Spring

(Photo credit "Hepatica" Chong Mi Storrönning)

Amen Holy Father - Armenian hymn - Soloinstrument - Duduk

THE FATHER HOLY,

the Son Holy,

the Spirit Holy.

Blessing to the Father

and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit,

now and forever

and unto the ages of ages.

Amen.

I pour out my heart to you, o Lord.

(The duduk is a traditional Woodwind instrument indigenous to Armenia)
(WikipediA)

His Voice

His voice, as the sound of the dulcimer sweet,
Is heard through the shadows of death;
The cedars of Lebanon bow at his feet,
The air is perfum'd with his breath.
His lips as a fountain of righteousness flow,
That waters the garden of grace,
From which their salvation the people shall know,
And bask in the smile of his face.

Love sits on his eyelids, and scatters delight
Through all the bright mansions on high;
Their faces the cherubim veil in his sight,
And tremble with fullness of joy.
He looks, and ten thousands of angels rejoice,
And myriads wait for his word;
He speaks, and eternity, fill'd with His voice,
Re-echoes the praise of her Lord.

His voice, as the sound of the dulcimer sweet,
Is heard through the shadows of death;
The cedars of Lebanon bow at his feet,
The air is perfum'd with his breath.
O thou in whose presence my soul takes delight,
On whom in affliction I call,
My comfort by day, and my song in the night,
My hope, my salvation, my all.

Jesus reigns forever

(click on the picture for higher resolution)

He is risen...

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for being trustworthy. You told your disciples that you would rise from the dead and you did. You told them that you would be with them always till the end of times and you are. You are alive and you hear my prayer. I cannot imagine a life without you; so Jesus my savior and redeemer, I call upon you and ask you to hear my prayer for those who do not know you and cannot pray for themselves. Have mercy upon them and save them from eternal separation from you. Lord have mercy and help me not to despair but hold on to you even when reality seems impossible.
In your precious name, Jesus
Amen


When searching the Net for a picture that could tell about the resurrection of Jesus Christ I came across a Chinese artist called Dr. He Qi.
You can find more pictures by He Qi on the following link.
http://www.heqigallery.com/

Sincerely yours Ida

Good Friday - No Words

(click on the image for higher resolution)

A picture of Joseph and his child or Jesus and his child?

Dear Reader,
I found this picture on a Russian site for art and the only explanation I have found about the picture is the title "St Joseph and the Christ child". I'm afraid I don't have the painter’s name, and maybe it is an icon and the painter is unknown.

What do you see in this picture? The moment I saw it I was struck by the tenderness between a Jewish man and his child and the connection between a father and his child when they look at each other. And then my eyes fell on the cross.
Would a Jewish man carve a wooden cross and give his son as a toy? Never. The Romans used to kill their enemies with that barbaric instrument of torture. It was a hellish construction that was made to cause the most possible pain and agony for the victim. Indeed not a toy .But the painter is telling us yet another story in the picture and if you have read your Bible you know that Jesus would die on a cross 33 years later. Joseph is holding his son in his arms and in my imagination Jesus is not just his foster son but his very own son and his wish for his child is only the best life can bring. Joseph has his Tallit (prayer shawl) on and maybe he has just prayed for and blessed his son with a prayer for protection and guidance from God.

Before I saw the title of the picture, I thought it was the other way around; that Jesus was holding a child. You know the story about Jesus gathering the children; blessing them, and telling the disciples and the mothers that the children belong to the Kingdom of Heaven, right? In my mind as much as Joseph is holding Jesus; Jesus is reaching out to Joseph and with his hand reaching up to Joseph face he says "I'm holding you because of my cross" The cross was not on Joseph's list of what Jesus should achieve during his life but on God's list over what he could do for mankind the cross was number one.

Easter is just around the corner and we are once again reminded of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and HIS atonement for our sins. But not only at Easter is this fact but also every other day of the year. Man was created in the image of the Son but man can never become Christ-like if it were not for the cross. Jesus is holding us up before God saying:
It is finished; I have done the ultimate sacrifice for every man and from now on Salvation is free for the one accepting it" Joseph is holding Jesus in the picture but Jesus is holding you and me in real life; because of the cross.
Sincerely yours
Ida

He Who Kneels ...

(picture found on the Internet,)

The Prayer List

Dear God,

You know the people I pray for and you know the list of people I have; that I mention before you in prayer. Some of them are close to me and will always be in my prayers until the day I die.

Some are acquaintances, living far away and I will never meet them but you have still put them on my list because who else would pray for them. Who else would mention their names before you if I don’t? Some of them don’t know you and they rebel openly and say that you do not exist. Some are your children and they struggle with terminal diseases and broken families. Some call themselves Christians but they don’t know and don’t want to know Jesus as their savior. You have opened my heart for people in a far away country that I would never have thought about, if it had not been for you; urging me to pray for them.

And so I hear one has turned his heart to you. After 20 years he has realized that what he looked for in the world was what you had all the time. You patiently waited for him to come back. And I’m glad and I pray that you protect his faith and guide him to follow you no matter what happens.

But then again I see those who have been on my list for 20 years and they are further away from you than ever before. My heart is aching. I’m so disappointed and so sad to realize that nothing has moved their hearts, nothing has shaken their stubbornness. And I ask Lord how long?

I beseech you Holy Spirit to open their hearts to Jesus so they can see who he is and that he is the only one who can save them and turn their lives around.

Dear God, I couldn’t live one millisecond of my life if it wasn’t for your grace and mercy. So I ask and pray that you will do a miracle in the lives of those on my prayer list. I pray that you will bless them and keep them from all evil and that you will draw them to you and save them. You know all of them and you love them all; more than a mother loves her child; more than anyone can imagine. I rest them in your hands.

In Jesus name, amen.

Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues (Live) (HQ)

Rear reader,
It was in the summer. The radio was on and I was doing some cleaning in my apartment. It was many many years ago now, but I can still recall the first time I heard "Still got the blues"
I stopped and sat down on the armrest of the sofa and listened through the whole song with the vacuum cleaner beside my feet. I had never heard anything like it before.
"Still got the blues" is the only song I have listened to performed by Gary Moore and besides that song I don't know anything about him. But he managed back then to communicate a feeling that I think can be understood by those who somewhere in life found and lost love.

And now I found out that he is gone. Life is fragile and it's only one heartbeat between here and eternity.
Sincerely your,
Ida

" I believe in the future"

Today on Taniwa's Blog you can watch Japanese schoolchildren, at Elementary School graduation, sing a song called "I believe in the future"
I would like you to turn to this link and watch the video
http://tttl1998.blogspot.com/

The song is written by Ryuuichi Sugimoto.

Even if you’ve been hurt, and you feel like giving up

I will be beside you and lift you up.

The earth is spinning with the whole world’s hope

Right now, when I open the door to the future

I think that surely sadness and hardships will someday turn into happiness.

“I believe in Future”

Yes, I believe.

Remember, if there is someone near you who looks like they are about to cry

Just take his hand without a word

And walk together with him

I want to wrap the earth in the kindness of the whole world.

Right now, I think my feelings could burst forth

And light up the heavens with love and expectation
“I believe in Future”
Yes, I believe.

Right now, when I open the door to the future,

“ I believe in Future”

Yes, I believe.

Jesus - The good shepherd

Dear God,
I pray for the people of Japan. You know every heart and you are present in the middle of the disaster. Lord have mercy and help those who have lost everything. Bring people to them for comfort and aid.
Amen

Björn Daelie and Philip Boit

Waiting for the last one ...

I listened to a sermon on the internet on Sunday night and the pastor told a story that I want to share with you dear reader.

There is a TV-show in Sweden called “Skavlan”. Skavlan is a Norwegian journalist doing the show on Swedish TV and he is greatly loved by the Swedish audience.

The program has had many interesting guests. In one of the programs the Norwegian champion Björn Daehlie and his friend; Philip Boit from Kenya was interviewed.

Philip Boit is a cross country skier who has represented Kenya from 1998 starting in the Olympic games, and he finished his skiing carrier this year in the World Championship in Norway.

Their friendship started in a somewhat different way. Björn Daehlie had won the gold medal in an Olympic race in Nagano, Japan in 1998 and was called to the medal ceremony. But he asked the organizers to wait because he said there is still one man on the track. So the organizer, the audience and millions of TV-viewers waited 20 minutes for the last contestant to cross the finish line; and the champion waited for the last person and that was never heard of before. Björn Daehlie told Skavlan that it was extremely bad conditions that day because it had started to rain and it was a heroic achievement to get through the race. So Daehlie wanted to congratulate Boit that he had made it to the finish line. Being a cross country skier is hard enough if you come from Sweden or Norway let alone coming from Kenya.

When Boit returned to Kenya everybody asked who the guy was who had been standing at the finish line and when he told them that it was the champion they couldn’t believe it.

The pastor said: This started me thinking about us and how Jesus is waiting for all of us at the finish line. He is the champion who has won over death and sin and he wants everyone to join him in his victory.

So if you think your life is like the person finishing as the last one in the race, remember the Champion Jesus is cheering for you and greeting you with, "Well done! You made it through bad conditions and you are a winner no matter what!"

Sincerely yours,

Ida

Psalm 121 - a Beautiful Flash Animation - E-Water

Psalm 121 - a Beautiful Flash Animation - E-Water

(Press start when entering E-Water)

Consolation -song - Benny Andersson