Happy Monday and Happy Memorial Day! Our day was a busy one mostly spent at home. Today, Bruce with the help of Travis began to lay our new floors. They completed the living room. It is so pretty and I am so excited about it.

Luke 19:10 “The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.” Mark 10: 45 “the Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many people.” John 19: 10 “it is finished!”

There are only a few more days of school and there are so many things to do. I must finish teaching the first graders in my classroom and send them off to second grade. I must pack the entirety of my classroom in boxes for the summer to make way for the asbestos abatement. We must help Geni get ready for summer school. We must continue working on our house to prepare it for Travis’ graduation party. We must get Travis graduated and then celebrate his graduation with a party on Sunday following graduation. That is a lot of activity to occur in the next 13 days. In order to get all of these things accomplished we must stay focused. The problem is that all of these activities are really important and it is hard to stay focused on just one activity because they are all going on concurrently with the exception of the actual graduation and celebration. All of these tasks must be accomplished before June 7.

The scripture lessons for today tell us that Jesus knew exactly what He came to accomplish. Jesus also had a deadline. His deadline was the cross. Jesus never lost His focus. With every step Jesus took His purpose was to find lost people and save them. Jesus entered into relationships with those who were lost and outcast. He entered into relationships with those whom He believed would carry on His ministry after His death. And when all of these steps were taken, paths were walked, conversations held, lesson were taught and instructions were given, Jesus hung before a crowd and asked His Father one more time to forgive them and then He said, “It is finished.”

I feel relatively sure that sometime on June 8 about mid-afternoon I, too, will say, “It is finished.” But my “finished”, even though it is very important, it is not near as important as the task that God has set before me through the acts and Words of Jesus. My prayer for myself and my family is that we do not get so caught up in preparation that we forget that God’s purpose for us is the same purpose He set out for Jesus. God sent Jesus to let others know how much they are loved.

Jesus taught His disciples these lessons of love, grace and forgiveness to His disciples and those disciples taught others. That teaching has filtered down to us. God calls us to enter into relationships with those who do not know Him and to make the introduction. And when the time comes for us to be in the presence of Christ forever we can say “it is finished,” for we will have done what God has asked of us.

In the next 13 days there will be a fair amount of stress and concern that everything will be accomplished and we will meet our deadlines. My prayer is that we will keep God in the center of all of these tasks, count it all joy and ask Him to give us the energy to complete each task and to give thanks for His richest blessings as we work toward the goal of completion.

Take joy in the journey friends. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.