Today 2000 years ago

So today is a crazy day for me. Being a tax accountant, we are pushing everything that is due on April 15th out the door today so that everyone can enjoy their Easter weekend (instead of working all weekend.) But, this morning, on my way to work I spent some time talking outloud to the Lord as I often do. (In this age of hands-free I get less crazy looks than I used to.) I couldn't get over the magnitude of what was happening this day over 2000 years ago. Instead of my normal listing of please give me and provide for me and forgive me fors, I just asked Jesus over and over was he thinking of me when he was scourged, beaten, spit upon, mocked, nailed to the cross, crowned with thorns and as he felt the weight of my sin as His Father turned his back. His resounding response to me was YES! He loved ME that much. That sounds very diferent that "For God so loved the world", what God was saying through John was "For God so loved Nicole". WOW! He would have done it just for me or you had we been the only ones on the planet. This is a love I hope I never get over and I'm sure I will never understand. Jesus suffered all of this WILLINGLY. Yes, he was nailed to the cross, but he laid down on that cross of his own will. He could have called a legion of angels to free him, but instead he hung there, in agony, thinking of me. Loving me so much, even in my wickedness, and knowing I would never be able to earn forgiveness, so He paid my debt for me. So today I am going to spend the day just thinking of Him and thanking Him for this amazing thing that He's done for me.


Isaiah 53:3b-6, "We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down...But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins! He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all." (NLT)