Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Thankful Thursday - Easter

gethsemane

As we prepare this week for Easter my mind wanders back to our trip to Israel.  In 2001, my husband and I were blessed with the opportunity to visit Israel with a large group.  What an awesome experience.  We were queried by others back home as to 'why we would want to go there?'  Their reasoning is the volatile condition Israelis are in from day to day.  We did see things that reminded us of how volatile Israel was and is....the teens coming by the bus load to the beach (the Sea of Galilee)...dressed in fatigues, carrying loaded guns...for practice;  the metal detectors we had to walk through to enter a store or shopping area; the border to Bethlehem blocked off by Pakistan so that we might not be able to go to the place where Jesus was born.



sea of galileeMany 'warnings' back home almost made us think twice time about going but our theory always was - if it's our time to go (die) what better place should it be than in the land where Jesus was born, lived, ministered, died and rose again so that He could give ME eternal life!  I'm most thankful this week for this.  And that's what Easter is all about.


One of my very favorite hymns is "I Come to the Garden Alone'  Words and Music: C. Aus­tin Miles, March 1912.  As I sing and contemplate upon the words it reminds me of another Garden we visited one day...a Garden where Jesus walked, talked, mediated...a garden filled with calmness, and the Spirit of the Lord everywhere...the Garden of Gethsemane.



I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses. 

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of his voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

I'd stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.



He is not here: for He is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Matt 28:6 KJV



Mary Post Warren
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1 comment:

  1. Beautifully shared, Mary! What a wonderful trip. Happy Easter!

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