March Reflections

 

March has been a slow month for me. I have been trying to recuperate from respiratory issues. Due to complications from antibiotics, I had to start over with part of my meds. Hubby dealt with the same stuff only he had them a week before I caught them. I have been housebound this month. Going to the doctor and the pharmacy was one day’s excursions. My other day out was to go to the grocery because I had to, I was out of almost all my gluten-free supplies. I had a birthday this month and hubby and I went out to eat.

When I could, I have spent my time reading three different books, two of which I will review here on my blog. I spent a quantity of time watching the tube, not necessarily a good thing. Sometimes, I couldn’t sleep, so I watched things way up into the wee hours of the morning.  Other times, all I could do was sleep.

A year ago, Christmas, Hubby gave me a vaporizer. I have given it a workout this past month.

When our son came home to help us celebrate my birthday, on Sunday morning as I went out the door to get to his car, I noticed a penny lying in the dirt. As I reached down to get it, I noticed another coin laying near it. I picked them both up and dropped them into the pocket of my coat. After church, I noticed a dime on the floor. I picked it up as well.

At our church, we have a custom. Each Lenten season, we receive these small bags we call Lenten bags. Throughout the season, each person with a bag places coins for an offering. I decided to put that penny, that quarter, and that dime in my Lenten bag. What I didn’t realize until later was I had some dollar bills in my coat pockets. I felt I should place them in my Lenten bag along with the change I had found.

I have had a tussle with our grocery store. That store cannot carry the gluten-free crackers I have been purchasing for several years. I talked to the woman who works in the Deli, the area where we always found them. The product is no longer on their order forms.  She knows I must have gluten-free products. She told me she would check at Gordon Food Service to see if they have them. I told her I was awaiting a response to my email to the store and I would consider going higher if I had to. She is such a dear.

 My email response came. It was a bunch of business language. I have almost concluded that those crackers are a product I have to do without.

One bright spot this month was that a long-standing prayer request received God’s honor. A dear writing friend’s daughter will be moving closer to her family.  I praise the LORD for that.

Interview with a Roman Soldier

ubdavid.com

Quiet Spirit: Today, we have with us Servius Antonius Balduinus, a Roman soldier who was garrisoned at Jerusalem during the Jewish Passover when the Jews confronted Pontius Pilate that led to Jesus’ crucifixion. Thank you for consenting to visit Following My King.

Servius Antonius Balduinus Thank you for inviting me. As you said I was garrisoned at Jerusalem when the Jews confronted Pontius Pilate about this man called Jesus. Rome anticipated trouble and supplied us with additional troops to contain any uprising that might occur from the Jews.

Q. S.: Was this something new to you? Or had you seen other such actions?

S. A. B.: While I was there, I participated in several crucifixions. I thought the previous ones were all the same. However, the one with this man Jesus was . . . different. In the other ones, the criminals on the crosses shouted down curses onto us and the onlookers. This man Jesus asked His Father to forgive us. Forgive us? We caused Him to die and, yet, He sought God’s forgiveness for us.

Q. S.: Did you have any doubts about this one?

S. A. B.: “Why,” I asked myself “are we taking His very life?” Pilate told the Jews he found no guilt in this man and, yet, he turned Him over to the crowd. Yes, I joined in when my fellow soldiers divided up his garments, to the point of drawing lots when they decided to gamble for his undergarment As I look back, I realize it was so wrong to do. We justified it because there were four of us and he had five items of clothes. The undergarment was seamless, and we didn't want to cut it.

Q. S.: Did any people stand out to you? Did any of them act differently from the rest?

S. A. B.: While this horrific event was unfolding, I noticed a small group of four women and one young man watching. Later, I learned that one of the women was His mother. How terrible this must have been for her to watch: people brutalizing her own flesh and blood. I remember this Jesus calling down to her, “Woman, behold, your son!” And to the man, “Behold, your mother!”

Q. S.: How did this event affect you?

S. A. B.: Then my superior officer appointed me to puncture each of the three men in their side with my spear. After that, in case that process had not rendered them dead, I had to break their legs. When I approached the other two, they were still alive. I will always remember their screams of agony.

But this Jesus was already dead. I thought about all that I had seen and heard from this man Jesus, then I realized. “This man was truly the Son of God.” I Have not forgotten Jesus and what He did for each of us. My life has not been the same.

Q. S.: Thank you Servius Antonius Balduinus, for being here with us.