In the In-Between

The Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday . . . it seems to be a time that gets little reference. Sometimes I wonder why we treat it as so insignificant.

It certainly wasn't insignificant for Jesus' disciple. Everything they had known for the last three years was thrown into confusion.

They were in between and left with what seemed like no hope. They didn't know what was coming. That Saturday, all they knew was that Jesus had been crucified and was dead.

And along with that went their dreams, their plans, their hope.

It's not a place we like to sit, because it's unpleasant. It's hard. It's dark. It's scary. We don't like to dwell on those things unless we know something good is coming.

So, we quickly jump to the resurrection. We want to jump right to the good - jump over the bad.

But in doing so, I think we miss some lessons that can only be learned in those in-between times.

If we're really honest, we can probably all share our own stories of living in the in-between. Of living in-between the death of something good and the start of something new.

We can identify more with the disciples on Saturday than we care to. We know what it's like to lose hope. To walk the hard, dark road.

That road may look different for each of us based on our own life experiences, but we've walked the road ourselves.

And looking back, we see all that we learned in those times. We see the lessons learned in the in-between. We see how we have become who we are from those times in our lives.

I would guess that each of the disciples was shaped by that time in between - when they learned the full truth of who Jesus was and what He had come to do.

We are profoundly shaped by what we learn in the in-between.

Maybe we need to become better at learning to pause in those times. And maybe we can learn to do that better by pausing on the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday and remembering what it must have been like for Jesus' disciples and friends on that day.

If we take the time to do that, it makes Easter Sunday an even greater reason to celebrate. We've felt the loss of hope and now we can celebrate the fullness of greater hope than we could ever have comprehended without the time in-between.

How do you do at living life in the in-between?

Have you learned lessons that have shaped who you are today in the in-between?

Five Minute Friday: Broken

Joining Five Minute Friday again this week. Today's word is broken.


"Broken, we're all broken. And we all need a Savior. We all need a Savior."

Those lines from a song started playing in my head when I read that the word for today was broken. I don't remember what song they're from or what the rest of the song says.

But they're true. We're all broken. And we all need a Savior. Because we can't do it on our own.

That's what today is all about. Remembering that our Savior was broken for us - in our place. So that He could replace our brokenness with His perfection.

But first we have to admit we're broken. I don't like doing that. I don't want others to know I'm broken. Really, I don't want to tell myself I'm broken.

But the honest truth is I am. I don't have it all together. I make mistakes and poor choices often. More often than I wish I did.

And then I spend time trying to gather all the broken pieces and put them back together again so no one will notice.

But when you gather the pieces of a jar that has been broken and put them back together, the brokenness still shows. You can see all the lines where it was broken and has now been put back together. And it can be a beautiful thing to look at that way.

That's what happens when we take out brokenness to our Savior. He puts those broken pieces back together into something more beautiful than before. The marks of our brokenness don't disappear. We can still see them. But they are beautifully put back together.

"Broken, we're all broken. And we all need a Savior. We all need a Savior."


To find out more about to get involved in Five Minute Friday yourself, go here.

A Life Changing Event

Tomorrow is Good Friday. One of the most important days of the year for Christians. You could day that Resurrection Sunday is the most important day and I don't think I would argue with you. But, that Sunday isn't important without Good Friday.

The cross is where Jesus paid the price for our sins. The day when the penalty for everything wrong we have ever done and ever will do was paid for. By the only person who had ever lived a life that "qualified" Him to pay that price.

It seems like every year when this holiday comes around I find myself reflecting on the significance of it all. This was a world-changing event.

An event that can change our lives if we choose to accept what is offered to us.

It causes me to pause and wonder . . .

Have I allowed what God did on that day to change my life?

Have I allowed it to change me on an ongoing basis? Or have I stopped allowing it to change me - to make me more like Jesus?

What about you? Have you allowed God to change your life because of this day? Are you doing so on a daily basis? Or was it a one time thing?