The Obedient Son

At the wedding at Cana, when Mary mentions to Jesus that "they have no wine", He responds to her insinuation that He do something about it with a seemingly insolent question.

Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."

As only a mother can, Mary knew her son. She knew every innuendo of voice and body language. She knew that He was not reprimanding her. Jesus loved and honored His earthly mother as no other Son before or since. She had been the recipient of her child's unconditional love for 30 years.

As a child, He had answered her concerned questions with "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" (Luke 2: 49)

In the ensuing years, the Bible tells us that "He was subject to His parents and that He increased in wisdom and stature, and favor with God and man."

Although He was God in the flesh, He was obedient to His earthly parents.

As an adult, He was once again gently reminding His mother of His purpose.

Here He is at the very beginning of His public ministry and she was asking Him for something that only He could give. No one else could provide wine for the wedding feast. At least, no one else could provide it without going to some considerable trouble and expense to obtain it. The wine was needed now. Not later.

The 6 water pots were dry and empty. These were vessels that were used in purification of the Jews. They were set aside to be used only for a special ritual and purpose. (Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. John 2: 6)

When He tells the servants to fill the water pots, they obediently do so. In fact , they fill them to the brim... almost overflowing. When it was poured into the cups, the water had turned to wine. The best wine. Wine meant to be shared with all the guests. They all drank of it.

The wedding guests had been in need.... looking for something more than what they had.

Now the wedding feast was saved... the celebration could continue!

Like these wedding guests, in the middle of our lives ... sometimes even in the middle of a celebration, we run dry. Nothing and no one satisfies our longing. When our hearts and lives are shattered and empty, we reach a place where we finally say..."there has got to be something more." Jesus offers "have a drink.... fill yourself .. quench your thirst." When we accept His offer we are transformed by His grace and it pours out on us. Jesus fills our emptiness and parched souls with His living water and then asks us to pour it out into our families, friends, co workers, etc...

When He said to Mary, "My hour has not yet come", was Jesus thinking of the future and of the bitter cup He would drink? Did He look ahead and see Himself on the cross?

He knew that this miracle at the wedding was the first of many miracles. The first miracle on the road leading up to His ultimate sacrifice when His hour would come and He would be tortured and slain like a murderer or a thief.

Jesus knew that once He took this step, there was no turning back.

When the wine was drawn out of the water pots, did He think of the blood that would run from His head and hands and feet? Did Jesus, the only pure and sinless vessel, wince at the thought of the cross? Had he already begun to feel the pain and shame of being filled and covered and smeared with the filth of all our sin? Was He preparing Himself for the day when His heart would literally burst with love for us as He took on our sin.

Did He think about the night when another cup of wine would be poured and He would share the Passover with His disciples saying "Do this... in remembrance of Me." " And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament [covenant], which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God (Mar 14:22-25)."

Or later on, during the night that He was praying in the garden before His arrest, did His thoughts go back to this wedding day and the miracle of the wine when He prayed "Abba, Father, all things [are] possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."

While He sweat drops of blood praying for His Father's will to be done, did He remember His obedience to Mary's request on that long ago wedding day when the wine flowed freely?

Maybe He thought past the cross to a future wedding day when He would return as the Bridegroom and take His bride home. Maybe he smiled and laughed at the thought of that coming celebration!

Wherever His thoughts wandered that day, this was His first recorded miracle. It was indicative of what He came to do. It was a picture of His entire ministry. An act of obedience. He was and is the vessel of purification. He filled Himself with all our sin.. all our base ugliness... and transformed it into righteousness like a fine wine... a sweet fragrance. He filled our empty lives and spirits with His Living Water and His Holy Spirit to save us from sin and to teach us how to pour Him out to others. Now that is a miracle!

"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. John 2: 11"


Jesus begins His ministry with an act of obedience to His mother. It is finished with His ultimate act of obedience to His Father. He became sin who knew no sin. He did it all because He loves us.

Prayer: Holy Father, thank You for sending Your Son. Thank You for Your love. Please fill us as only You can and use us to to reach others for Your glory. In Jesus' precious and glorious Name. Amen.

My Road

When I began to homeschool 10 year ago, (my how fast the time flies) the picture I envisioned for our homeschool days went something like this: Me, coming out of my room after an hour or so of prayer and Bible study, my makeup freshly applied, my hair perfectly groomed, wearing a dress that I had made myself. My children sitting at the table, in matching hand made outfits, finishing their breakfast of warm baked bread and homemade jam, from berries that we picked on a field trip while studying native vegetation. They would have already cleaned their rooms and made their beds while singing hymns of gratitude for all their blessings. Then they would eagerly come to the table in anticipation of today’s learning. The older children working happily on next weeks lessons because they worked ahead just for the sheer joy of learning, while the younger child sits quietly nearby playing with legos and puzzles. But then I wake up.

What actually happens is more like this...

Me, in my house robe staggering out of my room heading for the coffee pot, the only prayer on my lips is “ Please get me through this day Lord.” My faced is lined with pillow creases and my hair hangs limply in my face. My children are either sleeping in late or sitting at the table waiting for me to get the presweetened poison... I mean cereal, down for them. They fight and argue over who gets the last bit of Cookie Crisp or the last Pop Tart. Their beds haven’t be made, mine either for that matter. Their rooms might have carpet, I haven’t seen the floor lately. Instead of singing hymns of thanksgiving I hear howls of dissent

“Mom! Tell her to stop looking at me!”

“I’m not looking at her!”

Then later that morning...after I announce it is time for school I hear moans, groans and deep sighs of semi-silent protest. To which I give the universal homeschooling response, “Your lucky to be home, you could have been in school for 3 hours already!” To top it all off, none of us even like legos!

That is a more accurate picture of homeschooling in my home. They are fallen sinners saved by grace, just like their mom, who happens to be their teacher. We are not perfected by any means, but I know that by training, teaching and guiding them at home we all are learning to lean on on the Lord to make up for my own short comings as a mother and a teacher.

Proverbs 1:7 tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” This knowledge just isn’t intellect but also encompasses wisdom. Many intelligent people make foolish choices. The Bible says in Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” I don’t want to raise fools, but wise individuals who look to the Lord for guidance. When one “fears the Lord”, looking to Him and His ways, they will strive to do their work with excellence, as we are urged in Ecclesiastes 9:10, & Colossians 3:17,23-24. When we do the Lord’s will His plans will succeed, Psalm 37:5, Proverbs 16:3 and Philippians 1:6.

My goals for my children are that their lives are God centered, with the Living Word in their hearts, that they are Christ-minded, and Spirit led. I want them prepared to serve the Lord, sharing Jesus, with the foolish of the world, using their God given gifts and talents. God has entrusted me with these children to raise them for His glory. Someday I will answer to Him for my faithfulness and stewardship of the children He has given me. More than anything I want Him to say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Am I achiving that lofty goal? Somedays it is hard to tell if I’m having any impact at all, when the girls argue about meaningless things, when the house is a shambles and the science experiment didn’t work. Then there are the days when the girls surprise me by doing the laundry, reading books to their little sister, and I over hear one telling another that doing what God wants isn’t always the easiest thing, but it is the best thing. Those are the moments that keep me on this road the Lord has lead me down, knowing that it’s His goals that will be reached.

~Marni

Thorns of the Flesh

Have you ever had a splinter? I am sure you have. My children are constantly getting them. Brent and I have very different approaches at the removal of these pesky, painful things. He slowly preps the kids, explaining everything that is about to proceed, preparing them for the "operation". He then sanitizes the needle with alcohol, gets out the triple antibiotic ointment, the band-aids. Then he asks that the afflicted child come forward to have the menace removed. By this time the child is terrified, but knows that this is a way to remove the painful thing. I on the other hand am less informative and more aggressive. I look at the splinter and assess the situation: Is is deep or just below the surface, will using a needle require excessive and needless digging, or is the splinter lodged deep, is it thick and easily grabbed or is it tiny or worse yet has it broken into more pieces and is it deeply lodged. I simply tell the child I am going to get the splinter, it is going to hurt, and they can let me get it or they can get an infection or hope it works it's way out. I let them know I will not wrestle with them in order to help them. I then grab the tools of choice: the needle if it is close to the surface and easily grabber, the clippers (cleaned with alcohol)if it is deep or broken into pieces and cut the whole thing out. Quickly apply the ointment, press on the bandage, kiss the child, and tell them "stay off the wood next time", and I turn them loose.

I taught over the Passion of Christ to our youth this past week. A very generous lady of our church provided a crown of thorns for our example.

I had only seen these thorns one other time in my life. My husband and I had visited a conservatory in San Antonio several years back and there was a tree that had terrible, ugly, thorny branches. The tree itself was nothing beautiful to look at. Underneath it was a sign giving it's proper name and origin and a brief description. In the description it was noted that this was the very type of tree from which the crown of thorns was fashioned. A weeping tree, created in the beginning of time to be a representation of the terrible, blackness of the sins of man. It would be the tree that a crown of torture was fashioned, that would cause the precious life-giving blood to flow from a torn head to be the forgiveness of man.

As I passed this crude and terrible thing around I asked that the children look closely at each giant, sharp, treacherous thorn. Each thorn had thorns on it, protruding in every direction.

You see sin and the lies of the enemy are like the splinters my kids pick up in the world and they are like the thorns of this terrible tree entering into our lives at different angles and times. Sometimes they are like the splinter sliding in unnoticed until afterwards only making one entry wound. They are small or big, they may break into tiny pieces upon entering or they may stay together, they may be close to the surface or they may be deeply lodged within. Sin and the lies of the enemy are also like the thorns of the crown. They can cause terrible life altering implications as they enter ripping to shreds a life, a testimony, dreams, marriages, families. Once there they hook in and blood and pain flow freely and with great abundance. The pain, the injury is undeniable, and can't be hid: everyone can see it. Unlike the splinter you can not close your hand over it, wrap it up, hide it, or ignore it until the infection is too bad to deny it.

The wonderful, magnificent thing is that God chose not a small splinter to be the crown of thorns. God did not make the rose bush to be the thing from which this was fashioned. Instead he chose the most terrible thorn, the best representation of the ultimate implications of sin in our lives. He wanted us to know that it was not just the small seemingly unnoticed sins that he was interested in, but also the big ugly ones. God does not distinguish sins, he does not categorize or minimize or say one thing is greater than the other. He understands in his infinite wisdom that ALL sin, even the ones we keep hidden from the world cause pain, infection, and ultimately death if left untreated. However, he chose the greatest thorns to give us a picture that he was willing to forgive it all. He chose the thorns that would cause the life-giving, bondage-breaking, wall shattering, life-altering, chain-breaking, prison-freeing, precious blood of Christ to flow freely.

God is interested in it ALL!!! He wants us to come to him, call on him, ask forgiveness let him become Lord of our lives. He wants to remove our sins.

He may explain the process, loving take us in his arms, expose the sin to us and gently remove it. Or he may show it to us and give us little explanation as to how it will be removed and aggressively cut it out of our lives. There may be a wound left, and healing to be done, or there may be little left as a reminder. Always he applies an ointment of forgiveness, love and grace to our lives, and he wraps the wound (great or small) in grace and love, with forgiveness. He kisses away our tears and steers away from the things that might cause us to fall again into this terrible thing that inflicted pain.

He redeems us! We are set free! We are no longer flawed by the pain of our sin - - His son wore the crown that we would not have to.

"For God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not come into this world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed on the Lord...." John 3:16-18

Don't Panic

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men.
John 1:3-4

It's comforting to know that there is a plan.

Jesus the Creator.

Jesus the Light of the World.

He stepped into His own creation and became more than a creator. He became part of the Creation. He is the axis of all of creation. Not only that, Jesus shed light on the Ultimate Question of why we exist. Contrary to Douglas Adam's answer to the Ultimate Question in the sci-fi comedy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", the answer is NOT '42'.

The answer is Jesus.

We are here because of Jesus. We are here for Jesus. We were created and exist to live lives that implement and carry out His plan.

We are living, breathing, thinking entities and were created to ask the big questions of Who am I? Why am I here?

There is something inside each of us that seeks those answers.

We were MADE through Jesus. He is the Ultimate Answer to our big questions.

In Acts 17, Paul makes the statement that " we are here in this time and in this place so that we will seek the Lord and in seeking Him find Him.... For in Him we live and move and have our being."

Our express purpose in life is to find Him. He's not far... so you don't have to search too long or too hard. He's not playing "Hide and Seek" with us. He wants us to find Him. He longs for us to reach out to Him. He's waiting with open arms.

Douglas Adams did have one good piece of advice: "DON'T PANIC!"

My advice is "Don't panic, but trust in the Lord with all your heart". The road might be a little bumpy and difficult, but the Light is always on.


Father, help me to always remember that I am here because of You and to always look to you for answers to my questions. Thank you for sending Jesus into my life. Amen.

Kathy Ellis

Just Do It

Have you ever been to a wedding or a celebration? Of course! We all have been to parties and celebrations and special events.

We love to, love to, LOVE to celebrate! And celebration always includes good food and good things to drink. Whether your favorite is iced tea, a mocha latte, a refreshing punch or a glass of wine, it seems that there is an unending supply of some kind of beverage for all the guests.

Except for a particular wedding at Cana. This wedding was different. I don't know if the host just didn't plan well. Or if every invited guest brought an extra guest. Maybe the party goers were having such a good time that they all overstayed their welcome and the supplies ran low. But regardless of the circumstance, at this famous wedding, the drink ran dry. The wine was gone. Consumed by all the bride and groom's well wishers.

What a dilemma! What a disgrace! How would the bridegroom face his family and friends? He would lose face with them all. The bride and her family would be so embarrassed and the celebration marred by this turn of events. In those days, this would have been a devastating social faux pas.

Fortunately for the bridegroom, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in attendance at this wedding. And she had brought her son along. Jesus, the man that people were already whispering about and telling tales that there was just something different about Him. Jesus, who had already created a bit of a stir at His baptism. Jesus, who had already developed somewhat of a following. He was almost famous!

Apparently, Mary must have been close to someone in charge of this celebration. She found out about the situation with the wine and her mind started working out a solution. You know how us women are. We have to fix things. Her way of fixing this thing was to let her son know that she expected some assistance from Him.

She had birthed Him and raised Him to be a man. She knew Him as no other human being on earth knew Him. Mary knew exactly who Jesus was and she knew exactly what He was capable of doing. Shoot! She may have even secretly been hoping to show Him off. You know how you are when you are just bursting with pride in your kid. You want other people to know how special and wonderful he is.

So like any mother would have done, she said to her son "They have no wine." Just a simple statement of the situation. She could have only been commenting about it or feeling some compassion for the bride and groom. But, of course, Jesus knew that in 'motherspeak' this meant she expected Him to be the One to do something about it. Kind of like telling your kid "The garbage can is full." He knows you expect him to bag it up and take it out. No questions asked.

Mary knew that He would do what she wanted. So, like any mother, she disregarded His quiet protest. She told the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

What an incredible statement! “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Whatever.

Do it.

I mean, really! What did she expect Him to do about it anyway?

This is a statement that can only be made when you KNOW without a doubt that something is going to happen.

If He says “pat your head and rub your belly”, then DO IT. If He says “do 15 jumping jacks”, then DO IT. If He says “fill those empty water pots to the brim“, then DO IT. Don’t ask questions. Don’t make excuses. Don’t wait. Don’t try to rationalize the situation. To borrow from the Nike commercials, Just Do It.

Her command to the servants showed extreme faith. Faith that grew from living day in and day out with this once baby, once child, and now a man. This Jesus. Faith that came from knowing Jesus intimately inside and out.

Faith from seeing Him in action.

Faith from knowing His heart.

Jesus tells the servants “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. (John 2: 7-8 NKJV)

They did what He told them to do. They were servants. They did as they were told. They may have had some doubts. They may have laughed. They might have thought this lady and her son were half a bubble off. But they did what they were told.

Then the impossible happened. A dramatic and impossible transformation took place in those water pots.

The water became wine.

But not just any wine. The master of the feast proclaimed that this was the “good” wine. (John 2: 10 NKJV)

The word “good” used in the Bible is from the Greek word “Kalos”. Kalos is defined as: excellent, precious, magnificent, praiseworthy, noble, beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, and hence praiseworthy; morally good, noble, honourable, conferring honour, affecting the mind agreeably, comforting and confirming.

All this to praise a bit of water turned to wine.

All this to describe an impossible transformation of nature’s elements.

“Whatever He says to you, do it.” Such a simple request. Such a simple command from a mother’s heart of love and pride in her son.

Just do it. Then wait and see what kind of impossible and miraculous transformation takes place.

Your water may not turn to wine. But your heart of stone might become soft and pliable.

Your circumstance might not change, but your attitude could be altered.

Your favorite drink may run dry, but your dry and thirsty spirit could be quenched with Living Water.

“Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Then EXPECT a miracle! Expect a ‘kalos’ miracle.

The Intricate Web

Although I did not grow up with a love of nature, as I have fallen more in love with Father, Son and Holy Ghost I have come to love nature all the more. Many Fridays and Saturdays will find the Riddle's loaded up in our mini-van headed out on the road in any given direction. No particular place or destination in mind, just out to see what we can see of God's creation. We often times find ourselves on nature hikes in the middle of nationional forests. Soaking up the very creation that God gave man dominion over and charged him to take care of so many years ago.

I have found that God reveals himself in profound ways on these trips - his Word becomes fresh and alive in His creation.

One such time found us in the middle of the Sam Houston National Forest at one of the Parks. At the time Justin (my youngest son) was in a stroller and I was very pregnant with our youngest daughter (Rachel Elisabeth). Brent looked down the path and we determined that the path was smooth and relatively debri free (in fact it was was one of the nicer more level pathways we had seen). So we began. Brent and the two oldest blazing a path before me, as I loaded Justin and began to walk.

If you have been that far south in Texas you may be familiar with a very unique spider. It has little spikes on it and is colored brightly, if you get to see it. What is most unique about it are it's webs. They are the most intricate thing I think I have seen and I became very familar with the dangers of them that day!!

As we began down the trail I was watchful of my feet - I am not the most graceful person when it comes to walking. Being pregnant I wanted to make sure that I did not get tripped up by a root or debris in the pathway. However, something glinted in the early morning sun, a web off to the side of the path. The dew clung to the delicate strands of the web. Just a tiny beautiful web with a yellow and black spider. Small and stretched between the tiny branches of a brightly blooming bush. I walked slower so I could enjoy the beauty of that thing that sparkled in the sun, talking to Justin about it and letting him look.

Then I felt it. Sticky, icky, tangly web all over my 5 foot 3 inches!!! Literally head to toe I was ensnared. The stroller had somehow missed it, but not I. The panic flooded over me! The vision of the little horned beast of a spider I had just seen in the visitor center (where I had been warned of these very webs!) popped into my mind. I could picture it crawling down the neck of my shirt onto my bare skin. Oh - it was too much to bare. I bagan to scream, then thought "Ok now, I am a grown woman - - I WILL NOT panic! But fear had already taken root and I began to dance around as if the fire of pentecost had gotten a hold of me (for Baptist this is dangerous you know!). I think I would have stripped down and ran screaming, if God did not get a hold of me and bring me back to my sanity! Justin began to giggle and I was pulling at every strand of the terrible web - then it happened, My foot caught hold of a loose stick, not on the path - - - but just off to the side where all my panic had taken me and I fell, face first into another web.

As if things could get no worse. "Oh, Lord," I began to pray "Deliver ME!!!!! or I might just die right here!" Tears had began to well up, panic was clinching my throat --- -Brent and the big kids were way ahead and here I was fallen, covered in a web!!!

Finally cleared - - The Lord spoke -- - I think He was laughing at His daughter!
"BE vigilent!"

You see the path was not my problem...the footing on the path was not my problem (this park kept the paths clear). The problem was the thing that distracted me. I took my eyes off the path, off what was in front of me. If I had been watching was in front of me I would have seen the snare stretched out accross the pathway and would have ducked underneath it, avoiding entanglement.

The rest of the path I was more watchful. I watched for the morning sun to glint off the webs that stretched across the path and bent low to go under them. For the rest of the path I did not get entangled again. Nor did I tell Brent or the kids - - I think they would have laughed to hard at me....though now I can laugh.

When we got to the van Brent and the kids asked if I had seen the GIANT spider webs stretched accross the pathway (with a giggle). "Did you get under them okay....(giggle, giggle)?" "Yes," I said, straightening my shirt..."I made it with only one tiny problem..."

Life is just this way - that is why God has warned us to stay vigilent. Satan sets out to distract us. Our footing on God's path is not our problem, it is what gets us distracted, then entangled, finally we are to the edge of the path where the ground is not cleared and footing is not certain and we find ourselves covered and fallen.

I am grateful that I serve a God who redeems. It took some time - - and me calming down to get all the web off me and to remove the icky feeling I had. It took even more time to convince myself that little horned spider was not somewhere crawling on me, but it happened.

By the time I reached the others I was calm and restored and happy. That is what God does in our lives. He lovingly removes the webs of sin, releases us from the entaglement, sets our feet in the MIDDLE of the cleared path, kills the predator, calms the fear, gives us peace, shows us love....and takes us back.

"When Persecution Comes!"

God tells us to walk with Him daily and to read the Word, meditate on it, and pray! These things prepare us when the trials come!!! There will be trials that come, but, we need to "consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance."James 1:2 These trials refines us and make us more into the image of God! We can learn from them, if we choose to seek God and His guidance in that trial!! We can grow in our faith in the trials!!
There are 4 attitudes we should have when persecution comes: (1.) Expect it, (2.) Rejoice in it, (3.) Evaluate the cause, & (4.) Entrust it to God!
Seek God!!! Have the right attitude!!!! Trust God to see you thru!!!
We all need to learn, "Life is hard, but, GOD IS GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!" There will be trials, Praise God before they come, during them, and after them!! Evaluate them!!! We may not understand, but, remember God has the best plan!!! Give them to God!!! Remember our suffering is for God's Glory!!! I Peter 4:12 & 13-"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation." Always remember when you are in the midst of a trial, what Jesus went thru for you!!! Let Him be your strength and give Him the glory for everything!!! Praise God!!!


"Don't tell God how big your storm is,
Tell your storm how big your God is!!!"