The Biggest Lamenter

Missy and I like to watch The Biggest Loser on Tuesday nights. It's amazing the transformations these people go through in a matter of a few months. Like most reality shows, there's lots of drama and lots of tears to go around.

This season however, there has been an over abundance of liquid from the eyes. Now this wouldn't be worth mentioning if it was mainly the women doing most of the crying. But the men on this season have won the prize for being the most girl like.

I'm not trying to be sexist here. I believe that men should be strong and sensitive at the same time. There are times that it's ok for a man to cry. As a matter of fact there are times when men should cry. But for Pete's sake, give me a break. These "Susans" are turning on the water works when they have to vote on eliminating someone from a COMPETITION!!! I mean, what do I tell my son, who I am trying to teach to be masculine in the fullest sense of the word, when these guys cry more than the women! And they're crying over someone leaving the Biggest Loser Campus, or the fact that they miss their families, or that someone on their team can't do a dead lift, or that they miss their snacks, or they want a soda, or that they slipped on their diet and ate a Twinkie. It makes me so mad I could just cry. . . uh, I mean. . . well. . . it makes me so mad I could just smash something!

But maybe I'm being too hard on these men. I mean they are working out 3 to 4 hours a day. The main comfort they've had so far in life, namely food, has been stripped away from them. They probably do miss their wife, kids, friends, and video games in the case of one 21 year old who still lives with his mom. You know, I feel bad now. I. . . I guess I'm just taking out something my parents did or didn't do for me when I was a kid. I'm not sure if my dad ever told me he loved me know that I think about it. I. . . Oh, I can't belive it, ok, now I'm crying!

It won't stop! The saline continually leaks from my ocular cavities! I'm sorry guys of The Biggest Loser. I understand now. I, I think I'll get my blanket, curl up on the couch with a Janet Oake novel, and afterwards, I'll go and plant some pansies to take my mind off of my insensitivites and the problems of these brave, brave men.

Resurrection Day

Today is the best day of the year. Today is the day we celebrate the fulfilling of Isaiah 53.



1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been
revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him , nothing in his appearance that
we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with
suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we
esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him
stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and
LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like
a lamb to the slaughter, asn as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did
not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his
descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the
transgression of my people he was stricken.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though
he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the
LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his
days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his
knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their
iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils
with the strong, because he poured out his file unto death, and was numbered
with the transgressor. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession
for the transgressors.


This is one of the greatest chapters in all of Scripture! God was pleased to crush His own Son and to number him with the transgressor. That's me!!! And He numbered him with the transgressor so that he could make intercession for the transgressor. That's me too!!! Christ became all of the diseased part of my hardened heart. He became everything that I am so that I could be everything that He is. There is no single thing in this world that deserves a celebration more than that fact! How I trample on this great truth of freedom every day by not living in that truth. However, the fact that I fail to have joy and freedom in this truth every second of my life is over shadowed by another great truth from Scripture. . . "But God."

These two words sum up our helpless state. I am a transgressor, but God has sent His only Son to bare my transgressions and give me a robe of righteousness. I continually transgress His Law, but God raised His Son from the dead to continually make intercession for me. I drift from his word and get carried away by the distractions of life, but God works in my heart, soul, and mind to restore me.

Now that's hope!

Happy Resurrection Day!