Holy Week -- Wednesday

Wednesday, at a dinner for Jesus, Mary took an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, worth more than a year's wages, broke it, and poured it on Jesus' head. According to Jesus, she was anointing him for burial. Michael Card offers insight into this lavish gift of Mary, and Cheryl Bonner sings about it in the videos below.






Scripture for Wednesday of Holy Week
Matthew 22:41-26:16
Mark 12:35-14:11
Luke 20:41-22:6
Jon 12:2-8

Holy Week -- Tuesday

On Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week Jesus did a lot of teaching. Max McLean does a wonderful job here presenting the 12th chapter of Mark. Among many other issues he covers, Jesus answers the questions of those who are trying to trap him and he answers the question, What is the greatest commandment?

Jesus' answer seems simple: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). But this kind of love comes only as we strip away everything we want and everything we believe about God and the world, so that we can come to know God for who he is. Otherwise how can we love him with everything we are? And when we yield ourselves completely to God, we find we want nothing more than to love him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

And what does it mean to love our neighbor as ourself? Jesus answers that question in the story of the Good Samaritan, who crossed cultural and religious barriers to care for another human being that he had no responsibility, according to society. It cost him greatly, yet he was lavish with his love for this beaten stranger.

Indeed, Jesus demonstrated this lavish love when he laid down his life for us. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him (Romans 5:7-8, The Message).

May the Lord give us grace to follow these two greatest commandments.



Scripture for Tuesday of Holy Week
Matthew 21:20-22
Mark 11:20-12:34
Luke 20:1-40

Holy Week -- Monday

On Monday of Holy Week Jesus entered the temple where commerce was the order of business. We read in Matthew 21:13, "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'" And he proceeded to drive out the moneychangers and cleanse the temple.

The leaders did not get it. Jesus was ruining their rituals. But the blind and the lame got it. They were not put off by Jesus' anger. We are told that they came to the temple and he healed them (verse 14). And the children got it. Remembering the joy of the procession the day before, they were still overflowing with praise, and as a result, they were shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David" (verse 15). But the chief priests and the teachers of the law were indignant when they saw this.

If you'd been there (putting aside your knowledge of the coming events of the week) how would you have responded? With indignation, like the leaders? With faith, like the blind and lame who sought Jesus out for healing? With joy, like the children?


The video is from the Days With Jesus website.

Scripture for Monday of Holy Week
Matthew 21:12-19
Mark 11:12-19
Luke 19:45-48
John 12:20-50

Holy Week -- Palm Sunday

Holy Week, the most significant week in the Christian calendar. Each day this week we will take a look at what was happening on that particular day of Holy Week. I invite you to put yourself at the scene each day, whether joining in the celebration of Palm Sunday or sitting at the table with Jesus at the Last Supper.

Palm Sunday is portrayed in the following video, created by Big Book Media. It was Jesus' victory parade! Of course we know what happened later in the week, so it is easy for us to watch the story unfold in the light of Jesus' condemnation to death just days later. But try to experience what it was like for the people whose joy is reflected on their faces as Jesus enters Jerusalem. Rejoice with them -- Jesus the King has come!

Hosanna! Let our praise resound!


A Day With Jesus, The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem from Days With Jesus on Vimeo.



Hosanna (Palm Sunday) from Centerline New Media on Vimeo.

Scriptures for Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1-11
Mark 11:1-11
Luke 19:29-44
John 12:12-19

Purple Sunrise

I just had a warm, delicious breakfast, a bowl of Purple Sunrise cereal. It's made by Chris and Barbara Swartz of Camano Island and is just being introduced onto the market this weekend. I heard about it through an article I read yesterday in the Herald.

The idea of a locally produced gluten-free cereal caught my attention. The ingredients, all superfoods, are organic whole grains, and would be a wonderful start to a day. And then I realized that it was Barbara Swartz, a friend from my boys' school days, who created the cereal!

When Barbara's daughter Christy went off to college in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2009, she found it hard to study because of a growing sensitivity to wheat. So her mom began to experiment with grains, nuts, and seeds to find a breakfast that would not only be non-gluten but also give Christy a healthy boost to her morning. It's the gourmet black rice, that turns a lovely purple color when it is cooked, that prompted Barbara and her husband Chris to call the cereal Purple Sunrise.

They turned their TV room into a commercial kitchen and were licensed last October. That's where they mill the grain and make and package their cereal.

It's a busy time for the Swartz family just now. Christy is getting married on March 30, but there is plenty on the family's plate between now and then. This weekend they will be introducing their new product at Seattle's Vegfest. To prepare they packaged (by hand) enough 16oz bags of Purple Sunrise to sell at the festival, plus 2000 3.35oz bags to include in a box for other Vegfest vendors!

If my own experience is any indication, they should have plenty of sales at Vegfest. After reading the Herald article yesterday and checking out their website -- Barbara is a graphic artist, so both the website and the packaging are high quality -- I called to place an order. When I stopped by True-View Glass and Windows in Stanwood, a local drop-off for Purple Sunrise, there were several orders to be picked up by people who had also heard of them through local media. I'll just bet they enjoyed their breakfast this morning as much as I did.

(I'm already thinking about ways to add a bit of Purple Sunrise to the muffins I'm planing to bake later today!)

If a hearty, healthy breakfast for you and your family is important to you, I suggest you check out Purple Sunrise!

Home Make-Over: Some Practical Tips

We've just spent several months re-decorating our living room. Much of this time was spent in planning, and a lot was spent in waiting for furniture to arrive. Once the big stuff was in place it took time to get things settled and add the finishing touches. In the process, I learned a few things that might help you as you make changes to your own living space.

How to Design a Room -- Measure your room and plot it on a sheet of graph paper. Make your diagram as large as possible, creating as true a picture possible of the floorspace. Now measure the furniture you plan to use and cut out pieces of brown paper bag to scale for the diagram you have of your room. Include tables, bookcases, TV stand, whatever furnishings you expect to use. Move them around, trying out different configurations. You may find that there is too much furniture, or not enough, or that the furniture you want to buy is too large for your room. We found that we needed to move the piano from the living room to the dining room, something I had seriously considered before. We also realized that there would be no room for a recliner. Though it looked impossible that we could arrange the furniture in the style we wanted, we continued to tweak our map and made everything work. This process saved us potential frustration (and money), and I'm really grateful we included this step in the make-over.

Choosing Flooring -- Of course this is an individual choice that will be made according to your budget and your taste. I suggest spending time in the showroom of a carpet store or a wood flooring store and see what they have to offer. We had one kind of carpet in mind when we went into the store, but an hour later, when we left, we had a lot better idea of what was available and the salesperson had helped us work through the process. Most stores will have samples you can take home with you, and they will come to your home to do a free estimate. The big home improvement chain stores offer the same service, but the local stores can be remarkably competitive. We will work with the same company when we change out our kitchen floor and countertops because we liked their work and because they already know our house.

Carpet Care -- Just one thought here. The lovely new carpet feels great on our bare feet, but it's good to be aware that the oil on your feet transfers to the carpet, and dirt can stick to the rug more easily where your bare feet walk most often.

Choosing a Sofa -- Choosing a sofa, one that fits you well and fits into your room well, is the most critical decision you will make. Not every sofa is comfortable for every person, and you need to find the one that is right for you. After all, you don't want to purchase something that looks nice but gives you a headache or is too soft or whatever it is that makes it uncomfortable for you. So don't make any snap decisions about your sofa.

We had to return the first set we purchased (a sofa, a love seat, and a chair) because it did not fit our bodies, even though we had looked at several stores and sat on many sofas before we chose the set we did. It was classy and beautiful and fit our room well, but it did not fit us. Our store was willing to work with us and offered to exchange it for us. After working with them over several visits, we chose a sofa brand that makes sofas to order. I went home and looked the company up on line, then printed out photos and info about each sofa that looked like it might work. I took them to the store and they showed me which styles they had. I sat on each one, but none of them was right for me. My next step was to return to the sofa maker's website and see what area furniture stores sold their sofas. There were about a dozen stores. I collected my printouts about sofas we were interested in and the addresses to the furniture stores and set out. I sat on only sofas made by this one company. I would sit, get up and walk around, and return to the sofa. I sat on a lot of sofas -- you get to test drive a car; you should be able to "test sit" a sofa -- and eventually I narrowed my search down to just two or three styles. Finally I took my parents with me on an outing and in a store miles from home we all decided that one particular style was just what I was looking for.

Finally I returned to our home store with the sofa style number I wanted to order. They showed me the fabric selections and sent me home with samples. After the new sofa was finally ordered we had to wait about six weeks for it to come. But it was worth the wait. The new sofa is made to order!

Store Policy -- When ordering big things like carpet and furniture, be sure you are working with reputable companies. Check them out through the Better Business Bureau. And if you have any concerns throughout the process you can always call the BBB for guidance. Right at the beginning it is good to get the store policy in writing. Find out what happens if you are not satisfied with the product you purchase through them, or the workmanship. It's always a good business practice.

Lighting -- We complained ever since we moved to this house that the living room was too dark. Even with the lights on it was difficult to read. Then we bought new lampshades. We got them to update our lamps, but we had no idea of the additional benefit we would experience -- a bright room!

The old lampshades were all two layers of cloth, both layers pleated. It was a lot of fabric for the light to pass through. They were also taller than the new shades, brightening a smaller area. Our new drum shades are much shorter, they stand away farther from the bulb, and the material is a single layer and a truer white than the old lampshades. Now, instead of looking for a flashlight when the living room lights are on, we are hunting up our sun glasses!

What I thought would take a few weeks ended up taking four months. But I am more than satisfied with the results. I hope these tips help you when you find yourself on the same journey.

Home Make-Over: Living Room

It all started when the washer gave up the ghost in early November. We had bought it used long ago, and it served us well for many years. But one day it began to make a loud clunking sound and the agitator quit. We ordered a new washer and dryer from Lowe's and, since there was a little extra money in the kitty (and the store gave us some cash back when the appliances went on sale on Veteran's Day!) we were able to get new blinds and paint for the kitchen and dining room/family room too.

We've lived here for over nine years and have been unable to do much upgrading. But by now things were looking pretty dowdy. What did we want to do, and where to start? Our minds were reeling. Perhaps we could change out the floor covering throughout the house and even purchase new living room furniture!

We spent much of December considering our options. And we painted the kitchen. We were overwhelmed with so many possibilities for flooring -- we leaned toward wood floors throughout the downstairs -- but we finally decided on carpet in the living room and new vinyl in the rest of the main floor. We stopped by Remnant King on Rucker in Everett and Midge spent a lot of time with us, sending us home with several samples. John came out to measure and brought along additional samples. He measured the kitchen and dining room floors and the kitchen countertops as well, and he's keeping it on file for a later date.

Now, you don't just go with the first place you find, so we had Lowe's come out too, and we stopped by another carpet store to get an estimate. In the end, the bid from Remnant King was so close to Lowe's bid, and with a higher quality carpet and pad, that we were happy to give them our business.

When we walked into the Home Center in Stanwood we were greeted by a lovely young man named Ryan who was attentive to our needs and a great asset to the store. He's only 20, but he's been working in the showroom for several years, and he also makes deliveries. We ordered a sofa, love seat, chair and three tables from them.

The carpet was installed on December 28 -- so much for Christmas decorating! -- and the furniture came the following day.

We loved our new look! It was a total re-make of our living room. Out with the dingy grey, stained carpet, in with the plush brown flecky one. Out with the blue plaid sofa and the black loveseat with too many pillows and the tables that were way out of style. Move that piano out of the living room to the dining room and bring in a book case and a credenza. Switch the furniture from the outside walls to a cozy conversation area.

But it wasn't too long till we realized that the sofa set did not fit our bodies. And the chemicals in the carpet and furniture were gassing off and causing us to feel ill.

The furniture store was willing to work with us. They let us exchange our sofa set for a new sofa, and we found a great swivel chair that we loved at Hanson's Furniture in Mt Vernon. We sped up the off-gassing process. Just last week we completed our make-over when we purchased new pillows for the sofa and shades to update our lamps.

Through this past five months I've learned quite a lot about what's involved in a make-over. On Wednesday I'll give you some tips that might make the process easier for you. For now, I'm happy to show you how the new living room looks.

Why don't you come in and have a look!