Good Friday

Today Christians around the world celebrated Good Friday although "celebrated" may not be the correct word. Good Friday represents the crucification of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I am not so sure it is something one celebrates although the purpose was to free us from sin so I suppose that would be something worth celebrating.

I have blogged my feelings on Christianity and personal experience with it as I was raised Catholic. And I have been open with my questioning of this experience and how I am proceeding through my journey of spirituality.

I find myself thinking about the story of Jesus' resurrection each year about this time though. It is a story that I appreciate and respect. I take alot from it. I usually recall a movie I saw several decades ago as a child when we first got cable. My visions of what it all looked like come from that movie. I would like to share with you my thoughts regarding this beautiful and powerful story.

There are three things I take from the story. They are: faith, strength and fortitude, and leading by example. These are three lessons I have tried to apply to my life. At times I am more successful than others but I maintain the goal to live by these.

FAITH.....After Jesus was buried it is well known that he rose from his grave in three days. I believe it was Mary Magdeline (if not another of the woman apostles that are never recognized as apostles) who found the empty grave. She ran back to report to the others who traveled with Jesus and followed his teachings but only two believed her and ran back. I may be off on some details and apologize to Christians who may be particular about these things. But to be honest, since most of you pick and choose what details you are "on" or "off" with in the Bible, I can do the same. So I am not THAT sorry. My point is how difficult yet important it is to have faith in what you believe. Think of how difficult it was during those three days for that group of persecuted people who had their leader and inspiration killed waiting for this claim of resurrection to occur.

STRENGTH AND FORTITUDE....We all deal with our "crosses to bear" in life. And this story is exactly where that saying came from. I remember the scene of Jesus being convicted and receiving the crown of thorns followed by the long walk through the city streets carrying the cross as crowds of people taunted him. All as he knew he was walking to his painful death. Throughout this whole ordeal he stayed the course. He knew the importance of what he was doing. At the cross he was stabbed, spit on, nailed to wood and left to die a slow death. He showed unbelieveable strength and fortitude. How bad is what we go through in comparison to this? I understand he is God but this is still a lesson for us to learn. We need to maintain our focus and strength no matter how bad things are. I really have a hard, hard time with this in my life.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE.......Through these series of events and his life as a whole, Jesus gave us a model of how to handle ourselves. he was a perfect example of strength, class, intelligence, patience, goodness, love, care and much more. There is something behind those WWJD things as silly as they seem some times. As a teacher and a father and an adult, it is critical that I lead by example. I need to "be the better person." I need to rise above my human emotions and do the right thing. We all do. I have tried really, really hard to do this in my interaction with my daughter's mother (my baby's mama). There have been many times I have been extremely frustrated and bit my lip for what I thought was the greater good for my daughter and myself. But it is not easy.

I find myself taking shots a radical Bible thumpers. I am not comfortable limiting my spirituality to particular dogmas or theologies. I prefer finding my way to the truth without limitations or exclusion. But this doesn't mean I am anti-Bible or Christianity or any other particular belief system. There are plenty of beautiful stories and lessons that can be taken and I try to take them.