He is Risen!

It is my intent to put up a mini discussional/devotional each day of Lent. But, I may fall of that pace. I'd ask anyone who reads this to keep me accountable to it, however. Lent is a time for us to reflect and grow, and I feel that with each day bringing a new discussional/devotional and a prayer combining our program theme and Lent we can accomplish each of those in a better way. If you have a discussional/devotional for Lent that you'd like me to include, send it to me via e-mail at vicepresident@sigmatheta.org

Today, we celebrate Easter. The return of our King. The triumph our of King over sin and death.

And we can never have more of a reason to celebrate. There's no bigger victory attainable. No larger prize to be won. No bigger gift to be given.

Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God, who was sacrificed on the cross for atonement for our sins is alive and reining as King. He, who was mocked and scorned just after being welcomed as king, is now alive and in His glory, and available as King to any who would want Him.

There is no greater reason for us to celebrate than this. There is no greater cause for us to share with the world. There is no better day to recommit ourselves to lives of grace, love, sacrifice, hope, and faith.

Join me, today, and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. And join me in recommitting to the cause of Christ in all we say, all we do, and all we believe.

HE IS RISEN!

Join me in this prayer:

Sovereign Lord,

You are the risen Lord
The One who has conquered death
He who has rescued us from sin

And I give glory to you

You are the conquering King
Greater than any other king
The one with ways high above

And I give glory to you

Consecrate me to You
Let my life be a living testament
To your love, grace, message, and sacrifice

Thank you for atonement
Thank you for you
Thank you for love

Amen.

A Walk to Remember

It is my intent to put up a mini discussional/devotional each day of Lent. But, I may fall of that pace. I'd ask anyone who reads this to keep me accountable to it, however. Lent is a time for us to reflect and grow, and I feel that with each day bringing a new discussional/devotional and a prayer combining our program theme and Lent we can accomplish each of those in a better way. If you have a discussional/devotional for Lent that you'd like me to include, send it to me via e-mail at vicepresident@sigmatheta.org

Sundays in most traditions of Lent, and with anyone I've known that has practiced Lent, are traditionally viewed as "mini resurrections". They do not count towards the forty days of fasting/abstaining from *whatever*, and are days when we focus more on the resurrection than on the crucifixion. That will be my focus on Sundays, as well.

Today is the final Sunday of Lent. In a week, we will be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. And today, I want to look at what happened the evening after the resurrection.

Two of the followers of Christ were downtrodden, and on a journey to a village called "Emmaus". And on this journey, an amazing thing happened. Jesus appeared to them, though they did not recognize Him, and in conversations He did another amazing work.

The Gospel of Luke tells us "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself."

What an amazing thing to have happen. To have Jesus Himself teach you about how all the Prophets pointed to Him, and how He fulfilled all their prophesies.

And from this we can take the desire to share our knowledge of Christ. For these two journeyers ran back to tell the others of their experience.

And so I challenge us to live a life where we are always willing to learn more of Christ, but also willing to teach of what we have learned of Christ.

Join me in this prayer:

Sovereign Lord,

Thank you for knowledge
The knowledge that drives us forward
The knowledge of you

Help us to learn all we can
And share all we can

Of You
Of Your ways
Of Your truths

Thank you for atonement
Thank you for you
Thank you for love

Amen.

No Doubt About It

It is my intent to put up a mini discussional/devotional each day of Lent. But, I may fall of that pace. I'd ask anyone who reads this to keep me accountable to it, however. Lent is a time for us to reflect and grow, and I feel that with each day bringing a new discussional/devotional and a prayer combining our program theme and Lent we can accomplish each of those in a better way. If you have a discussional/devotional for Lent that you'd like me to include, send it to me via e-mail at vicepresident@sigmatheta.org

Sundays in most traditions of Lent, and with anyone I've known that has practiced Lent, are traditionally viewed as "mini resurrections". They do not count towards the forty days of fasting/abstaining from *whatever*, and are days when we focus more on the resurrection than on the crucifixion. That will be my focus on Sundays, as well.

If you're like me, you believe there's pretty much no such thing as a sure thing. There's always a tiny chance that an alternative could happen. And, why not, we see odd things happen all the time that simply weren't supposed to happen.

There are very few things in life that we encounter that conjure up exactly zero amount of doubt.

I imagine that for even the closest followers of Christ, as He was in the tomb, they began to have serious doubts on if He truly was the Messiah. If He truly was God's promised one. If they had wasted their life following someone who wasn't what He said He was.

And then, with the resurrection, all that doubt was gone. He was the Messiah. It was a slam dunk. There was no doubt about it.

And the same holds true today. In a world of uncertainty, unpredictability, and variance, Christ is our sure thing, our slam dunk, and our rock of certainty. Every promise He's made, we can, with confidence, hold Him to, because He is the Messiah, He is God incarnate, and He is Immanuel.

We have no reason to doubt Him, and every reason to trust Him. What a great and glorious blessing we have this day!

Remember the words of Christ to Thomas, and the blessing we have: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Join me in this prayer:

Sovereign Lord,

Thank you for leaving no doubt
About your Lordship
About your Godship
About your love
About your compassion

Thank you for giving me one thing
That is believable without doubt
That is reliable without hesitation
That is there without question
That is with me where I am

Thank you for your love
Thank you for building my faith

Thank you for atonement
Thank you for you
Thank you for love

Amen.

The Wow Factor

It is my intent to put up a mini discussional/devotional each day of Lent. But, I may fall of that pace. I'd ask anyone who reads this to keep me accountable to it, however. Lent is a time for us to reflect and grow, and I feel that with each day bringing a new discussional/devotional and a prayer combining our program theme and Lent we can accomplish each of those in a better way. If you have a discussional/devotional for Lent that you'd like me to include, send it to me via e-mail at vicepresident@sigmatheta.org

Sundays in most traditions of Lent, and with anyone I've known that has practiced Lent, are traditionally viewed as "mini resurrections". They do not count towards the forty days of fasting/abstaining from *whatever*, and are days when we focus more on the resurrection than on the crucifixion. That will be my focus on Sundays, as well.

If you're like me, you love to be amazed. You love when something makes your jaw drop and you say "wow".

Maybe the moment occurs when watching a sports game. Someone climbs the outfield fence and robs someone of a homerun and you say "wow". Someone hit a ball five-hundred feet, and you say wow. Someone caught a football after absorbing a big hit and having to jump several feet in the air, and somehow maintained his balance, and you say wow. Someone chipped a golf ball in to the hole from a sand trap, and you say wow. Someone splits three defenders and throws down a tomahawk dunk and you say wow.

Maybe the moment occurs when watching a movie. There's a giant explosion, and great special effects and you say wow. There's a beautifully done plot twist that you didn't see coming, and you say wow. There's a great speech that moves you and makes you emotional and you say wow.

Maybe the moment occurs when you hear a speech. Someone talks about their missionary work, and you say wow. Someone talks about their desire to help battle poverty, AIDS, and malnourishment, and you say wow.

There are an almost unlimited number of examples I can cite here. But the fact remains, we like the wow factor. We like to be amazed. We like to tell other people about it. And we like to tell other people about what it is that wowed us.

And I can think of nothing more amazing that a resurrection of the dead. I cannot fathom anything that can make me say wow more than someone overcoming death itself. And that's exactly what Jesus did.

Wow. Our God is amazing. Now what are we gonna do about it?

Join me in this prayer:

Sovereign Lord,

You are truly amazing.
Thank you for amazing us
And for giving us that emotion.

Motivate us to respond
To your amazingness
In an appropriate manner

Help us to motivate others
And share your wow factor
With them to motivate others

Thank you for atonement
Thank you for you
Thank you for love

Amen.

Empty in new Light

It is my intent to put up a mini discussional/devotional each day of Lent. But, I may fall of that pace. I'd ask anyone who reads this to keep me accountable to it, however. Lent is a time for us to reflect and grow, and I feel that with each day bringing a new discussional/devotional and a prayer combining our program theme and Lent we can accomplish each of those in a better way. If you have a discussional/devotional for Lent that you'd like me to include, send it to me via e-mail at vicepresident@sigmatheta.org

Sundays in most traditions of Lent, and with anyone I've known that has practiced Lent, are traditionally viewed as "mini resurrections". They do not count towards the forty days of fasting/abstaining from *whatever*, and are days when we focus more on the resurrection than on the crucifixion. That will be my focus on Sundays, as well.

When I think of the word empty, it doesn't usually bring up good feelings.

I get sad when my bank account is empty. I'm very hungry when my stomach is empty. It's a pretty big bummer when my cupboards are empty.

Mary Magdalene was sad, too, about empty. When Jesus' tomb was empty on Easter morning, she was sad. She thought someone had stolen His body.

But when the truth was revealed to her, she was filled with joy. With this truth, an empty became a hope. And another thing in this crazy world of ours was turned upside down by Jesus' life and teaching.

Think about this, the next time part of our lives are empty, physically or metaphorically. Where can we find joy, where we don't expect to find it? Where can God turn our worlds upside down?

Join me in this prayer:

Sovereign Lord,

Thank You for that empty tomb
For the joy that is in my heart
Each day because of it

Thank You for emptiness in my life
And the ways You provide
To fill those holes

Thank You for all You are
For all You do.
For all You will do.

Thank you for atonement
Thank you for you
Thank you for love

Amen.

From the Jaws of Defeat

It is my intent to put up a mini discussional/devotional each day of Lent. But, I may fall of that pace. I'd ask anyone who reads this to keep me accountable to it, however. Lent is a time for us to reflect and grow, and I feel that with each day bringing a new discussional/devotional and a prayer combining our program theme and Lent we can accomplish each of those in a better way. If you have a discussional/devotional for Lent that you'd like me to include, send it to me via e-mail at vicepresident@sigmatheta.org

Sundays in most traditions of Lent, and with anyone I've known that has practiced Lent, are traditionally viewed as "mini resurrections". They do not count towards the forty days of fasting/abstaining from *whatever*, and are days when we focus more on the resurrection than on the crucifixion. That will be my focus on Sundays, as well.

If you know me, you know I'm a huge sports fan. You might also know that I've told Rachel that as much as I love her, my first love is baseball, specifically the Cleveland Indians. One of the things I love most about baseball is that you never run out of time, only out of chances. Your favorite team can be trailing by a dozen runs, and as long as they don't make the final out of their final inning, they still have a chance to win.

I know I've been there. My team down three, with two outs, in the ninth inning. I think to myself "if we can get a couple of hits and a walk, then all we need is a grand slam home run and we win this game". And even though I know this is improbable, I also know it's not impossible. And the idea excites me. And on the rare occasion it happens, the joy that fills me is amazing. I start jumping up and down, screaming like crazy, and other such stuff.

And I don't want to trivialize the resurrection of our Lord, but I imagine the joy of the followers of Christ when they learned he was risen was about a million times the joy of when that walk-off grand slam home run happens. Something that seemed improbable and just about impossible (and, impossible for anyone besides Jesus) occurs.

What great motivation for us when we think about when we're having bad days. When we're stuck in ruts. When we can't make progress. When we can't see the coming dawn. Think about the joy of knowing our Lord snatched the ultimate victory for us from the jaws of defeat. He snatched life from the icy hand of death. He provided the ultimate "walk off".

Join me in this prayer:

Sovereign Lord,

You amaze me with who You are.

You provide hope where there should be frustration
Joy when I should have depression
Light when there should be dark
Victory where there should be defeat
Life where there should be death.

Thank you for giving me hope
For giving me purpose
For giving me a future

Thank you for atonement
Thank you for you
Thank you for love

Amen.

Hope

It is my intent to put up a mini discussional/devotional each day of Lent. But, I may fall of that pace. I'd ask anyone who reads this to keep me accountable to it, however. Lent is a time for us to reflect and grow, and I feel that with each day bringing a new discussional/devotional and a prayer combining our program theme and Lent we can accomplish each of those in a better way. If you have a discussional/devotional for Lent that you'd like me to include, send it to me via e-mail at vicepresident@sigmatheta.org

Sundays in most traditions of Lent, and with anyone I've known that has practiced Lent, are traditionally viewed as "mini resurrections". They do not count towards the forty days of fasting/abstaining from *whatever*, and are days when we focus more on the resurrection than on the crucifixion. That will be my focus on Sundays, as well.

And to me, Easter Sunday represents many things, none of them as great as hope. Because Easter gives us the knowledge, through our faith, that Christ overcame death. And if Christ can overcome death, we know that He can overcome anything. There's no situation we can find ourselves in where we cannot have honest hope that Christ can save us. What a wonderful feeling.

I'm going to provide lyrics to Skillet's "You Are My Hope". If you own the song, give it a listen. If you don't either simply meditate on the lyrics, or visit YouTube and listen to the song with one of the manga videos that someone put together.

Times are hard, times have changed, don’tcha say?
But I keep holding onto you
It’s hard to keep the faith alive day to day
Leanin’ on the strength I’ve found in you
You’re the hope of all the earth

Chorus:
You are my hope
You are my strength
You’re everything, everything I need
You are my hope
You are my life
You are my hope
You are my hope

Far beyond what I can see or comprehend
Etching your eternity in me
Nations dream and angels sing “Jesus reigns”
And every knee bows down
You’re the hope of all the earth

Chorus

Carry on and I sing of how
You love and I love you now
All the times that I start to sink
You come and you rescue me
You are my hope
You are my hope
You are my hope
You are my hope

Chorus (x2)

Meditate with me, on the great hope we have, and always have through Christ our Lord.

And join me in this prayer:

Sovereign Lord,

You truly are my hope
You are the hope of all who know you
And the missing hope for those who don't

Help me to carry your hope with me every day

Teach me to trust you
Teach me to know real hope
Teach me to share that hope

Help me to carry your hope with me every day

Thank you for atonement
Thank you for you
Thank you for love

Amen.