Here Comes Jesus!

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

 

JESUS ON DONKEY - WIKIPED.“Here comes Jesus!”

“Jesus of Nazareth is coming!”

“Do you see Him yet?”

“Here He comes!”

“Here comes Jesus!”

Excitement was rampant, and cries of “Hosanna” filled the air. Shouts of joy and triumph could be heard for miles along the road, and people rushed to lay palm branches and their personal garments as a carpet of welcome. Jesus of Nazareth was coming to Jerusalem.

This carpenter-teacher who had journeyed among them for nearly three years, teaching them, healing them, feeding them, forgiving them, raising their dead. This miracle worker, this wise man, this man who was gentle enough to draw crowds of children to his side yet bold enough He would soon drive money-changers from the temple with a whip — this man whom many claimed was the prophesied Messiah of Jehovah — this man was coming again to Jerusalem! I’m sure, had we been there, we would have heard the message repeated over and over again for miles: “Here comes Jesus! Here comes Jesus!”

We in the Christian world celebrate that event on one special day out of the year, and we call it Palm Sunday. We have special services and some of us wave palm branches in the air to commemorate the day that is often referred to by church historians as Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But that event happened over 2000 years ago. One could say it’s all history now; it’s been said and done;  it’s over.

But not so, my friends! I am thrilled beyond words to be able to tell you that Jesus is still coming to anyone and everyone who would like to receive Him. He’s a living, vital, right-now Jesus. He is the I AM (The self-existent one who causes all other things to be; the one who is and becomes whatever He desires to become — Hebrew definition). And the great I AM desires to become everything that His creation needs.

Jesus of Nazareth is alive today, and He’s still loving people, teaching people, feeding people, forgiving people, delivering people, healing people and making  them whole. And, yes, He’s still raising people from the dead. He’s the same Jesus who fulfilled the words of the ancient prophets by riding  into Jerusalem on a donkey that day.  He’s the same Jesus who worked myriads of miracles for the people. He’s the same Jesus who went to the cross to pay for the rebellion and sin of all the human race.

He’s the same Jesus who rose from the grave and took His throne as Lord of the universe. He’s the same Jesus who promised that if we would call on Him and receive Him as Lord, He would freely fill us with His own eternal life and with power to serve Him. He’s the same Jesus who promised that after our life of service to Him on this earth, we would move on to Heaven and live with Him forever. No questions —  no if’s, and’s or but’s. No struggling to get there, no sacrifice, no hard work, no price to pay. Jesus did the work. We receive the benefit.  And the Word of God,  Hebrews 13:8, says “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”

So I can tell you confidently: “Here comes Jesus!  He’s coming to you today! He’s coming because He sees your need; He sees your trouble; He sees your sorrow; He sees your pain; He sees your desperation; He sees your hopelessness; He hears your questions; He hears your confusion; He hears your private crying. He’s coming to you because He loves you.

Did you know that you don’t have to be a Christian for Jesus Christ to love you? Sometimes we who call ourselves Christians tend to flock together so tightly that we become almost like a clique, and the rest of the world feels as though they can’t break through the wall to become a part. But my message to the “rest of the world” today is that you don’t have to become a part of the “clique of Christianity.”  All you have to do is get to know Jesus, the real person.

And did you know that you don’t have to be a Christian to call on Jesus? That’s right. Jesus isn’t listening just for the call of the Christians. Certainly, He’s attuned to their cries and He rushes to their help when they need Him, but Jesus the Christ is listening — intently — for the cries of all the millions of  His creation in this world who don’t know Him at all. His heart is waiting expectantly for their voice to call out His name. And He’s ready to answer that call swiftly. He’s ready to come home with you at any time.

When Jesus walked the earth, He was often found in the homes of those who were not active believers. People whom the scriptures refer to as “publicans” and “sinners” found that Jesus was more than willing to spend time with them and teach them the truth about God — and show them God’s love by healing their sick and delivering those in demonic bondage. In fact, He often received hateful criticism from the religious leaders of His day because He gave Himself so freely to those who did not have a relationship with the true God. But Jesus’ response was simply that His main reason for coming into the earth was to find those who did not know Him and offer Himself to them.

Zacchaeus was one such man. (His story is told in the Word of God, the book of Luke, chapter 19.) Although technically a descendant of Abraham, Zacchaeus was chief among publicans — which means he made his living working for the Roman government, collecting taxes from his fellow Israelites — and, by his own admission, cheating them. He had heard about Jesus, but he was no believer. However, he was curious, and as Jesus passed through Jericho, right before his entry into Jerusalem on the donkey, Zacchaeus, a short man,  climbed into a tree so that he could see and hear Jesus easily. Jesus called him down from the tree and invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ house.

Zacchaeus recognized Jesus as the Messiah and opened to Him his home and his heart. We know that he invited Jesus in with his whole heart, because, after spending only a short time with Him, Zacchaeus voluntarily confessed his sin of cheating and promised to make restoration of everything with interest. Jesus did not ask Zacchaeus to do so. The man simply opened his heart to Jesus, and a changed nature was the result.

So, I will say once more: You do not need to be a Christian to call on Jesus. No matter what religious tag you wear — including that of “Atheist” —  that tag will not keep Jesus from coming to you if your heart is reaching out for Him and inviting Him in. What will happen to that religious tag after you meet Jesus? Who cares?  I can guarantee you — without qualification — that if you ever meet the real Jesus, you won’t care.

Here comes Jesus!  He’s coming to us today — Christian and non-Christian — He’s coming. With words of comfort and reassurance to destroy fear — with delivering power to destroy the yokes of the devil — with healing and wholeness for body, mind, and spirit — with wisdom and direction that leads to successful solutions — with the power of His Holy Spirit and all of the anointing for service — with eternal life to overcome death once and for all and forever.

Jesus is coming!  He’s coming to you!  Right now! Open your heart to Him and let Him meet all of your needs today.

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Picture courtesy of Wikipedia commons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus_entering_jerusalem_on_a_donkey.jpg

 

 

 

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Velvet Verbosity # 373 — ‘Light the Lamp’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

OIL LAMP, CROPPED -- PUB DOMAIN

“Light the lamp, Matthew. Set it clearly in the window.”

“But, Father, it’s burned every night for months.  Tom’s not coming home.”

“Yes, he is.  He promised me.”

“You know we heard that his whole battalion was wiped out.”

“No.  I feel him in my heart.  He lives.  And this snowstorm is so thick; he’ll need the light to guide him through the woods.”

“But there’s only a few hours of oil left.”

“Light the lamp, Matthew.  The oil will last.  The lamp will burn until your brother walks through that door.”

 

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Join the fun writing your own 100-word story based on this week’s prompt: BURN. 
http://www.velvetverbosity.com/blog/2014/4/7/100-words-373-national-poetry-month

 

 

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NaPoWriMo – Day 6 – ‘Cutting It Close’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

 

 

Tongue in cheek, everyone. I know it isn’t quite playing by the rules, but when you’re out of time, you have to ad lib.

 

 

CUTTING IT CLOSE

 

If I don’t write a poem today, ’twill be a pity.
But I’m so tired and worn it’s hard to think.
Perhaps if I just hum awhile, I’ll find a ditty.
I feel as though I am right on the brink.

So tra-lala-lala-lala-lala-lala;
Now, just a few more words I need to rhyme.
Doowah-doowah-doowah-doowah-doowah-doowah.
At last: a poem, just in the nick of time!

~

 

NaPoWriMo: Check it out and join the fun.

 

 

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Urrggghhhh!!! I Need a Little Feedback.

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

 

ANGRY WOMANHi, everyone. I’m needing a little feedback concerning the details of the appearance of my posts right now.  I need to know two things:

First of all, I’m trying a new background picture, so I need to know if the text is clearly readable over that background, or if I should remove it and opt for something solid again.

Secondly, I seem to have such a terrible, terrible time getting a site that has a good sized, very readable font. I don’t intend to pay out more money for that problem, since I’m spread pretty thin these days as it is.  And I have experimented a little with using the different possibilities in my toolbar ( Pre-formatted, headings, etc.)  But I can’t find anything that will actually let me type an entire post into the editor and have it all look the same from beginning to end and be easily readable.

For the most part, I have written my articles in a document and then copied and pasted them into the WP editor. That has usually worked, but sometimes it does not. I’ve had a particularly difficult time with this newest theme.

So tell me, on most of my articles (which are copied and pasted – like this one), is the font easily readable, and does it all look the same throughout the article?

 

Also, tell me if you have discovered any tricks to getting more control of the font — other than using the HTML (I refuse to go there). —- Or have you discovered a free theme that offers a large, very easily read font as a part of its original package? The biggest problem, as far as I’m concerned, is that all of the default fonts are so tiny. You have to enlarge the screen a couple times to make it comfortable to read.  I think that’s ridiculous.

I have experimented with doing a couple blogs on Blogspot because on any theme there, the blogger has control of the style of font and the size at all times. However, the community of bloggers over there is not nearly as friendly as my WP family, so I don’t want to have to move. But this font problem is getting REALLY frustrating to me. (I will add, however, that I’m not quite as bad off as the picture would imply. I just liked that picture.)

Thanks a bunch for your help.

 

 

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NaPoWriMo – Day 5 — ‘Hideaway’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

 

Well, I missed writing a poem for Day 4 of NaPoWriMo, but I just can’t get everything into the same 24 hours. However, I have one for Day 5. You will find it below the picture.

BRILLIANT AUTUMN FOREST, TABLE - SMALLER, crazed credits

Give me a private hideaway,
Where quiet is amplified,
No harsh intrusions of busy worlds,
Just nature, satisfied.

Give me a private hideaway,
With warm, sun-dappled light,
Where solitude croons to my soul:
There I’ll find myself aright.

 

 

 

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25-Word Story Challenge: ‘Wedding Plans’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

 

 

Here’s my story for the 25-word story challenge.

BRIDE_02 - PINK

 

 

WEDDING PLANS

 

“Sorry folks,” Carter said. “Seems my bride eloped with someone else.” He laughed. “She took the car I’d arranged for my own last-minute escape.”

 

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To join in the fun, hop over to the challenge itself and get the details (link above).    It’s really easy – well – easy to join – not so easy to write a complete story in 25 words – but, hey, if it were easy, why do it, right?

 

 

 

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NaPoWriMo – Day 3 — The Flood

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

 

We are now to Day 3 of NaPoWriMo, and since our hostess insists that the prompts on the host site are completely optional — and that we are free to write any poem we choose — I have taken the liberty again today to write a poem that I had in my heart.  We have had a whole afternoon and evening of stormy weather and much flash flooding in our area. That situation caused me to feel so much for those who are dealing with fast-rising waters that this poem just rose up in my soul. You will find it just below the picture.

 

Exif JPEG
THE FLOOD

Hurry, Tilly, the water’s rising;
We must lead all the horses from the barn.
Hurry, Tilly, the water’s rising;
Find the cow and calf so they don’t come to harm.

Hurry, Tilly, the water’s rising;
Collect all mother’s quilts and hand crochet.
Hurry, Tilly, the water’s rising;
We don’t have much time left in which to get away.

Hurry, Tilly, the water’s rising;
Wrap up the photos and the Bible dear.
Hurry, Tilly, the water’s rising;
We must not take the time right now to shed our tears.

Hurry, Tilly, the water’s rising;
This old beloved home may not last long.
Hurry, Tilly, the water’s rising;
But we’ll still have each other safe, and our love’s strong.

 

 

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Writing Challenge: The 25-Word Story

| Sandra Pavloff Conner
WOMAN AT COMPUTER - HAPPY

 

Well, my jolly blogging buddies, I have a new wee challenge for you this morning. Most of us have heard the story that at one point in his career, the writing legend Ernest Hemingway accepted a challenge to write an entire story in just six words. I don’t know that anyone knows the exact details of how that challenge came about, but the 6-word story attributed to him is the following: 

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Now, I’m issuing a challenge that is not quite as onerous as the one he met. And, in fact, it’s the same challenge I gave my college-level creative writing students this week: Write a complete story in only 25 words (or less if you prefer). You may choose the subject matter. 

You have one week to accomplish this task. Final post day, April 10 (although I have no objection to your posting a story at any time after that if you feel so inclined). When your story is complete, simply post it on your own blog, then copy and paste a link to it in the “Comments” section of this post.  Leave a comment too if you’d like.

Please be sure to include a link to this post on your own site as well, so that your readers can learn about the challenge and take part too.  And hop over during the week to check out the links to other writers’ stories.

Also, please remember that this site is open to readers of all ages, so it posts absolutely no “R” or “X” rated material. 

If you’re interested in participating but do not have a personal blog, feel free to post your story on your Facebook page or your LinkedIn page. (It’s short enough to go into the update window.) Then copy and paste the link in the “Comments” here.

When I write my own story, I’ll give it a separate post and paste a link here on this page with the rest of yours. 

Are you ready?  Let’s write!

 

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NaPoWriMo – Day 2 — The Locket

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Day # 2 of NaPoWriMo gave us a prompt that called for a poem based on a myth. But I just couldn’t seem to get my muse in gear for anything mythical, so I hunted up a part of a poem that I started writing almost a year ago. For some reason, I just never could seem to finish it, but I decided that today was going to be the day. I guess my muse was okay with a poem about love, so here it is – just below the picture.

 

HEART NECKLACE - GOLD

THE LOCKET

 

I found a locket nestled 'neath a tree.
It sparkled, and it twinkle, and it surely winked at me.

It looked forlorn, forgotten, skimmed with dew,
And I felt an intruder as I wondered what to do.

At last I reached and plucked it from the grass.
The chain was fragile – I could tell – and had a broken clasp.

A lovey heart, engraved on back and front,
Showed me it was a gift of love that someone still would want.

I opened it with tender, loving care,
And found, all safe and snug inside, a single lock of hair.

The curly tress was of the darkest brown,
And I felt so entranced by this small mystery I'd found.

But I was in a quandary what to do:
How to locate the rightful owner I had not a clue.

Then finally I thought, “I'll advertise,
and if the owner sees my ad, there'll be a nice surprise.”

I tucked it in my pocket, nice and warm,
And, eager to relay my news, I headed quickly home.

I couldn't help but sing a little song,
So happy I could have a part in helping love along.


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Velvet Verbosity # 372 – Short Engagement
		

				

						 | Sandra Pavloff Conner					

				

		
 


 


Velvet Verbosity this week presented us with the word “Smack” as our prompt for a 100-word story. Below the picture is my story. I didn’t have any choice but to write it. The concept SMACKED me in the head and wouldn’t go away.


ENGAGEMENT RING CLIP ART


 


THE SHORT ENGAGEMENT


“Daphne, for weeks I’ve fought against the whole idea of loving you. I’ve argued all the reasons I should never even consider marrying you. You’re too unsophisticated and uneducated to fit into my social set. And your looks – well – you know what you see in the mirror. I need a beautiful woman beside me – who matches my looks.  So you can see how I’ve struggled.


“Yet … I’ve lost the battle, Daphne.  I am in love with you and cannot escape it.  I’ve decided to marry you and suffer the consequences.  Here’s the ring.”


SMACK!  The black eye lasted a week.


~~~


 


(My apologies to Jane Austen for borrowing and abusing her unique “love” scene idea from Pride and Prejudice. I just couldn’t pass up the perfect fit of that concept with this prompt.)


 


 


 


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NaPoWriMo – Day 1 – Contemplations on “The Last Supper”
		

				

						 | Sandra Pavloff Conner					

				

		
THE LAST SUPPER - LEONARDO DA VINCI


This piece is part of my involvement with NaPoWriMo.  The site suggested a prompt for the very early hours of April 1st, aimed at those poets who live in countries where the day began many hours before it did for the hostess of the site.  I liked that prompt, so I decided to use it for my poem even though I live in the midwestern U. S., and April 1st came much later for me than it did for most of the world.


This particular prompt was to write an ekphrastic poem — a piece inspired by or about a work of art. It was a real challenge for me, and I enjoyed every minute of working on it.


You can check out the rules and jump into the fun here:  NaPoWriMo (The National Poetry Month challenge to write a poem every day for the 30 days of April).




Contemplations on Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper


Behold the blessed, holy convocation,

Preserved for us to ponder as we gaze.

In transient elements, the artist painted

Eternal substance; impartations that amaze.

We look upon the faces art has captured

As loved disciples try to understand

The Master’s words; He speaks of sacrifices

And of His blood and body freely given for man.


Their eyes – so full of love, yet consternation,

Trying to grasp full meaning of this meal.

All other Passovers remembered history,

But now the sacrifice sits here with them, so real.


In colors both subdued and yet alive,

The artist welcomes me to come join in

Our Lord’s last supper and His revelation:

He’ll now go forth to pay the price for all my sin.


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Oh My Goodness!  It’s Almost National Poetry Month!
		

				

						 | Sandra Pavloff Conner					

				

		
SHAKESPLEARE


 


I cannot believe it. When I think about all the poems I wrote last April for NaPoWriMo, it seems like just last week. How can we be right at the door of the next National Poetry Month already?


Well, one reason it seems so recent, of course, is that I’ve just recently had a book come out that includes quite a few of those poems from last NaPoWriMo, so I’ve been working with them again fairly recently.  But today it really hit me that I’m going to have to get my rhythm and rhyme on and get down to business again next week.  NEXT WEEK!?!?!?   YES!


Last year I was two days behind, so I had to work even harder to catch up, so this year, I’m going to be ready and waiting for April first. And while I’m at it, I’ll just add that I think we should re-christen that day anyway.


From now on we must not refer to April first as “April Fool’s Day.”


 As of this post, I hereby christen April first  “POET’S DAY.” We have a Mother’s Day, a Father’s Day, a Grandparent’s Day, a Children’s Day, a Veterans’ Day, a Secretary’s Day, etc., etc., etc.  So it’s only fair that the world be given a chance to celebrate those rare individuals who lighten the soul, tantalize the senses, plumb the depths of the heart, and carry us away on meter and rhyme and figurative language. LONG LIVE THE POETS!


 


NAPOWRIMO NEGATIVE


If you want to be ready for NaPoWriMo 2014, hop over and check out the preparations underway at the home site:  http://www.napowrimo.net/


 


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Velvet Verbosity # 371 — The Call
		

				

						 | Sandra Pavloff Conner					

				

		
 


 


MABRY MILL - VA - BRENDA'S - creditsTHE CALL




I’m sitting here, watching water splash from paddle to paddle on the old wheel. Granddad built this mill 100 years ago. With its massive grindstones, he and Gramma ground almost every kind of grain a man could grow.


“Ain’t nothin’ more satisfyin’ than seein’ that grain turn into flour to feed the families in these hills,” Granddad said – almost every day.


When Uncle Henry inherited it, he swore he’d keep it going as long as he lived. 


We buried him this afternoon, and the old grindstones came to a halt. 


They’ve earned their rest.  But their silence beckons me inside ….


~~~


This week’s Velvet Verbosity challenge is to write a 100-word story based on the word “Mill.” Visit the site to meet the creator and host of the challenge and learn the rules.


 


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