April 10-16: Photo Project Week 15 – Holy Week

It’s been an amazing week. My friends who have opened their home to me here in the desert have blessed me beyond all imagining. The family of God is so amazing. I am so thankful God placed them in our lives.

These very tall (over 10 feet) cacti looked completely dead when I first got here in early March. I wondered what they were, but as time has moved, slowly the little green leaves showed up and then these bright orange, trumpet-like flowers popped out. I’ve seen bees and hummingbirds drink their fill of the nectar. Over and over I have said, the beauty of the desert is so hard to see from far away, but near the ground, it’s alive with creatures give Praise to Him who created them.

These are planted shrubs in gardens but they thrive here. Birds constantly flit in and out of the shade of these plants.

These guys are everywhere. They are so cute. As I wrote on Instagram they are the cacti equivalent to the little rock gnomes in the Disney movie Frozen.

These little flowers grow in the midst of rock and sand and drought. They poke their heads up and grow despite hardship. I want to be like this plant. I want to flower and bloom despite the trouble of this life.

All of the architectural plants catch my eye because, in the desert, water storage is so important. But for those of us who are not from here or didn’t grow up here, they are strange and other-worldly. I’ve said this over and over but God’s creation is so amazing.

Good Friday. The thorns and the whip marks caused blood to run. Yet Christ went willingly. He gave his life as a ransom for many. He died for us. Our sins taken by his death. A death that was so humiliating.

Easter Saturday. God Rested. I’m sure those of Jesus’ friends were so confused and scared. But God wasn’t finished. Instead He rested as it was the Sabbath. He rested knowing that Sunday was coming.

God Rested –

So they took His body down
The man who said He was the resurrection and the life
Was lifeless on the ground now
The sky was red as blood along the blade of night

As the sabbath fell they shrouded Him in linen
They dressed Him like a wound
The rich man and the women
They laid Him in the tomb

Six days shall you labor
The seventh is the Lord’s
In six He made the earth and all the heavens
But He rested on the seventh
God rested
He said that it was finished
In the seventh day, He blessed it
God rested

So they laid their hopes away
They buried all their dreams above the kingdom He proclaimed
And they sealed them in the grave
As a holy silence fell on all Jerusalem

But the Pharisees were restless
Pilate had no peace
And Peter’s heart was reckless
Mary couldn’t sleep

But God rested

Six days shall you labor
The seventh is the Lord’s
In six He made the earth and all the heavens
But He rested on the seventh
God rested
He worked ’til it was finished
In the seventh day, He blessed it
He said that it was good
And the seventh day, He blessed it
God rested

The sun went down
The sabbath faded
The holy day was done and all creation waited

Andrew Peterson – God Rested – The Resurrection Letters, Prologue, 2018