Heart Hope by Olga

It was an amazing sight to behold…Roman soldiers walking down Highway 6 in our small community. That was the first thing that caught my eye, but then I realized that there was more. Jesus was just ahead of them carrying a cross. And as I continued my gaze, there were children following carrying posters with messages of hope, including John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that who ever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” I wondered who was reenacting this scene from Good Friday. So I quickly turned my car around to do a little investigating. I had my suspicions and they proved correct. As I got out of my car, I saw Pastor Dan from another church in the Valley and found out that it was the youth group from his church, making the 10 mile journey to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.  Pastor Dan informed me that many cars had honked and displayed thumbs up as they passed the group. However he also said that the...

The week started with a celebration; Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey. People were so excited that they took off their cloaks and laid them on the road along with branches so that He could pass in honor. They even shouted praises of “Hosanna” to Him which means save in Hebrew and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” The entire city was stirred wondering who this man was that deserved such acclaim, but within a week He had been killed. What went wrong? How could God have allowed this to happen? In reality God had His perfect plan in place and this included the cruel murder of His Son. In fact it was the very reason that Jesus left His home in heaven and gave up His rights as God. He knew that He was coming to pay for my sins and it would involve some horrific experiences. On the last night of His life, Jesus shared a meal with His twelve best friends and told them how they would celebrate His life in the future—the bread was His body broken for us ...