My Name is Mary Magdalene

Hi, My name is Mary Magdalene. I will never forget the day I met Jesus. Before I met him I was worse than an outcast…you see, I had been possessed by 7 evil demons. I was out of control. I was not seeking the Messiah like many others had been. I was living a life fully consumed by the work of Satan. He had me in his grip so tight that no one could save me. I was hopeless. Everyone I knew wrote me off and left me to suffer in my bondage. Until, I met the man Jesus, because He had the power to set me free. With authority he spoke and cast out the demons on that very day! I was finally set completely free just by the power of his word! Everyone had said it was impossible, and right then I knew this man Jesus was the Son of God. He was the promised Messiah, and he had found me. He had worked an impossible miracle in my life and he saved me. From that moment my only response was to devote the rest of my life to him and his ministry. Along with the 12 disciples and several other women, I followed Jesus and offered help with anything he needed as he went from town to town. I witnessed him work many more miracles in the lives of others. He continued to teach and speak with such authority. Sometimes I did not understand the things that he said, like when he ran the money exchangers and vendors out of the temple courts with a whip, and then he said to them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in 3 days.” I did not understand, and neither did the other Jews among us because it had taken 46 years to build that temple! But in time I would come to understand.

Then came the day when Jesus was arrested. It seemed inevitable as some in the crowds around him became more hostile about his teachings, especially the teachers of the law. But what happened next I could not understand. From a distance I watched as the man who had spoken with such authority and who worked miracles and who had rescued me, and I watched as he was nailed to a cross. What shame I felt for I knew he took the punishment that I deserved. I had followed this man and I had never once seen him sin. He had compassion and he had healed the sick and blind, he fed thousands, he calmed seas and fears and he even raised a dead man to life. I was confused and broken when I watched his hands and feet nailed to that cross. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t work a miracle that day by the authority of his voice like he had done so many times before. And then right before he breathed his last breath, the sun completely stopped shining right in the middle of the day. And then Jesus cried out to the Almighty God and then he died. I sat at the foot of the cross weeping and bewildered. In my grief I begged for answers as to why he was taken away from us – away from me! Surely his work was not done here!

Then early on the morning after the Sabbath, on the 3^rd day after his death, Jesus’ mother and I went to the tomb to anoint His body. As we were going to the tomb we felt a violent earthquake and an angel of the Lord came down from heaven. I could hardly believe my eyes. So easily the angel rolled back the huge stone that blocked the tomb, and then he sat on it. We were scared to death! The guards even shook and fell to the ground for fear. Then the angel said to Mary and me, “Do not be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus. He is not here. He is risen!” And I looked in the tomb and sure enough there was no body in there. The angel then told us to go quickly and tell the others that he is risen and he is going ahead of us to Galilee. So Mary and I ran – our hearts filled with fear and with joy all at the same time. We ran to tell the disciples everything we’d seen and what the angel said. But then Jesus himself met us on the way. He said, “Hello!” I could recognize that voice anywhere! I immediately fell on my face and worshipped him – my Lord! He is alive! He had rebuilt the temple on the 3^rd day just as he’d said! He had defeated death and I knew from that day forward I’d never be apart from my Lord Jesus because not even death could keep me away from him for all eternity.

He is Alive! He is Risen!!

1st Annual Easter Tailgate Party

BJ and I have often talked about how much effort some folks spend leading up to a big game like the Super Bowl or the SEC Championship. Yet we spend so little effort leading up to a big celebration like Easter. This day is like the Super Bowl of Christianity! It's a day when our churches have standing room only or they conduct their worship services in theaters, stadiums, and coliseums to make room for all who want to celebrate. We have joked, what if people actually threw tailgate parties outside these facilities to extend the celebration over the whole weekend? What if people tried to nab a parking spot anticipating the crowd on Sunday? We see this displayed nearly every Friday and Saturday in the fall when the Big Orange crowds take over downtown Knoxville and UT campus. It's exciting, there's a certain camaraderie in the air. What if we experienced that over the weekend when the whole community celebrates the resurrection of our Lord? So...we organized a 1st Annual Easter Tailgate Party in the parking lot of our church. It was so much fun! We grilled hot dogs, roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. The kids (and adults) played four square and rode bikes and scooters on the paved lot. We celebrated until sundown. I hope this becomes an annual event for us, because it sure was fun spending the evening before Easter Sunday with church family.

The Latest and Greatest

It's been a while since I've updated here so I figure while I've got a minute - Griff and Schaeff sleeping and Lily busy with art supplies - I'll try to get up to speed.

It's busy times here. BJ continues to work steadily through seminary classes. He's taking an online elementary greek class. In addtion, he will be attending the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, with a weekend class in Kentucky about the SBC, in order to get 3 hours of on-campus credit. He's slated to take 2-3 classes this fall. Since we are in a more predictable schedule (read: sleeping a bit more) with Griffin, BJ is taking full advantage of this time to get some classes behind him. He's up early to get his reading done, and at night before bed he falls asleep with a textbook in hand...I believe this latest one is Baptists and the Bible. I will not lie, having a husband in seminary, who also works full-time, and who teaches and leads a Bible Fellowship class every Sunday morning, and who has 3 young children is not the easiest thing in the world. We are feeling a bit stretched. We are trying to be very purposeful with our free time because there's not much of it. We haven't watched a TV show in months.

The kids are all doing great. We are all set to go with River's Edge Christian Academy starting in August. The curriculum has been ordered, and we attended an informational parent meeting this past week. We met Lily's teacher at RECA and the other parents of the 7 kids (up from 5 just a month ago). The max. limit they will accept for this group is 10 so they could very well reach their max. before August. I'm excited for Fountain City to be getting something like this in our community.

Griffin started speech/feeding therapy two weeks ago. The therapy is okay, but he's still not eating solids any better. We just plod along in that area making small steps - he likes strawberry yogurt and he will sometimes tolerate the chunks in it. He still hasn't said his first word. Although, he loves the sound of certain words when we say them to him. It cracks him up when we say "disgusting!" He kackles and then repeats back "dadaduh!" Is it wrong that his first word might be "disgusting?" Not mama or dada, but disgusting!

Our friends the Holden's gave birth to their long awaited son, Cade. He is just perfect! Leslie had a long (28 hrs) and difficult labor and delivery but she was such a trooper. And she looked beautiful in the hospital - the new mom glow! They are home and getting settled into life with a newborn. I wish I had photos, but apparently I don't know how to use my new camera because the photos I took did not appear on the memory card when I got home. Uuuuggghhh. I'm so clueless with technology.

Busy

It's getting busy up in here! And I'm not neccessarily talking about my relationship with my husband. (I know, eeewwww!) Our home is getting seriously busy, much busier than I am used to handling. We have some homeschool co-op meetings and such coming up. Griff has had a speech/feeding evaluation which resulted in more appts weekly. BJ is trying to get as much school complete as he can. He just completed the spring semester and now has 2 more classes checked off. He has already enrolled in an online Greek class that will begin this month. In June he has plans to attend the SBC in Orlando and a 1-day course in Kentucky about the SBC in order to get 3 hours of on-campus credit. And then he'll transition right into the fall semester and possibly a week-long mini-term on the Kentucky campus sometime. We continue to serve at Sevier Heights and stay busy in that capacity. We love our church family and we find that serving there is such an awesome gift.

Just to update you, Lily is doing great with her glasses. She has come to rely on them. She wakes up and puts them on first thing because she can see when she wears them. She has another loose tooth which will probably fall out in about a week or so. I asked her if she were excited about the tooth fairy coming and giving her money for her piggy bank. Her reply, "No, mom. Fairies aren't real." I told her it could be fun to pretend anyway. I got a big s-i-g-h in response as if she might be willing to put up with my silliness.

Schaeffer (aka Schaeff or Schaeffey - names given to him by his loving sis) is full of himself lately. He says nearly anthing that comes to his mind. Sometimes it's pretty funny and sometimes it can be downright embarrasing. But it's cool to hear his thoughts and connect with him that way. The other night when we had lots of storms rolling through, he peeked out the window to see. The sky lit up with a flash of lightening and then he said, "Why did Jesus do that?" He's such a little man and I luuuuve him!

Griffin just celebrated his 1st birthday. We had a little party here at the house (photos coming soon). We were hoping for an outdoor cookout but weather did not permit. Instead we had bar-b-q chicken inside. We got to celebrate with Nana Kaye and Nana Faye. That was a special treat. Griffin is so sweet, and he's proving to be pretty fearless. He perpelled himself off the rocking chair and down a couple of steps all in one day. The bad part was that I was holding him in my lap when he did a nose dive off my lap and onto the floor. He's quick! Thank goodness babies are so resilient.

Well, I think that's it for now... I hope to update more often but it's not looking very promising.

Planting

Here are two church plants started by friends of ours: Arrowhead Church and Ridge Church. Take a minute to check out the exciting things they are doing and the people they are reaching. It's awesome to see God working in so many interesting ways.