Well, for those celebrating this holiday weekend, I wish you the best of celebrations.  For those who don’t, I certainly wish you well also.

I have 15 new folks reading this tonight, and would like to say a special welcome to those friends…mostly from Facebook, etc.  For the newbies, I want to quickly introduce you to my secret passion for writing.  I’m sure somewhere down the line, I’ll start hitting the junk mail for many who receive these, but if what inspires me from time to time also has a chance at impacting your life, then I certainly want to share it.

Tonight I wanted to tell you about a memory that has been weighing strongly on me the past 24 hours.  Interestingly, I was rather surprised to find that this was Easter weekend today – during tax season, my head gets buried in crunching out tax returns.  The reason it’s interesting is because the memory that has been weighing so strongly was a musical performance that the church I grew up in (First Baptist Carrollton) put on to showcase its new monster-organ.  The title of the piece was “The Seven Last Words of Christ.” Interesting because the reason it has been weighing so strongly had nothing to do with Easter, but more on that later.  First, I want to go over those words and what they mean to me tonight.  Before I continue, I would like all of you to know that it was only one of these words that weighed on me…I’ve had to search back to remember the other 6.  I hope you enjoy my translation.  And, just a note, my current minister is copied on this email and I assure you he will lay no claim to my translation – I just like him to read my stuff so he can grit his teeth…  Love ya, Dennis!

Please note, these are not in any particular order.

The first saying comes from Matthew 27:46 says (NRSV) “And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'”  Even Jesus felt abandoned by God.  It said that as God placed the sins of the world on Jesus, he had to turn away from Jesus.  Any doubt that Jesus was human, especially in this respect?

The second saying comes from Luke 23:34 which says “Then Jesus said, ‘Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.'”  In the Christian faith, we recognize Jesus as the Messiah.  Many of the time did not, for at least a few reasons.  Even in the midst of hanging from a cross, doomed to death, tolerating a crowd mocking Him to have His glorious angels come and rescue him, etc., Jesus asked his Father in Heaven (who recall had turned away momentarily from Him) to forgive the crowd…saying that they really didn’t understand who He was.  Whether Christian or not, isn’t this a great lesson for all of us…I’ve got an easy one…how about road rage?  I’m laughing as I type this because mom (who is also on here) has been an HOV passenger a few times when I haven’t cared much for the moron who just cut me off…why can’t any of us just let it go?  Forgive them…they don’t know what it is they’re doing…and even if they do, you know better!

The third saying comes from just a few moments later in Luke 23:43 where Jesus responds to one of the criminals hanging beside him who had chided the other criminal for almost mocking Jesus saying that they were both criminals, but Jesus had done nothing wrong.  To this man “He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.'”  Even at the hour of his death, the criminal recognized not only who Jesus was but what He was about.  Jesus rewarded faith, even at the time of the criminal’s death, with passage into Heaven.  At my lowest, I can tell you the times have been few and far between when I have recognized any such thing.  I typically bog down in the pity party and continue to wonder why I’ve been abandoned.  Jesus, apparently had gotten over it…and moved on…and continued doing the work He was on this earth to do.  Does that strike any of you funny?

The fourth saying comes John 19:26-27 which tells us, “When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing beside her, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.”  Even in the hour of death, Jesus made sure the care of His earthly mother, who He undoubtedly loved, was taken care of after His death.  What compassion, huh?  I make mom work for me at the practice…I tell everybody I’m keeping her alive…is that compassion?  I love you, mom!  Just pickin’ on you!!!

The fifth saying from John 19:28 says, “After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, He said (in order to fulfill the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.'”  It had been told in the Psalms that when the Savior was thirsty, He would be provided vinegar as opposed to water.  Psalm 69:21 said “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.” This was strictly to fulfill a prophecy…to fulfill a duty in other words.  In your darkest hour, are you worried about duty?  Hanging from a cross barely able to breathe with the weight of your body pushing the breath from your gut like an elephant on your chest, do you care about duty?  I think I’d be a big crybaby.

The sixth saying comes from Luke 23:46 when “Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit!'”  At this point, Jesus has realized He is only a few moments away from death.  Rather than panic, curse, or anything else He could’ve done, He turned it over to God – God had accepted his sacrifice…which in the Christian faith is that Christ had died to serve as atonement for all our sins.  Wow.

The seventh and last saying of Christ comes from John 19:30 which says, “When Jesus had received the wine [vinegar], He said, ‘It is finished.’ Then He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.”  Not much to say there…

When my church put on this production, they drew from the strength of voices in that very large Sanctuary Choir.  The piece requires 4 soloists, one from each voice part.  Rip, our music minister, chose Judy Chapman and Martha Smith to cover the ladies’ parts.  These two, to this day, are probably two of the best female voices I’ve ever heard.  Just beautiful.  He chose Martha’s husband Gary to sing the bass.  Gary had played for the Oakland Raiders…and while I knew I could take him out, I was no match for his ability to sing low.  That man could sing WAY LOW.  Gary was one of the nicest guys at the church too – so it was perfect.  Gary sang the song for the seventh saying – It is Finished.  It was amazing.  They hit the low notes on that organ and that gigantic new sanctuary shook!  Our choir director did feel a need to call on an outside influence to sing tenor.

In 7th grade, I had the pleasure of meeting Ted Polk…fortunately for good reasons.  You didn’t want to meet Mr. Polk for bad reasons…he was the Assistant Principal at DeWitt Perry Junior High.  Mr. Polk was a LARGE man, in both height and width.  He was a loving, caring, man…and could demand attention in a room by just his presence.  Years before becoming an Assistant Principal, Mr. Polk had taught choir at RL Turner High School.  He also was the song leader for Farmers Branch Church of Christ for many years, a path his very own son, and my classmate, Steven, would follow after we graduated from high school.  Ted was hilarious…known for practical jokes and having a killer look in his eyes that would lead you on forever even in the midst of nervous laughter.  I got to know the Polk family well…even dating one of his daughters at one point.  I watched the man in action for at least 2 years.

I often think of that performance…of the taboo that Rip broke by having the feared Church of Christ come sing at a Southern Baptist church (do we really care about those boundaries…really?), of Gary belting out the low notes, Martha singing so richly, Judy with that beautiful soprano voice coming out over the balcony in the back, that organ played by David Lacefield that just sounded worth every penny the church spent on it.  But I’ll never forget watching Mr. Polk – no man could sing like he could…he never missed a note (except in rehearsal – which was always fun) and he was able to tell you the story with his face while every muscle in his body contracted to hit the pitch.  Ted Polk was a beautiful man.

But believe it or not, none of that was the inspiration for me writing tonight.  Many of you know of the stuff I’ve been through for the past several years.  Suffering the ups and downs of a marriage in limbo and really creating drama along the way to make something work that almost couldn’t.  Last night, Scottie and I settled the final details of our divorce – a process that has been 3 years in the making.  Just so you know, I’ve copied her on here as well – she enjoys reading these little rants from time to time, and I want her to faithfully believe there will be no more hard feelings.  I hung up the phone with her last night, with the last detail settled, and whispered to myself, “It is Finished.” While I would hardly compare my roller coaster with the death of the Christian Savior, I will tell you this, going through and rereading all those phrases – and giving my thoughts along the way, has certainly stirred my spirit as well.  Could I have been better the past 3 years…yes…by all means yes.  Could I have been more respectful to myself, and others?  Absolutely.  Is it ever too late to start – well, I tell you what friends, when you get to heaven one day, go ask that criminal that hung next to Jesus…it is NEVER too late.

As I typed in those phrases, my daughter, who’d been nagging at me to play Battleship with her – lol – asked what I was doing.  I handed her my Bible and asked her to start looking up these references so she could read them to me while I typed.  Folks, I’ve been a great dad…but I’ve done a miserable job in raising my kids in faith.  She, a 2nd grade girl, had to flip through pages – sometimes chunks at a time, to find any of these books in the Bible.  It was the kick I needed to tie this letter down.

I really didn’t know where I’d go with this…but when my own daughter struggled to find Bible verses when she can tell you all about stuff I don’t think we learned about until 5th or 6th grade – well, that to me was a reflection on my own failure as a dad.  The nice thing folks, I’m not that criminal…as far as I know, my death is not pending.  I still have time to correct that error.  Are there things in your life where these 7 last words could talk or speak to you?  Forget the season…I’m talking about every day…surely you can find an application or two.

I leave you with this…every one of you is on my prayer list…I hope you’ll remember me on yours.  I love each of you in a very special way…some bound by old high school memories, some by very new friendships, some by family ties, etc.  I wish each and every one of you not only a Happy Easter, but a lifetime of happiness.  Roller coasters are no fun…especially emotional ones.

Scottie, thanks for the friendship…I hope we can co-parent these two kids the way we are promising each other we can.  Steven, thanks for allowing me to blubber on about your dad.  Having lost mine, I know how it feels to miss him…just know I miss your old man too.  And to everybody else,

Peace
Tim