Daffodils and Tulips

So, we took our own advice on Wednesday and went to La Conner to see the tulips. As we were driving through the flats outside La Conner Tom saw hundreds of snow geese overhead, and they landed in a field along the road, thick as the quail in the wilderness. Here's a glimpse of just a few of them.

When the tulips are at their height, these fields are stripes of brilliant color. I hope to return to this site in a week or two and catch this field in full color, but for now the daffodils have the spotlight.

We found a brilliant field of daffodils and got out to shoot them up close. A man with wide angle capabilities on his SLR digital camera told us how he gets his photos -- from underneath the flowers, looking up, with the sky and clouds in the background. Tom and I both tried out his method throughout the trip. 

Of course full fields of tulips in bloom are wonderful, but there is plenty of beauty in the early stages too.

We ran into a couple who were bicycling and offered to take our photo. We chatted for a bit and learned that they are from Spokane. Turns out Nancy, the wife, teaches with my dear friend Judi, my roommate for all four years of college!

Of Taxes, Tomatoes, and Tulips

Timely trivia. Perhaps not terribly inspirational, but maybe useful. That's what we're serving up here today.

Taxes
 It's tax time. You've probably already received (and spent?) your tax return by now, but for those of you who are still working on taxes, you don't want to overlook any possible deductions. Here are a couple of links that you might want to check out.

Commonly Overlooked Tax Deductions Checklist
The 7 Tax Deductions You Shouldn't Overlook


Tomatoes
Are you still trying to discover the truth about tomatoes -- you know, whether they are fruits or vegetables? It's a question that's been around for a long time, but it was, actually definitively answered by our judicial court system in 1893. According to my extensive research (I looked it up on Mental Floss), the question made it all the way to the Supreme Court, in Nix vs Hedeen. They unanimously ruled that tomatoes are vegetables. So there!

Tulips
It's time for the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival! Hundreds of thousands of people make the trek each April to see the amazing displays of tulips that cover the fields of La Conner, Washington. Early in the month there may be more daffodils blooming than tulips, as La Conner also grows an abundance of daffodils. You can learn more about what's blooming by clicking on the Bloom Map on the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival's website.

If you want to see tulips but don't want to leave your house, let me recommend that you go to Google Images and type in "tulips." The results will be stunning. If, however, you prefer reading about tulips over seeing them, here is a brief history of tulips in Holland that you might enjoy.

Sister Connection -- 30 in 30

Denise Patch of Sister Connection has been in Burundi for the past two weeks, visiting widows and orphans -- those who are sponsored by Sister Connection and those who are still waiting for sponsorship. Some of the homes she visited are orphan-led. That means that their widowed mothers have also died and the children are on their own. They also visited the three Sister Connection widows who lost their livelihood in the Bujumbura Market fire a couple of months ago.

I've been following Denise's trip on Facebook and was moved by this report:

Her husband was killed when he left the house late at night to get medicine for her raging malaria. She was 8 months pregnant and her husband's family kicked her out of her house. So began her decent into utter despair. Starvation ravaged them, nakedness was one cloth away (she would sit naked by the river waiting for her cloth to dry on laundry day), two of her children died, her son was taken by rebel soldiers to join their army, and this young widow cried for hours of the each day. 

One day someone invited her to church -- and loaned her clothes to wear. She found peace for her heart, but her body was in so much suffering. She was still hungry, still naked, and still crying. Until Sister Connection learned of her. 

"The social worker called me to her office and she actually put money in my hands. I looked at the money and I said, 'Whose money is this?' She said, 'It's your money.' I said, 'This can't be my money. Whose is it?' She said, 'It is all your money.' I was so overwhelmed that I lost consciousness. When I came to, the money was still in my hand. It was mine!" 

Her son came home safely from the bush army, and she and he are thriving. She radiates joy and gratitude. Now, when she walks by people say, "Here comes Mrs Jesus!" For she proclaims Him the husband of the widow. 

He needs us to be the vessel through which He provides for widows like this. He needs you. And so do they.

 So here's the thing. There are still hundreds of widows, with stories just as gripping, who are waiting for sponsorship. Would you consider what you could do to help one of these sisters who is seen as an outcast by others in Burundi? It could make all the difference in the world.

Sister Connection has just released a video that will give you a look at what $30 a month can do for a widow and her children. Their goal is to get 30 new sponsors in the 30 days of April. It is a worthy goal, but I think we can get the word out to people so that even more than 30 new widows can receive sponsorship this month.

Please watch the video and share it with everyone you think might be interested to see it too. And let's be praying that the Lord will richly bless Sister Connection, the widows they serve, and all those who stand with them in this vital ministry.

Resurrection Day!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

but when the entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee? "The Son of May must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'" Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, the told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. Bt they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb.

Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

(Luke 24:1-12)

...He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. 

Reach out your hand and put it into my side. 

Stop doubting and believe."

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

(John 20:27-28)

Photos from freebibleimages.org Used by permission.

Wishing you the joy of the Resurrection!

Happy Resurrection Day! from Mission Church on Vimeo.

Scripture for Easter Sunday
Matthew 28:1-15
Mark 16:2-14
Luke 24:1-43
John 20:1-25

Holy Week -- Saturday

What must it have been like for Mary to watch her son be crucified and placed in that tomb? Had all her years of pondering brought her to the place where she understood that he had to suffer and die? Way back at the beginning of his ministry, when they were at the wedding feast in Cana and they ran out of wine, Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. She trusted him to do the right thing. So I rather thank that, as wrenching as it would have been for her, she maintained that underlying trust in her son and in the Father.

But the waiting... the long hours between seeing him placed in the tomb and early Sunday morning, the day after the Sabbath, when they would again be able to visit the tomb. Oh, the waiting.

Sit for a while with Mary, awaiting the first light of Sunday. Sit and be still, as if you don't yet know the reality of the resurrection. And while you sit with her, meditate on the words of the hymn, O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.






Scripture for Saturday of Holy Week
Mathew 27:62-66
Mark: 16:1
Luke 23:56

Holy Week -- Friday

Today is Good Friday -- hard, dark, terrible, agonizing Good Friday. The first video, produced by Christian Fellowship Church in Belfast, Ireland, highlights the events of the day, while the song, My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? by Scott Brenner, is the first 21 verses of Psalm 22 put to music. It was from this Psalm that Jesus quoted when he called out to God from the cross. (If you want to hear part 2 of Psalm 22, click here.)


CFC Belfast | Good Friday from Christian Fellowship Church on Vimeo.




Scripture for Friday of Holy Week
Matthew 26:47 - 27:61
Mark 14:43 - 15:47
Luke 22:7 - 47-23:56
John 18:2 - 19:42

Holy Week -- Thursday

John is the only gospel writer who includes the washing of the disciples' feet at the Last Supper. He leads into the story with these words: Jesus knew that the Father had put al things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and drying them with the towel that as wrapped around him (John 13:3-5).

Jesus knew who he was and what he was about. In Philippians 2:5-11 Paul shows us that this act of servanthood at the Last Supper reflects Jesus' attitude with which he lived life. And it is the attitude we are called to as well.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, 
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to death --
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God theFather.  






Scripture for Thursday of Holy Week
Matthew 26:17-46
Mark 14L12-42
Luke 22:7-46
John 13:1-18:1