lost his home and his family. And my heart breaks. So, with a heavy heart, I begin my Ash Wednesday. Ashes.  Ashes from a fire and ashes from last years palm branches. 

So, how appropriate this morning that I go over the words I will read from Joel tonight at church. Here they are.....
Joel 2:1-2. 12-17

"Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! 
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before, nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.

"yest even now", declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, 
and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments."

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
Who knows whether he willnot turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?

Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;
gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders;
gather the children, even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.

Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests , the ministers of the Lord, weep and say,
"Spare your people,O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach,
a by word among the nations."

Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

May your Lenten days be filled, not with dread, but with hope of the Resurrection that will follow. But, first, we must take the journey of the Cross. And that is not always an easy journey to take, but he HOPE we have in Christ gives us the encouragement to travel onward, knowing that He is still alive. with us. and walking through death/darkness/sin and defeat.


carry on. and carry the cross.