rambling rosemarie

As so many celebrate His resurrection, I thought I would list what I learned in my reading of Colossians. It seemed fitting. He is the visible image of God ( Col 1:15 ) He is agent of creation ( Col 1:16 ) He is the Sustainer (Col 1:17 ) He is the Head of the Church ( Col 1:18 ) He pleases the Father ( Col 1:19-20 ) He reconciles us through His death ( Col 1:21-22 ) He lives in us as our glory of hope ( Col 1:27 ) He is the source of all treasures ( Col 2:2-3 ) The world and its philosophies will not conform to Him so we should guard against them ( Col 2:8 ) We are alive in Him ( Col 2:11-13 ) We are saved from legalism and ritualism by Him (Col 2:16-23 ) He is our life ( Col 3:3 ) Because of Him, we can avoid immorality and serve Him as by being blessings to others. ( Col 3:5-14 ) We have the responsibility to know Him through the Scriptures and to counsel one another with the Word, demonstrate our gratitude to him by doing all things as in His name ( Col 3:16-17 )

There are moments that change everything. We amble along in our lives and suddenly our course is forever altered. Moments can be much anticipated as when a child is born, or arise spontaneously when a seemingly inconcequential decision made. One little choice propels us in a new direction. It doesn't even have to be our choice. Someone else's choice to lie or cheat may rob us of the future we hoped for or the security we think we need. It happens suddenly and without our permission. Moments that cause unspeakable joy elevate us above our greatest hopes or just as quickly, our expectations become little more than premeditated disappointments. There are moments of my life I remember with pain, wonder and amazement. That's what life is about; moments that sneak up and hold you captive. Moments that force you to acknowledge the sure bliss, joy, terror and interminable grief that occurs in a blink of an eye, the utterance of a syllable or the touch of a hand. If you h...

The disciples and those on the periphery of the ministry must have been miserable the day after their friend and Lord was crucified. The shock and horror of Jesus' treatment, their abject fear for their lives all coupled with their grief and despair had to leave them physically spent and emotionally vacant. Have you ever been there? When you've cried so hard that the only thing you feel is the knot in the back of your throat? Your body all but shuts down and you move through essential activities as though you are operating on tracks. You are walking wounded. I can only imagine what they felt and what they talked about. Surely there were some in stunned disbelief and some who were making plans on what to do if the crowd should turn on them. For three years their lives had been focused on one thing and now their one thing was gone. How would they survive? Who would they be? Where would they go? Would the pain ever stop? They had no idea what was in store for them. For me the E...