Pastor Dale Walker

A few days from now we celebrate Good Friday. A review of the hours leading up to Jesus hanging on the cross for our sins, all of the sins of all of humanity for all time, shows that the closest friends He had on earth would completely abandoned Him. He would endure the pain and suffering completely alone. I believe every Christian must go through their own personal Gethsemane in order to realize that nothing on this earth can be counted on permanently. Because we all go through this, Jesus went through it too. When we realize there is no one who can "fix" all our problems we must decide what we are going to do. Are we going to trust God and His plan for humanity or are we going to try and prop up our lives with temporary solutions. Jesus put His life in His Father's hands; this is the only answer that guarantees hope and success in our lives. Once you have been through your Gethsemane (there may well be more than one in our lives) you have trust in God than cannot be experienced until you come out of the "death" of your will and emotions. It is "natural" to try to avoid these experiences but we can never "know the love and character of God" until we come through them. May you surrender to the plan of God for your life and as you die to the desires of "temporary comfort" to walk in an eternal relationship just like your older "Brother" did!