#Lent2017 Going to Jerusalem with Jesus #5

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"Jesus wept". It is the shortest verse in the Bible (John 11:35).

Jesus was acquainted with grief. He didn't live in grief, but he knew and understood it. That should be our formula as well.

If we live honestly and see what's around us, we will be acquainted with grief. Then, we will move on. We will not bury or deny our grief. In fact, if we have been deeply wounded, some part of us will be changed--perhaps forever.

When we reach that place, we can choose to welcome and engage Jesus the Resurrector. He restores life.

There are no guarantees he will restore the life we had, or the life we'd hoped to have. He may restore us to something wildly different from what we'd imagined. It will be good.

His call to follow comes with a single promise: come with me and allow the life of God to live in you. See and experience fear, then deny and crush it. Come to the end of yourself in sadness and pain and learn a new way to live.

Allow Jesus to resurrect you into the life of truth. But first, you must be willing to let go of what you think you know.

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