Holiday Stress

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger the past few weeks. Things have just been crazy between holiday activities, work, the kids and school functions.

Other than a gift card and a few small items I am DONE with Christmas shopping. Sounds great huh? Well it is except I am waiting for 12, yes TWELVE, items to still be shipped. They are all supposed to be shipped in the next few days and have a promised delivery of December 24, but honestly I am starting to worry that they will not be here. And believe it or not, I did not wait until the last minute either. They have all had been ordered a week or more ago. Plus I still need to pick up an item that was backordered at Sears and finally came in.

Then wrapping... ugh it stresses me out even thinking about it. I have so much to wrap. And when will I find not only the time, but time when no one will be home? Add on top of that I still need to hit the post office and that idea stresses me out even more than wrapping and the shipping combined. Maybe I will just send UPS and avoid the whole post office scene.

My holiday baking has not been done, nor even thought of yet. I had plans to send stuff to my clients and some friends in Illinois, however I honestly don't see that happening. Maybe I will do "Welcome 2008" baking instead. How cheesy would that be?

I need to just slow down and take a deep breath. Holiday's don't need to be an elliptical that we never seem to get off of. I need to remember that Christmas isn't about gifts and cookies and pretty wrapping paper. It is about the birth of a special little boy. A little boy who was sent here to save us –– Jesus.

A Little Thought About Easter

As with Christmas, people seem to get caught up in the material aspect of the Easter holiday. People get excited about plastic eggs, egg dying kits and chocolate bunnies. But what Target and other stores, as well as many people forget is the real reason for Easter. Easter is about Jesus suffering and dying on the cross.

I recently ran across an article that explains it perfectly.

Little children wake up and can't wait to see what the Easter Bunny left for them. They can't wait to find the hidden eggs the bunny has hidden for them to find. We all share that wonderful meal together. My question for you is why do you celebrate Easter?

Do you realize Jesus was tortured, beaten, spit on, ridiculed, yelled sick names, had a thorn head piece stuck in his head and died for you? He had to walk through towns dragging a huge cross while being spit on, yelled at, falling and no one able to help him up. How would it feel to have razor straps wiped on your body to where you were one blood mess while being mocked? Try imaging the amount of pain having huge nails, nailed into your flesh, threw your muscle and crushing your bones while blood comes out from your wrist and ankles and your head. He hung on the cross like that for hours in pain. What must He be thinking of?

Jesus died and tortured on a cross for your neighbors, friends, enemies and for you. Why? So we may be able to be with Him forever if we decide to believe in Him and what He stands for. How amazing to think someone named Jesus loved you so much He died, he gave up His life for you. After Jesus's death Joseph took Jesus's body after asking Pilote for it, and wrapped it in a linen cloth. He placed the body in a tomb cut in the rock that had not been used.(Luke 24:1-8) Mary and others went back to the tomb the day after Sabbath early with spices. The tomb was empty and Jesus's body was not where to be found. You see Jesus raised on the third day(Luke 24:1-8).

We should be in awh that Jesus loved each of us so much He gave His LIFE FOR US. That thought is so amazing. (read the rest here)

So on this balmy Easter morning remember that once again Jesus is the reason for the season –– not the Easter Bunny and those colorful eggs.

James Cameron Nightmare

It shouldn't surprise me. People have been trying to disprove Christianity for centuries. And it never fails that during the Lent season someone will release a special or document with some new "discovery". I never really thought James Cameron, Mr. Titanic, would be the one to do it this year. And his discovery? The Tomb of Jesus and His Family... Yes I said family. You know his wife Mary Magdalene and son... Is this sounding a bit "Divici Code" yet? Well read on then post your thoughts. I'd love to hear them.

Scholars, Clergymen Criticize New Documentary on Alleged Tomb of Jesus Christ

JERUSALEM — Filmmakers and researchers on Monday unveiled two ancient stone boxes they said may have once contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but several scholars derided the claims made in a new documentary as unfounded and contradictory to basic Christian beliefs.

"The Lost Tomb of Jesus," produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and scheduled to air March 4 on the Discovery Channel, argues that 10 small caskets discovered in 1980 in a Jerusalem suburb may have held the bones of Jesus and his family.

One of the caskets even bears the title, "Judah, son of Jesus," hinting that Jesus may have had a son, according to the film.

"There's a definite sense that you have to pinch yourself," Cameron said Monday at a news conference. In an earlier television interview, he said that statisticians found "in the range of a couple of million to one" in favor of the documentary's conclusions about the caskets, or ossuaries.

Simcha Jacobovici, the Toronto filmmaker who directed the film, said that a name on one of the ossuaries — "Mariamene" — offers evidence that the tomb is that of Jesus and his family. In early Christian texts, "Mariamene" is the name of Mary Magdalene, he said.

The very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

Most Christians believe Jesus' body spent three days at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City. The burial site identified in Cameron's documentary is in a southern Jerusalem neighborhood nowhere near the church.

In 1996, when the British Broadcasting Corp. aired a short documentary on the same subject, archaeologists challenged the claims. Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television.

"They just want to get money for it," Kloner said.

Shimon Gibson, one of three archaeologists who first discovered the tomb in 1980, said Monday of the film's claims: "I'm skeptical, but that's the way I am. I'm willing to accept the possibility."

The film's claims, however, have raised the ire of Christian leaders in the Holy Land.

Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film's hypothesis holds little weight.

"I don't think that Christians are going to buy into this," Pfann said. "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."

"How possible is it?" Pfann said. "On a scale of one through 10 — 10 being completely possible — it's probably a one, maybe a one and a half."

Pfann is even unsure that the name "Jesus" on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it's more likely the name "Hanun." Ancient Semitic script is notoriously difficult to decipher.

Kloner also said the filmmakers' assertions are false. "The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time," he said.

William Dever, an expert on near eastern archaeology and anthropology, who has worked with Israeli archaeologists for five decades, said specialists have known about the ossuaries for years.

"The fact that it's been ignored tells you something," said Dever, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona. "It would be amusing if it didn't mislead so many people."

Osnat Goaz, a spokeswoman for the Israeli government agency responsible for archaeology, said the Antiquities Authority agreed to send two ossuaries to New York, but they did not contain human remains. "We agreed to send the ossuaries, but it doesn't mean that we agree with" the filmmakers, she said.