Easter

Last weekend was the Greek Easter. Now you’re probably going - what the?! We celebrated Easter a month ago! Well the reason why the Orthodox (Eastern) and Catholic (Western) Easter dates differ is because they use different calendars. The Catholics base their dates off of the Gregorian Calendar while the Orthodox base their dates off of the Julian Calendar. I’m not going to go into the details of how they work as they use different algorithms with either the solar or lunar cycles and it’s actually kind of complicated. What I did want to share with this blog entry is what I did.

Every year HM staff celebrates Easter together at the property, and this year was no different. We were all together about 80 people, with HM families and kids along with some good friends. It was a lot of fun and really quite relaxing. For me it was nice to get away from the city and just relax. Lately I’ve been feeling like I can’t breath, like I’m drowning in a vast see with no land on the horizon. So, as I was walking up the path towards the central building, I had to stop myself and just breath for the first time in days. It felt amazing! I was also able to get away from everybody for the first time in a long time, find my usual spot in the shade by the water and just get into the Word. That was as refreshing as the weekend was. I started reading in Mark, about Jesus’ miracles, and as I was reading there was just this theme that popped out, one that had never noticed before. It was one where Jesus, right before He did the miracles, made sure the people believed and had faith that He could accomplish what He said He would.
One example that really stood out was in Mark 9:17-27

A man in the crowd answered,
"Teacher, I brought you my son, who is
possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.
Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground.
He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.
I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not."
"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"
"From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
Immediately the boy's father exclaimed,
"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene,
he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said,
"I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out.
The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said,
"He's dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

The father here, as he brought his son to Jesus, said “If you can do anything” at that point it is was like Jesus was offended as His reply was “IF you can?” and quickly added “Anything is possible for him who believes” It was like He was saying “who do you think I am? Of course I can heal him! The question is do you believe I can? If only you would believe, I could do anything for you” to this the father replies “help me overcome my unbelief” that is help me believe, I want to. To this desire of having faith in Him, Jesus healed the son. This story is in stark contrast to Mark 6:4-6

Jesus said to them,
"Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house
is a prophet without honor."
He could not do any miracles there,
except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Because of their lack of faith Jesus didn’t do any miracles. Not that He couldn’t do any miracles, but rather He chose not to ‘reward’ their unbelief by doing any. If we believe God can do something in our lives He will reward us according to His good and perfect will. Like Peter we need to step out of the boat, make that first step of faith before He will take the next one with and for us. Another good example of this in Joshua 3:14-17

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan,
the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.
Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest.
Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan
and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream
stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away,
at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the
water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah
was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD
stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan,
while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had
completed the crossing on dry ground.

The Israelites needed to cross the Jordan at full flood, this was not a small stream, but a river flowing at full capacity, that they needed to cross! What did they have to do before the Lord did anything? The priests needed to take that first step into the river before the Lord stopped the flow. They needed to step out in faith, believing that the Lord would save them from assured drowning and get them to the other side safely. Talk about stepping out of the boat. As their feet touched the water the flow stopped. God immediately rewarded their faith by doing a miracle.
In my life, a good example is my original trip to Greece. The Lord didn’t start providing for my trip until I bought my plane ticket, by faith, on my visa card. My exact thought, as I was clicking the button to place the orders was: “Well Lord, either I’m getting myself into debt or You’re going to have to provide.” And of course He did!
Anyway all this to say that stepping out in faith is just something the Lord reinforced this Easter weekend, as I’m worrying about Operation Joshua, finances for China and finances for my YWAM training. Do I really believe that the Lord can provide? Of course I do! Am I willing to step out in faith and go for it...? Now, more than ever - YES!

This is for all of us, an encouragement that the Lord is by our side always looking out for us, providing for our next steps, if only we would step out in faith.

Happy Easter to all of you - HE IS RISEN!

The Grail

The Tradition: The Holy Grail was a vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper. Given to his grand-uncle, St. Joseph of Arimathea, it was used by him to collect Christ's blood and sweat while Joseph tended him on the Cross. After Christ's death, Joseph was apparently imprisoned in a rock tomb similar to the one he had given for the body of his grand-nephew. Left to starve, he was sustained for several years by the power of the Grail which provided him with fresh food and drink every morning. Later, St. Joseph travelled to Britain with his family and several followers. He settled at Ynys Witrin (Glastonbury), but the Grail was taken to Corbenic where it was housed in a spectacular castle, guarded always by the Grail Kings, descendants of Joseph's daughter, Anna (Enygeus) and her husband, Brons.

I asked dad this afternoon if he wanted to get a movie for tonight and if yes then which one. For some reason he mentioned the Da Vinci Code, which I promptly went to get. I love that story. The Da Vinci Code is one of the few books I have read more than once. I love history, art and mysteries which the Code has loads of.

Because of my background, I grew believing that Jesus had a wife and child, my mom taught me of that fairly early on, and why not? Jesus was human after all, why couldn’t He have loved a woman and fathered a child with her? Well one thing, the world’s most reliable historical source ever found to date, the Bible, never mentions it. Other authoritative historical sources, not alleged gospels written under the aliases of someone else 200-300 years older than the closest eyewitness, do not mention Christ’s alleged family either. Also another of the many problems that particular theory has is that it assumes that Christ is only fully man, it disregards His dual nature. Christ is also fully God. Being fully God, and so the father of humanity, He would have viewed all humans, men and women alike, as His children. To me it seems like a twisted kind of love where a father falls in-love with his daughter.
I personally believe that because people couldn’t grasp the reality of God, and therefore grasp the divinity of Christ, it was easier to undermine Him. It was easier, for all purposes along with their consciences, to make Him out to be fully man and not even remotely divine but made so by His human counterparts. Enter the quest for the grail. Why the quest, what is its purpose? To what does it lead? Does it lead to some enchanted chalice, the heir of Christ through His bloodline or to something completely different? Who started it?
I want to start a mini series where I want to attempt to answer these questions. I’ve always been fascinated by the grail stories. There is such an air of mystery surrounding them with the Nights Templar and the Priori de Sion, the secret societies allegedly charged with hiding a big secret. I first heard of the Priori de Sion and the Nights Templar in France with my grandparents. They live in the south and in the part of France that has the most Templar and Sion lore, apparently a lot of the story after Jerusalem and their fall happens there.

Anyway it’s an interesting story that has always fascinated me and I hope to dig in deeper.