The Gateway

Read Hosea 2:14-23, John 10:1-10

Hosea 2:15a - I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope.  

Yesterday I was encouraged by a pencil drawing - what intrigued me was not the picture but the verses scrawled underneath the picture - Hosea 2:15 - God promises to transform the valley of trouble into a gateway of Hope - what an amazing promise! There is a sense that our world continues in a “valley of trouble”  and yet he calls us as His Bride to provide a gateway of hope.

Resurrection Sunday  - for some, Easter announced the arrival of spring - for some Easter provided an opportunity for family pictures - for some, Easter provided an amazing meal with family and yet for others, all they saw was the inside of a hospital room wondering if they will ever have the opportunity to feel a cool breeze or smell a freshly bloomed flower.  

Has anything changed for you because of “Resurrection Sunday?”  Does Jesus’ resurrection stir anything in your spirit? Do you live differently due to an executed man returning to life and never dying again?  Imagine those first-century disciples:  after the cross, they laid him in a tomb and mourned His death. After the cross, due to fear, they locked themselves in a room - much of the conversation most likely centered on what might have been (think about our conversations following what we deem an unnecessary death🤔) After the cross, Peter returned to fishing (John 21)  Three years of following and trusting Jesus had led to a cross - Could one surmise that if Jesus’ story ended at the cross, most of the disciples would have returned to life as they knew it before meeting Jesus?

Resurrection provided a gateway of hope in the valley of trouble!  Suddenly this band of uneducated misfits stepped through that gateway - What a difference hope makes! These misfits broke out of the locked room; these misfits preached and baptized boldly; these misfits were beaten, thrown in jail, executed; and a few even traveled to the ends of the known world to tell their story. 

Resurrection provided a gateway to Pentecost - at Pentecost, this hope was fully realized when Jesus’ Spirit came in power on each disciple. We have been provided that same gateway, that same Spirit, that same hope!  Let’s choose today to follow the lead of Jesus’ first disciples and allow the resurrection gateway to keep us from returning to normal!  Those women and men turned the world upside-down simply by telling their “Jesus stories” and sharing the power of the resurrection! 

“I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. - Jesus