The Glow of Tiny Footprimts

This morning as I clean up the sticky mess that trails through my house left by my tiny tornado, I can see tiny feet prints on the tile floor shimmering in the light. I could be upset about cleaning this crazy mess, but something won't let me.  Perhaps, it is the delicate pictures posted on Facebook of a mother and the few precious moments she had with a baby she will never get to see make those same prints. The pictures are beautiful, but the story behind the pictures are heartbeaking. I have never known this pain personally, and I pray that I never will. Friends that have gone through it say it is the most heart wrenching experience a parent will journey through. Not only do you feel robbed of this precious baby that you are suppose to take home from the hospital, but you feel robbed of what wassuppose to be-the future. Before life has a chance to start, life is gone. I can not imagine the life time of hurt, questioning and healing that must take place. I know that I do not do this tragedy justice because I do not speak from personal experience. I want to capture what I have learned. Life is the most precious gift that God gives us. We can trick ourselves into thinking that we are creators of life, but we are not.  Job, in all of his heartache and woe got it right, "And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and The Lord has taken away; blessed be the nave of The Lord.'" (Job 1:21). I work very hard each day to cherish the beautiful messes. Yes, I get overwhelmed with the laundry, dishes, floors and for me the dreaded daily lunch making. When I get bogged by all these things, I TRY to remember I have a beautiful family making memories out of moments. I still don't like laundry or lunches but at least i get to do them. Now if you'll excuse me, my ice pop eating tornado is awake ready to start a new day.  

The cross makers

So today I started thinking about the cross maker. Could you imagine if your job was to make the cross that Jesus took his last breath. There you are cutting the wood that would capture God for just a brief moment. As you fashion the two cross beams wondering what criminal would meet his demise on your masterpiece. You grin to yourself thinking that some justice will come to a lowly thief who can't follow the rules. Later that week you hear commotion is the city. Rumor is spreading through out the town. The Jews have decided to kill Jesus. You've heard a little about this man named Jesus. You scratch your head a minute thinking back to what you had heard. Was he a thief, a murderer? No, those things didn't come to mind. What had this man done that was so wrong to merit death on one of your crosses? The best you can remember he was a pretty good guy. Sure he was known to be a little crazy. You had heard that he was going around talking about the future. Some were saying that he was to be some sort of king of the Jews. Why would the Jews want to king their possible king? It just did not make sense. Your curiosity gets the best of you. You decide to make your way up to Calvary to see if someone knows what on earth this man could have done to take the place of a known murderer. As you make your way up the hill you see two crosses that your buddies had built. You could tell by the craftsmanship. There hung two men convicted of crimes. Neither of these two men looked much like a king. Out of the corner of your eye you catch a vision. "A man?" you think to yourself. It's hard to tell. This guy has been so badly beaten you wondered how this man could still be living let alone walking. Then you see your beam coming over the hill being carried by another man. There is no way that other could have carried that beam, you knew just how heavy it was. The roman