Thought for August 10, 2024

  •  1675: Foundation stone laid for the Royal Observatory at Greenwich
  • 1787: Mozart completes "Eine kleine Nachtmusik"
  • 1793: Louvre officially opens as The Museum Central des Arts
  • 1846: Congress passes act creating the Smithsonian Institution
  • 1897: First synthesis of acetylsalicylic acid at Bayer labs--aspirin
  • 1943: Patton slaps a soldier
  • 1954: Groundbreaking for St. Lawrence Seaway
  • 1996: Bob Dole selects Jack Kemp as running mate. Jack and his wife were guests in the Forty Niners box in a Monday night game against Atlanta following the defeat in November. Really enjoyed the evening talking to Jack and our other guest, John Mackey
  • 2014: Racial unrest in Ferguson MO after shooting of Michael Brown
  • 2020: Derecho hits Midwest leveling cornfields and killing 2
  • Born: Henri Nestle, Herbert Hoover, Rosanna Arquette, Antonio Banderas, Edmund Randolph [1st Attorney General and 2nd Secretary of State], Rhonda Fleming, Jimmy Dean, Bobby Hatfield [Righteous Brothers], Ja Morant
  • Died: Cleopatra, Robert Goddard, Isaac Hayes, Jerry Epstein [awaiting trial], Estes Kefauver, Buddy Baker, Tony Esposito 
Thought:
Reading Mark 8:31-38 this morning. Yesterday, Jesus posed the question, "who do you say that I am?" Today, He reminds the disciples and others that the Christ is a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief and that those that follow Him must also carry a cross.

When Peter announces Jesus is the Christ, do you wonder what thoughts that raised in the minds of the disciples. Jesus is the king who has come to take David's throne. He will free Israel and destroy its enemies. Maybe they thought about themselves as leaders within the kingdom, places of honor and respect. Perhaps they looked forward to taking up residency in the palace in Jerusalem, no more wandering around. But Jesus wants to make a clear statement about what it means to be the Christ and what it means to be His followers.

Jesus wants them to know that Isaiah was accurate. The Christ will be rejected by religious leaders, He will be arrested, beaten, and killed. But He will rise from the grave and live eternally. Well, what about those who follow Him? They must deny themselves--It is no longer I who live, but Christ in me my hope of glory. They must take up their own cross---rejection, pain, suffering, sacrifice. They must follow Him--wherever He leads I go. And I must follow unashamedly--for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. This means I stand up for the gospel and that may make me stand out, be different. 

And for those that follow unashamedly, Jesus will claim them when He comes in the glory of the Father with myriads of angels. That is a precious promise for those who believe. These verses make me think about what I need to do to follow Him. He did not call me to an easy life, He called me to an obedient life, a sacrificial life. But a blessed life. 

Blessings
Larry

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