-Luke 22:43,44

-Luke 22:43,44

"An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."

The setup for this passage is that Jesus had just finished celebrating the Passover with his disciples, which would come to be known as the Last Supper, and he's now on the Mount of Olives, talking to his Father.

In the verse directly preceding 43, Jesus asks God to "take this cup from me. Yet, not my will, but your will be done." He says, in essence, "Father, i know what's about to go down. I know that suffering and death are awaiting me. So if there's any other way to make this happen; if there's any other way to do what needs done, i'll take it. But if this is what has to happen, I'm in. I'll trust you."

So Jesus is talking to God about his impending crucifixion, and an angel shows up in verse 43 and strengthens him. And he continues praying and talking to his Father, but the next verse says he's in "anguish" and his sweat was like "drops of blood."

My first reaction to this passage is to wonder, why, if an angel showed up and strengthened him, was he still in anguish? Shouldn't the presence of a heavenly, sword-bearing angel alleviate that anguish? Apparently not.

What then, did the angel actually accomplish for Jesus. What was the effect of the strengthening?

The strength that this angel imparted to Jesus allowed him to perservere through his anguish and make it out on the other side, rather than be caught up in it and crushed by it.

Maybe this observation should be an obvious one, but it wasn't to me. Maybe this is because my unchecked expectation of God, is that He just pull me out of my hardships and any pain that comes with them, when in all actuallity He is far more interested in seeing me through those hardships and the pain that comes with them.

2 Corinthians 12:9- But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Maybe God's not interested in me having a pain-free existence. Maybe He wants me to experience His power, and knows that i get closer to Him when He is able to strengthen me and see me through my anguish.

Maybe?

day one...

It's been at least a couple of weeks since i've written anything. i recently (yesterday) made the decision to carve out a half-hour of time on Monday's, Wednesday, and Thursdays to write. This came at the prompting of a friend and co-worker who i respect on many levels and who has done an incredible job at being successfully disciplined in his creative gifts. So, anyhow, tooday is day one.

He talked about how often when we try to structure time into out day to write, create, whatever, there can be this sense of impending fear that when the alarm sounds and the clock begins, we will have nothing to say or bring to life. This certainly registered with me yesterday, but it absolutely became a reality as i sat down to write today (as demonstrated by the fact that i'm kind of writing about nothing).

Here's the thing i don't get. I have plenty going on. Plenty frustrations, plenty feelings, plenty on my mind. So why does it feel so difficult to find something to write about?

I've just made the decision to buy a new car. This entire process has been a bit of a personal and "spiritual" dilemma for me, not to mention it's one of the first major financial decisions my wife and i have made together in our first year or so of marriage.

I've also realized as i've embarked on the car-finding/buying ordeal-from-hell that i become way too stressed out when it comes to financial decisions. there's bound to be some level of stress when finances are involved, but i've been getting pretty stupid about the whole thing. i may have to seek pharmeceutical assistance when we start looking for a house...

so, yeah, plenty going on...why so difficult...?