The Triumphant Entry! What a marvelous and beautiful day it must have been! Jesus was going to ride in and be praised by the people, those who loved him and cherished him came and bowed to their holy King, their wonderful merciful master. Their chosen leader, the leader of their hearts, minds and souls. It was Jesus the Lord of Lords and King of Kings they praised. Not only though, did they love him, but they also were loved. Now there is always a story behind the story. News reporters probably know that the most. They know that there is always something that causes something, always a start to something, and always a way to get somewhere. The journalists must talk to people about how things accumulated and such things like that. And in CNN there is a show called 'Backstory' explaining how certain things came to be for the news reporters and what their journey's were like. Now, our Master and Creator can see everything, He knows our going out and our coming in. No matter how far we are he will bring us to Him. He see's all. And so if he did, why wouldn't he prepare the minds of his children. Send people their way and make a way for them to move. You see, when I see the passage of Mark 11: 1-6 it reminds me of God's amazing organization, and His astounding detail. Why did the people let the two disciples go? Couldn't they have said, no! Why would complete strangers, not knowing the two disciples just let them go without further questioning? And without a fight? How was it possible that they could trust them? What if they didn't bring back the colt? Were they priests that they knew exactly what God wanted? I am not sure what the people standing there were thinking when the disciples said what Jesus told them to, but I believe that God spoke to them before, maybe subtlety maybe through a dream. I have no idea, but knowing how amazing God is I know it could be through any possible means. Jesus thought of the very tiniest detail during this time. He knew everything had to go right in order for us to be saved, so He knew had to touch hearts and pave the right way. Those people standing near the colt may have been strangers to the two disciples, but not strangers at all to God. So I believe God had touched their hearts so that when they heard "The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly" they knew those words were true, and possibly even understood their meaning. After all, when the Pharasies later criticized Jesus, Jesus told them "If you don't let these people worship me, even the rocks shall cry out to worship me" everything written in the bible was a plan of God. The way the bible was written and distributed was a plan of the Holy Father. With so much detail and planning going into God's work, we can trust him no matter what our situation, that he will, in some miraculous way, bring us through. Or even the rocks shall do so, for if it is Gods will, it will happen!  Read less

I just came back from a beautiful country. (I went there to take an AP test) The people there seem to overlook beauty, with drinks that make them intoxicated, right where beauty springs out the most at the seawall. The seawall was something that would remind anyone of God's fullness, it was so beautiful the way some of the sand looked as if it was under water when it was actually not. I touched the warm ground, and water, and I just felt special there. I honestly don't completely know why. So anyways, it was a "good" trip, it really was. Except for the fact that for one day and a half, I was a nominal Christian. I acted as if I wasn't a christian. And even if I acted as if I was a Christian, I did not even care to MENTION that I was a christian. And that is beyond me. Usually I do mention that I am a Christian no matter how I act. But no, the only time the word Christian was mentioned, was through the nice woman who was our host. (Of my classmate and I) It bothered me on my way back home on the plane (although my mind was pretty much filled with thoughts on what had happened over there and such), so I prayed and asked for forgiveness. But it still bothered me when I was talking to my family about the trip. I told my mother, and she told me that if I truly was apologizing and that I would not do it again, and would make sure to make my stance straight away on who I am, then I should accept forgiveness and take it as a lesson learned. So I believed my apology was real, and I just apologized once again to God, informing Him that I will not do it again, And I won't. This has a grand connection to what I read in Psalm 36 today. Starting from verse seven all the way to verse twelve there is a pinning truth in those verses. It starts with "How precious is Your lovingkindness,O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings." I register verse 7 with how God gave me peace for the most part when I was taking the test. And God gave me peace entirely with everyone through-out the whole trip. Moving on to verse 9 David says "For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light." That registers to me that, had I had told them I was a Christian, I would have radiated God's light towards them. And felt even more peace than I could ever imagine. God was with me for sure, but I was not completely with Him. And the last two verses I will share, verse 11 "Let not the foot of pride come against me, And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away." and 12 "There the workers of iniquity have fallen; They have been cast down and are not able to rise. The verse 11 is what I should have prayed before going to Guyana and when I came back from Guyana because, pride can only pull one down. And the hand of the wicked can come through any form, even people who seem like they are the nicest of all, they could be used to be that hand to drive one away from God's light. The last verse I like to assume that David is talking about Jesus' light that in His light, there the workers of iniquity have fallen; They have been cast down and are not able to rise. In His light we see light, so if we stay in His light, the workers of iniquity the hand trying to pull us away from God will go and will be cast down and not be able to rise. Amen.  Read less

This verse shined out at me because the pharisees were kind of funny. They always were trying to convince people that Christ was not the Son of God, but they allowed him to prove himself time and time again, and in their hearts, I'm sure they knew he was not some ordinary man. Anyways, I wanted to do my meditation this morning on the verse where Jesus talks about coming not for the saved, but the unsaved. After all, who can save the unsaved if they are already saved. None of us were saved, and so Jesus came for all. He distinctly said, he had not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance. And that is wonderful to know. I think it was wonderful how though his life Jesus showed us the kind of people he would never want us to be like: The Pharisees. We should not out anyone down in anyway, because WE think what they do is wrong. But instead we should focus on how God can change us to accept and forgive, to be more compatible with them. This is just a bunch of thoughts from my mind.  Read less

This is my first note on discovering God. I hope to have many more in the days ahead. So, I usually don't like viewing God's wrath. I often see it as scary and strange. With the verse before me though, I can see this was all too hard for our Creator. There are so many things to doubt about Him, but there is one thing that stands true, and that is that he has loved us from the beginning of time, and that he has pleaded with us. He really did everything he could to not have to take out His wrath on us. But he is God and he is perfect. Sin is disgusting to him, it is lower than dirt. He tried with us, he really wanted to turn us around. The only question then that I have is, since the Lord knew that he was going to have to send Jesus, why did he have to kill so many and not allow them the chance, that we in this stinking generation have? I guess it could all be about timing and it needing to be fulfilled exactly like God told the prophets. I think that the people brought the suffering upon themselves, God never wanted to kill or harm us, but it was inevitable. This is my understanding now.  Read less