Praise the Lord for His Mercy

Listen up! I'm planning a job to build a deck onto the front of my house. I've been adding up the cost of the lumber and miscellaneous gear and -It Ain't Cheap. Oh well, I'll get it done really soon.

I love baseball and I always love to wear a hat - or cap in some circles of friendship. I have always called it a baseball hat, though it doesn't have a large brim or a feather. This photo is one that I did of my hat. I know what team used to wear a hat/cap like this, do you? I know you can check the comments and find out, but see if you can guess what it is first. Here is a hint - when this team wore this hat/cap, they were in an older stadium next door to where their new stadium is now. Their old stadium has been blown up and a football stadium been set up in its place, but I have been to the new baseball stadium several times.

Like I said before, my Bible study is slow. Today I studied through Luke 23:1-12. I guess I never realized how many different people abused Jesus during those last few days. If you do actually read in your Bible, you would have a chance to notice that Pilate didn't take long with Jesus before he sent Him away, but Herod did take some time with Him. in verse 9 it says that Herod questioned Jesus at some length. For questioning to receive that designation, it would seem that it might have taken an hour or two - I don't really know, but I was trying to think through some of the questions that Herod might have asked and I had some real eye-opening questions that came to mind. After the questioning went sour for Herod, these next moments occured. It is from one small verse, but so much was happening in that verse. As I read through it, I tried to think of what each of the parts meant and that is where this next thing came from.

Luke 23:11
- read this verse in your Bible first please -
- then the Ben Blue Jean Para -

Herod had become quite upset with Jesus because of His lack of answers. Herod felt disrespected and whispered to his soldiers, “This dummy probably hasn’t committed any crimes, but the people hate Him. We could have some fun with Him. Let’s rough Him up a bit and then somehow make Him look like a fool.” Herod stood up straight and took a running start towards Jesus and kicked across His face. The crowd shouted in joy, “Woo-hoo!” The force of the kick caused Jesus to flip over and land on His back. He reached His hands up to His face because of the intense pain that existed there now. When Jesus was able to pull Himself back up to His knees, the broad side of a sword struck the back of His neck. He leaned forward from the blow so quickly, that His face slammed into the road. His nose began to bleed again and He knew there was more to come. As the mob continued to cheer, the beating that Jesus got seemed to get worse. Some of the soldiers weren’t hitting him, but they were dancing around the soldiers that were doing the beating singing, “My name is Jesus – that rhymes with mesus – I lord and I rule – I meant I’m a fool – I’m such a good friend – please hit me again – I think I have fleas – now get my robe please.” Just then one of the soldiers brought a bright purple piece of cloth that he had stolen from one of the vendors nearby. It was very valuable, but they didn’t care. They took it and tied it around Jesus’ neck. They weren’t gentle about it either. One of the soldiers grabbed the edge of the robe and as he pulled Jesus by it, he said, “This fine king needs to be returned to sender. Take Him back to Pilate and let him do the judging.” He put the edge of the robe in one of the church leaders’ hands and said, “If you just give this a tug, he will go wherever you lead Him. Think of Jesus as a dog and this robe is His leash. Of course if He doesn’t move easily, you can give it a more intense tug like this,” he pulled the robe that was tied around Jesus’ neck and Jesus fell down on His face and it scraped across the ground a few feet until His momentum stopped, “and He will go where you want Him too. In fact, all the way back to Pilate. Now Go!”