A Man Was Saved Today 4/18/2025

 Good Morning,

I am happy to say that the Door County Country Morning Blend Coffee has finished brewing and I am ready to write. 

Today, Christians around the world observe "Good Friday" the day Jesus Christ was crucified and died. Jesus spoke 7 times that were recorded from the cross. As a young boy I recall a year that on Good Friday the weather was just beautiful. It was unusually warm outside and the lilacs and one rose bush in our yard had blossomed out. I recall this because I had been sent outside to cut just a few lilacs off of the bush for my mother. The lilacs were very fragrant. If I close my eyes right now, I can still see the roses and the lilacs. I can still find the beautiful fragrance catalogued in my memory vault. 

I recall my mother listening to Billy Graham on the radio the day before and Reverend Graham spoke about the thieves hung the cross next to Jesus. That message stirred the heart of a young boy in the third grade. 

Luke 23:39-43     39. Then one of the one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him saying, "If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us." 

40. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying. "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this Man has done nothing wrong. 42. Then He said to Jesus. "Lord remember  me when You come into your kingdom."

43. And Jesus said to him. "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise".

My spiritual journey in life began that day and it was a long time before I found Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but prior to that night this "jerk and rebel" never forgot the day the yellow roses and lilacs bloomed early. Each Easter I would remember that day and the lesson of Christ's compassion to one man, despite being in tortuous pain Himself. 

I used to wonder if that message could even apply to a sinner and scoundrel such as I. But finally, in 1981 I did find our Lord and Savior and my heart claimed Him for redemption. God still isn't finished honing me into the man I ought to be, I am not what I will be yet, but thankful I am not what I used to be. It all started with a radio, roses, lilacs and a pocket knife. I will never forget that day for as long as I live. 

The roses were a "wild variety, that spread along the back fence in our yard. In 1986 Rene and I  purchased my parents home and the roses and lilacs were still there when we moved 1994 But I never recall them blooming early like that again. 

Marty