Chalet LAbri, April 1, 2003

        With ample rains of late, the soft benediction of Spring falls lightly here upon the eastern slopes of the Massanutten.  The daffodils I planted and prayed over in the drought of late autumn last year are gloriously proclaiming the resurrection.  These days the weather teases with chilling windy mornings, balmy afternoons or welcomed rainy days.  Why wish it otherwise in whimsical April?  This morning I ponder how peaceful my little corner of the world versus that half a world away in Iraq where war and turmoil rages.  I give thanks for our courageous American troops, who like those of other wars, go forth to confront evil and preserve the freedoms that are mine as an American.  I ask the dear Lord to sustain and comfort them and all who grieve for the loss of loved ones in this war.

        I have been meditating on the meaning of that first Palm Sunday anticipating Easter. In that momentous week of the year 33 AD, the Passover was being celebrated and it was tradition after the Passover meal to read and sing Psalm 118 containing these words:  The stone which the builders rejected is become the head stone of the corner.  Here in my study is a chipped brick inscribed with that verse, quoted also in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, a gift from my brother who salvaged it from our Kentucky home. The Psalmist used a rejected cornerstone as a metaphor for Christ. To be numbered among believers in Him was to be a member a permanent stone in this universal Christian community, the visible eternal church, built upon this rock-solid Cornerstone, as Paul envisioned it, not made with hands.  Thus I am invested with a dignity of royalty as a son of the Most High God, an honor exceeding all else the world could offer.  What a blessed thought in this season of Lent!

        With the official coming of Spring, early mornings Venus hangs like a brilliant diamond just above the Eastern horizon exceeding the brilliancy of all other stars.  As dusk comes with the setting sun, the jewel Hesperus, the ancient name for Venus herself, is suspended there on the western horizon with the setting sun for vespers.  So has it been since the day God separated light from darkness.  In these troubled times as down the centuries, the unchangeable heavens testify that whatever else changes, the Sovereign God remains in control and changes not, worlds without end.  So I may bid example of those first century shepherds and lay me down in peace.  Selah..