Devotional 3-19-11

Flash back 50 years. I am 17 years old. I have been at Johnson Memorial for about 5 years, and I have attended Sunday School, Worship Service, and MFY as it was called then. At MYF we ate hot dogs made by Smitty Hart and John Paul Childers, and Bud Krippene did their best to ride herd over our rambunctiousness. I sang in choir and made good friends, some of which I still have today. I had managed to buy a 1954 De Soto -- a bathtub, cast iron, gray and black bomb of a car that I bought for $500. Gasoline cost 50 cents a gallon. On one Good Friday I drove down from the east end, and I stopped at a red light at 10th Street and 6th Avenue, and I looked over at our church. It dawned on me that it was Good Friday. In the time that I sat there waiting for the light to change it came over me: "Why in the world could this be called Good Friday.?" How could this be? Jesus went through all this pain and suffering -- what could possibly be good about that? The light turned green, and I drove on toward my house. The sky did not turn suddenly dark that day, but it was my first realization of what a great thing our Lord did for us. Where were you when you realized what he did for us? Have you tried to make a difference because of it?

Jean Ramsey