As a change of pace, today (or sometime this week) I would invite you to pray with color. This is an activity that I have done a couple of times with the young adult group. It always helps me to relax and focus my thoughts a little more. You don’t need to think of yourself as artistic, just sit down with a blank sheet of paper and something to color with.

By the time you get this email, we will be in the longest three days of a Christian’s life. This is my favorite season though! For some people Christmas is special and for some Easter is blessed, but I love Good Friday! I believe there would not have been an Easter if there was no Good Friday. Because of the experience of Good Friday, I am able to appreciate Easter and the promise it brings. Good Friday reminds us that none of us are exempt from bad things happening to us -- even Jesus experienced the evils of this world -- but in resurrection Jesus gave us the promise of eternal life, and that reminder is what helps us go through the difficult parts of our life journey! 

On this Good Friday, we feel the suffering of Jesus especially sharply. Matthew 27:45 tells us that from noon until 3pm, when Jesus breathed his last, the world was covered in darkness. Then in verse 46 Jesus exclaims, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” These past few weeks I have found myself exclaiming similar sentences and asking God why all of this is happening.