"They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened Scripture to us?""   (Luke 24:32)

How are you doing with reading Scripture?  Is it something you've done for quite a while?  Is it something you added for Lent?  If you started for Lent are you still reading Scripture?  Do you use a Bible study with the scripture -- either a book on your own or with a group?  I found, with my study of Dynamite Prayer and Draw the Circle, ​done together daily, that God was definitely "opening" Scripture.  (v. 32)

Today's readings are about following Christ.  The one I especially want to look at is the two Disciples walking to Emmaus.  There are three things I want you to think about with this reading.  First.....  Jesus joins them where they are.  Yes, on the "road to Emmaus."  (v. 13)  He also is with them as "they stood still, their faces downcast."  (v. 17)  THEN he walked with them and "opened Scripture."  (v. 32)  The third thing to notice and think about is after "their eyes were opened" (v. 31) "They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem" (v.33) to share what had happened.

So....... how are you doing with reading Scripture?  Are you understanding, following and doing more as you continue to study?  Are you sharing where, and how, God IS with you through it?  Something to be thinking about..........

"Jesus said to her, "Mary."  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher").   (John 20:16)

We have talked, before, about the names we answer too so I want you to think for a minute about the name you answer the fastest to.  It kind of depends on who is calling your name - right?  I can answer, pretty fast actually, when I hear "Grandma!"  We don't always, especially when we are upset, hear our given name though.  I can remember hearing, but not connecting and answering, to the full list of my names from several people.  It usually ends with our full name - first, middle and (sometimes) even our last name - especially when we are upset.

The readings today are talking about following where God is leading, doing what God is asking us to do.  In acts we are hearing how the Disciples were "witnesses of everything" Jesus did, of Jesus' death AND of Jesus resurrection.  (Acts 10:39) In Colossians we are reminded WE are supposed to thinking about what God is asking us to do because we are "hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3)  Then, in the Gospel, Jesus calls Mary, by name, and she "turns toward him." (v. 16)  Mary changes direction from upset and confused to listening and doing.

So..... are we?  Throughout Lent we have looked at the POWER we have been given, through the Holy Spirit, to do what God is calling us to - are we doing it?  As Caregivers we are tired, upset (a lot of the time), and confused so have we heard God calling?  Is our "full" name being used?  Something to think about.....

"The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them."  (Matthew 21:6)

How did you do with your Lenten discipline?  Were you able to "finish" it?  Did you do it everyday?  Were you able to feel God's presence while you were working on it?  Did you share what you were learning or when you DID feel God's presence with you?  Did it feel like you were "following" where God was (is?) leading?

The readings today are about following where God is leading.  Isaiah is reminding all of us how God IS with us AND God was (is) with Christ as Jesus faced his accusers. (Isaiah 50:7)  In Ephesians we see Paul's prayer for all of us to feel the "power through his Spirit in your inner being,". (Ephesians 3:16)  The Gospel reading is telling us about Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem but it starts with the "disciples went and did as Jesus instructed them." (Matthew 21:6)  Going, doing what Jesus had told them to do.  Jesus is preparing them and us to follow, DO what he is asking us to do.

So....  Are we?  Are we preparing to follow where God is leading as we celebrate Palm Sunday?  As we prepare for the Easter celebration?  Like Paul I am praying we are filled with the "power through his Spirit" so we can do "as Jesus instructed."  Something to think about....