Friend

This weekend has been full to overflowing for me and I haven't had much sleep to top it off. :) After the Beth Moore conference (which was totally fabulous---55 ladies went forward from the ages of 14 to 78!) and then two blogging friends whom I had never met stopped in on their way back to Colorado Springs, spending last night with us. We stayed up till 2 am talking and LAUGHING!!!! It was great. However, the piper had to be paid this morning when they wanted to be back on the road at 8:30 am.

There were several parts that really struck me. I think of all the chapters to date, this one by far, has been my favorite. The first thing which popped out at me was in the first paragraph where James says, "...in every situation, the way Jesus responded was the most loving way anyone could ever respond. When I look at things this way, I often discover that love looks different than I expect it to." This struck me so profoundly. I haven't ever looked at Jesus' responses to people in light of His love. As I think back through different Bible passages it causes me to see things in a different light. Very, very interesting to me!

I shuddered when I read the paragraph which states: "Judas' life had been an open invitation to Satan for a long time. Finally, the tempter just came in and shut the door behind him." Doesn't that send chills down your spine? It has such a sense of finality.

Another powerful sentence and "right on" biblically is "But guilt doesn't save anyone." When I was reading how Judas was gripped with guilt he committed suicide, I thought of the milk man so consumed with guilt who killed the Amish girls and then killed himself.

I love how Jesus continually offers us His very life to grab on to. So many people walk away. How sad. I've heard it said many times that someone literally has to trip over Jesus to go to hell. "But Judas walked away."