We make it beautiful because of the way it has blessed us. We make it beautiful because it made our lives beautiful. We make it beautiful because it expresses a beautiful love. The cross is not the only ugly thing made beautiful by Jesus Christ!

EASTER

The legend is that when Julius Caesar came to Alexandria, they showed him the coffin of Alexander the Great. They then asked him if he would like to see Ptolemy's coffin. He said, "I came to see a king, not a corpse." When we come to church, we come to see a King, not a corpse!

GUIDANCE

We welcome how the new technologies can help us, but even they are not infallible. The newspapers reported recently that a driver in New York using a GPS navigational device followed the instructions and drove right into the path of an oncoming train. The driver was able to get out of the way, but his car was not. The car was a total loss.

It didn’t help the man to think he was right. We need to be discerning when it comes to those who try to tell us the way. We can always depend on Christ and His word to lead us in the right direction.

KINDNESS

A recent issue of the US News and World Report marked a significant anniversary. It reminded readers that this year is the 15^th anniversary of the “Random Acts of Kindness” movement. It was in 1993 when a Bakersfield College professor named Chuck Wall challenged his class to go do a random act of kindness. Even churches took up the cause with significant results.

Wall today reminds people that even the simplest acts can have a gigantic effect. Today he urges we not discount the blessing that can come from holding the door for someone or buying a cup of coffee, or sending encouraging emails.

Jesus taught us of the importance of giving a cup of cold water in His name. He sanctified these acts by saying that we do them for Him.

LORD’S SUPPER

The warden of Sing-Sing prison once said that, on the average, an inmate was forgotten by the outside in five years. Friends first ceased to write, then brother and sister, then sweethearts, and mother last of all. But we are never forgotten by God. The Supper reminds us of this, reassuring us that even when we forget Him, He does not forget us. Though we fail Him, He will not fail us. Even if we forsake Him, He will not forsake us. The limitless, persevering, determined love of God is written here. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."

SMALL THINGS

The theories keep changing, but here is the latest theory about how the dinosaurs became extinct. According to a new theory, reported in the news, it wasn’t an asteroid that did in the giant beasts. It was mosquitoes and ticks. The problem may have been the spread of insect-borne diseases or even the change the insects had on plant lie.

If this theory turns out to be true, it would remind us of the power of small things. Things that seem very insignificant may be powerful indeed.

SOWING AND REAPING

In a classic Peanuts comic, I remember Violet saying to Charlie Brown, “Sooner or later, Charlie Brown, there is one thing you need to learn. You reap what you sow. You get out of life exactly what you put into it. No more no less.” Snoopy, overhearing the conversation, muses, “I’d kind of like to see a little more margin for error.”

There is no margin for error here. The law of sowing and reaping is inviolate.