The Redeemer lives- part 2

Luke 24:36-53
36And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. 38And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 40And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? 42And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43And he took it, and did eat before them. 44And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48And ye are witnesses of these things. 49And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
50And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

To continue on from the previous post, I want to point out that the 2 men have returned to Jerusalem (15miles round trip) and are telling the other disciples what had happened to them that day. If we look at John 20:19 we see that the disciples where hiding for fear of the Jews. Their leader was dead, it was rumored that they had taken his body, and they where known followers of someone who had been crucified 3 days prior. They where human and they where scared. They did not understand what Jesus had been telling them, and that lack of understanding led them to fear and disbelief. But here comes Jesus!! He gives the first 2 men time to make it all the way back to Jerusalem and as they are telling the others what happened He appears to verify their words.
Jesus offers the men comfort because the disciples are now afraid that Jesus is a ghost. The human brain is so foolish sometimes. At this point, it was easier for them to believe that the ghost of Jesus had just shown up than to believe that he had risen from the dead. Jesus patiently shows them that he is flesh. Ghost do not have skin and do not need to eat. He washes away their doubts. He is truly a risen savior. A ghost and a dead man have no power to save, but Jesus is neither. He is risen.

These men who where hiding from the Jews for fear of their lives, follow Jesus out to Bethany and then we see them continually in the temple praising and blessing God. The fear is gone! The knowledge of a risen Savior set these men free and filled them with hope and joy in a way that nothing else ever could.

The redeemer lives

Luke 24:13-35
13And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 1
7And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
33And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
34Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
35And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

I love this passage. It is full of pictures about Christ and ourselves. First I would like to point out that these 2 men where out walking, heading to a town called Emmaus. The rest of the disciples where gathered together hiding for fear of the Jews (John 20:19). I looked up the word furlong online. Here is what I found: wiki.answers.com- One furlong is equal to one-eighth of a mile, which is the same as 220 yards or 660 feet. Verse 13 states that this town was 60 Furlongs away. We can assume that they started in Jerusalem, because they heard the witness of the women when they told the disciples of Jesus' resurrection, and of the men who ran to the tomb to see if Jesus' body was really missing. If my math is correct 60 furlongs in equal to about 7.5 miles. I looked up the average walking speed of a human and found statistics varying from 3-4 miles per hour for the human male. So we can figure that if they walked the average speed for todays adult males they would reach their destination in approximately 2-2.5 hours. They had a long journey ahead of them and where already being brave to consider the journey at all considering the rest of the men where all hiding together back in Jerusalem so maybe they walked on the fats side, but I know that when I talk or am sad I walk a bit slower. If I have someone expounding on something very interesting I can easily come to a standstill.

These men where reasoning about Jesus and the things that happened to him. We see in verses 19-24 that they no longer thought of Jesus as the one who would redeem Israel. Not only had they lost a friend, they had lost the hope they felt in seeing the redeemer. Their faith had just taken a blow. I love how Jesus drew near and went with them. Isn't that what he does now. He draws near to us and feeds up what we need and slowly we begin to understand all it is that he fulfills and the purpose and need we have for him. In verse 28 we see that Jesus would have gone further. He met them where they where, on the road they chose to take to get where they wanted to go. He was not going to force himself on them. There came time for a decision on their part. Would they go their own way and allow Jesus to pass on through, or would they invite him in? Verse 29 says they constrained him and asked him to abide with them.

Revelation 3:20- 20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Jesus was seeking them, wanting them to learn and believe, to invite him to stay with them. The choice was theirs. When they did invite him he went in and ate with them. He broke the bread and their eyes where opened. The word bread in the Bible is a type of the BIBLE. The bread, or the word, was opened and given to them and they saw Jesus once they chose to accept it.

These men who had just taken a 7.5 mile walk finally realized who they had been talking to. I love how they state that their hearts burnt within them. Deep down they knew, but they where not ready to accept it yet. They where allowing what logic was telling them to push away at the picks in their hearts and to push away faith. Logic said that Jesus died a death of crucifixion 3 days ago. Logic said that Jesus was the one who rose people from the dead, but Jesus was the one dead now. Logic said that because Jesus was dead they had trusted falsely in him to be the redeemer of Israel. Once they took the time to sup with the Savior, their flawed human logic went out the window and was replaced with faith, hope, and joy. That same hour they started back to Jerusalem. They had to tell the others! I can imagine them taking off in a sprint back down that road. The day had been far spent, but they where off! They had seen the Savior and everyone needed to know it. The Redeemer of Israel was alive!!!!!!

Signs we might be doing a bad job

I saw this article on the yahoo! updates. I thought it would be interesting to make a comparison between a boss and a parent. If these signs can show that we are hindering growth and development of those under us in the workplace, how much more would they apply to those under us in our own homes?

1. Are we short when answering our kids or our husbands? Do we take the time to "communicate" with them and give an explanation to the hows and whys? Do we consider how they might be feeling about something? Do we make those feelings a priority?

2. Do we sit and have conversations with our family members or is it mostly passer-by words, or yelling information through the house or car?

3. Is there an atmosphere of joy and excitement in our homes, or of gloom and boredom?

4. Does it feel like everything is rushed and hurried? Like nothing is getting done?

5. Are we yelling? Are we shouting? Even when we are not angry? Will our kids be able to tell the difference?

Should we be yelling even when we are angry? This answer is NO!! Those around us need to be able to listen to "what" we are saying and not "how" we are saying it? Keep the focus on the words and not on the attitude. A bad attitude can change the entire atmosphere of a home faster than almost anything. When a child even senses anxiety in the air, especially from the people who are looked on as their protectors, their whole demeanor and attitude can change. It may seem as if they are not listening to you, but in reality they are having a hard time focusing on anything you are saying because of what has been triggered emotionally inside them and in the atmosphere around them.

People are are told and trained to remain calm in emergency situations. Once panic breaks out, it is hard to provide any sort of safety for anyone. When a building fire alarm sounds, you are to slowly and calmly exit the building. I think of high school. The teachers would remind everyone to be calm- they set the emotion, and discouraged fear by their own attitudes and actions.

We set the emotions in our home. The little ones that are looking to us need to see the calm to help keep their emotions at bay. It should not be, "I did something wrong and now Mommy is angry". Yes, we will get angry. Even Jesus got angry when he saw what was meant for God being used for evil. The Bible says be angry and sin not. First of all, if we are going to get angry it needs to be for a righteous reason. If our children disobey, they need to have a consequence, anger should never be a consequence to their behavior. We should not try and punish our kids by showing that they have let us down and that what "they" have done is making us angry. It is not about us!!!!! That is what we need to show them. We need to show them how God feels about the choice that they have made, and what God tells us as a parent to do about it. It is very easy to forget that ultimately our children are not disobeying us, but are disobeying God.
Here is the article from Yahoo!.

Five Signs You're a Bad Boss

by Diana Middleton
Friday, February 18, 2011

provided by

When the number of employees Matt Kaplan managed at a lab at the University of Arizona in Tucson mushroomed from six to 30, the school called in a management coach to make sure he was prepared. What he learned surprised him -- his employees thought he was distant and didn't trust their work.

"The biggest challenge for me was realizing I couldn't do everything myself," he says. "I had to learn to trust my team, which was a gradual process."

Experts say many bosses are similarly clueless about their appearance to employees. Here are five signals you may be one of them.

1. Most of your emails are one-word long.

It may be efficient, but many bosses don't realize how curt a one-word email -- even a simple "yes" or "no" -- can be, says Barbara Pachter, a management coach and author of several workplace etiquette books. She calls it the "BlackBerry effect."

[More from WSJ.com: Inventing Management 2.0]

"Managers have a tendency to be abrupt, especially when they're answering emails on the go," Ms. Pachter says. "It comes off as an invitation for conflict. A simple addition of 'thanks' goes a long way."

Some managers craft even shorter emails. When Christina Marcus emailed an idea for a project to a former boss, he responded "Y." Thinking he was questioning her idea, she spent 20 minutes crafting a response. Turns out, the "Y" meant "yes," not "why." Ms. Marcus eventually left the firm.

[More from WSJ.com: Chief Reboots After H-P Scandal]

2. You rarely talk to your employees face-to-face.

Relying on email may be convenient, but bosses are increasingly using technology to avoid having tough discussions, says Robert Sutton, professor at Stanford University and author of "Good Boss, Bad Boss."

"No one wants to do the dirty work, but it's a boss' lot in life to deal with difficult issues," Mr. Sutton says. Face-time engenders trust with employees, adds Ms. Pachter.

3. Your employees are out sick -- a lot.

Employees will fake sickness to avoid a bad boss, says Mr. Sutton. But there's evidence that a bad boss may be bad for your health. A 2008 Swedish study that tracked more than 3,000 men over 10 years found that the men who said they were poorly managed at work were 20%-40% more likely to have a heart attack.

[More from WSJ.com: Banks Push Home Buyers to Put Down More Cash]

4. Your team's working overtime, but still missing deadlines.

New bosses are particularly prone to giving unmanageable deadlines to staffers, says Gini Graham Scott, author of "A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses."

A human resources executive at a New York firm who declined to be named because she's currently looking for a new position, says that she began working 15-hour days after her new boss came on board. Her boss' first order of business: Promising more aggressive deadlines to clients. "She would tell the client, 'We can have this for you in three days,' which was impossible," says this woman.

5. You yell.

Even if you aren't screaming angrily at your employees, speaking loudly can damage workplace morale, says Ms. Pachter, the management coach. "Employees will constantly feel like they're being reprimanded, and they'll avoid you if there's ever a problem," she says.

At one of Ms. Marcus' former jobs every debate was a public forum, she says. "My bosses would shout freely across the office, even when they weren't necessarily angry," she says. "It charged the atmosphere and really killed productivity, especially when you were trying to figure out who you should be listening to."