You'll, I just love all we can create, both words and photos, with ChatGPT. Caricatures are fun. Here is one from a group photo at the Chamber ribbon cutting on Tuesday. Can you guess who is who?

And, then a more caricature one, oh, my! LOL Guess who!!!

Thank you, Gerald Dean Holt, for being our "snapper," and Lynda for being our "perfect mower." We love our "Barbie," our lovely "laundress," and the leader of the pack! There were many awesome community business leaders at the event; this is just the caricature group to share! LOL

We did it. Susan Barkley helped me accomplish my two-year goal of visiting my longtime friends, Kerri Falkenberg and Emily Falkenberg, at their boutique, Runningwater Dry Goods, in Canyon, Texas. I got to hug "Goldie," as she called me "Oldie," nicknames we have had for each other since Em was little. Their shop is a great little slice of boutique heaven. I loved seeing them when they were in Plainview, but I am excited for their business success in Canyon. Shop Local, Shop Small, wherever you live!

This guy is 3. Happy Birthday to our little guy, ASW.

Back then, when we had our first child in 1977, we had no cell phones, not even bag phones. We had three TV stations, and the television played the National Anthem at midnight, followed by gray static even as late as 1980, when our second child was born.

When your child was hungry, restless, not feeling well, or their sleep pattern was off and you were up after midnight rocking them, there was nothing but quiet. Lots of clock ticks to think, pray and sing.

One song our children heard me sing a lot was Pass It On. I learned it as a youth attending First Baptist Church Plainview and the lyrics speak truth.

I do not own the rights to the lyrics or music of this song, but it speaks truth.

 Verse 2

What a wondrous time is spring

When all the trees are budding

The birds begin to sing 

Something is the Same...

We are all created differently. We are all composed of different facades with a multitude of colors, shapes, and sizes. We have a lifetime of intricate weaving. Something is the same in every one of us. We are all created with the same soul that yearns for Christ, whether we accept Him as our Savior or ignore the hole, He made us to be nurtured holy so that we might share His story with those He places in our lives.

This view on South Baltimore has always been one of my favorites because it is a representation of diversity!

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9-10

In Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free person, male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

My thoughts on the Easter Story...

The Passover was approaching, and they were looking for a way to put him [Jesus] to death.

Then Satan entered Judas. I don't believe Judas was a bad person, but one who took his eyes off the Glory in the story. His sin rippled for eternity.

Seriously, the details in Scripture are beautiful. "There will be a man carrying a water jug who will meet you ... Tell the owner, The Teacher asks you....You will see a large furnished room upstairs." It happened just that way. The disciples prepared the Passover.

Jesus broke bread and shared the cup of the New Covenant with a sinner at the table. Jesus knew the road he must travel, but he also noted that betraying God's Son would not end well for Judas, or us today.

Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." This verse reminds me of our earthly suffering and how we should pray. Jesus knew suffering was coming. He also knew that joy would come in the morning; he prayed. The disciples forgot the purpose and importance of prayer. Jesus found them sleeping and said, "Get up and pray, so that you won't fall into temptation."

The betrayal was fulfilled with a miracle ear incident. God, God, how great thou art!

Jesus even knew the rooster would crow when Peter had denied knowing him three times. The details are so crucial in the testimony. Peter wept and had to live with what he had done, breaking the heart of Jesus. We break his heart when we sin and deny him our hearts and service. He sat at the Passover meal with his followers, all feeling important at the table, yet Jesus served.

Sometimes people ask questions that are traps set to change the narrative. [The elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, convened and brought him before their Sanhedrin.] They asked Jesus if he was the Messiah. Tell us, they said. "If I do tell you, you will not believe. And if I ask you, you will not answer. But from here on out, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God."

They weren't listening, and the plan was in place. When you read the story, there are so many layers to get to the new beginning. Herod and Pilate became friends after they had once been enemies. I don't know all the historical background, and I am far from a Bible scholar, but I find this interesting. Pilate was looking for a miracle and missed this one, since he and Herod had been enemies! God healed a relationship.

Crucify him!

We have heard about being in the wrong place at the right time. This would describe Simon. How he just happened to be coming in from a long day, probably reflecting, and told to carry the cross for the death of Jesus. Is this a bad thing or a divine opportunity to serve the Savior? As horrific as what was to take place on that cross, in my mind, he served the soon-to-be Risen Savior.

Two criminals were hanging to be crucified alongside Jesus, who was sinless, and some mocking was spewed from them about this King of the Jews. One of the two hanging on their cross, simply asked to be remembered, and guess what...a miracle yet again! Jesus said [in all his pain and suffering], "Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise."

This is the story of salvation through Christ... ask and you will receive. John 3:16, the cornerstone, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Then it was dark. Jesus entrusted his spirit to the Father.

No matter the story woven, God will be glorified. He wins. 

A good and righteous man, do we know them today? Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin, took care of the burial of Jesus. I would love to hear his story. He looked forward to the Kingdom of God, and God used him!

Then there is this cave and a rock. It held the body of Jesus until it didn't. "Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" He is RISEN.

Everything written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms was fulfilled.

Then [another miracle], He [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

He lifted his hands, blessed and left them, carried to Heaven.

They worshipped and praised...and shared the Way of Salvation.

Luke 22-24

Easter is about new life, learning, growth, and serving a risen Savior. He is in the world today. 

Each day I look at these and am reminded of sweet things...

The vintage Sabino glass butterfly was my mom's. The small, lidded glass jar is the smaller of the set of two from my grandmother, Etter. The glass jewelry tray is a crystal gift. The girl releasing the butterfly is a gift from a sweet friend. The lamp came from my grandfather Etter's electric business, as did the finial. The brass screen shade is one I made. The wood cabinet they sit on is one reworked by a friend, Travis Hart. I love my Ushka necklace, always reminding me of how blessed we are. 

“And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.” (Mark 15:16-20)

As I read these Holy words this morning, the Holy Spirit brought this thought to mind. We read this and are sickened that this would happen to someone we love, for us. We know the story. Those then did not. Some stood with him, some turned their backs. Same today, but we know the story. We should do better.

We do this to people today, crucify them through words and actions, or, really, the lack of acknowledgement or inclusion. People are mocked, stripped of any dignity they might have, and their worth is stomped upon. We are his children. He deserves better.

And he (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit) tells us that this world is temporary and to hold on to him. God created us for his glory, to be his disciples, his representatives here. We are not living in the holy land, we are passing through a land mine. How we treat others matters. 

"The Last Supper"

"Garden of Gethsemene"

"The Crucifixion"

"The Resurrection"

"The Ascension"

Romans 6:8-11, " Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

When my aunt (my father's sister), Elsie Fay Dayton Cox, passed away in 1984, I found myself with her sequins & such. I've kept them these forty-one years! I have a creative mind that tends to work on eclectic art projects. These have stumped me for yours. She used them to make beautiful hanging ornaments. I wish I had one of them to share with you, but I don't know where they all ended up. I saw some at an antiques store recently that triggered this blog. I'm not going to create an ornament, but I'm trying to decide on how I can create with these, or I need to discard and let someone else creatively use them. Do you have suggestions on a fun way to use them?