Dear Grandkids,
Today is the 100th day of the year 2020. It has been a different kind of year to say the least. But besides all the coronavirus stuff that is going on there are lots of other reasons to think about this day. Here are a few for your pondering minds:
It is Passover – Passover began last evening and will continue until April 16. For the Jews it commemorates their liberation from slavery and bondage in Egypt. Specifically, it remembers how the angel of death passed over all the families who had sprinkled blood over the doorposts of their homes and spared the killing of their firstborn.
It is also Maundy Thursday – “Maundy” is a shortened form of mandatum (Latin), which means “command.” On the Thursday of Christ’s final week before being crucified and resurrected, after washing His disciple’s feet in an extraordinary display of humility, Jesus gave this commandment to His disciples: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).
Interestingly, it was on this date, April 9, back in 1945, that pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged at Flossenburg, only days before the American liberation of the POW camp. The last words of the brilliant and courageous 39-year-old opponent of Nazism were “This is the end—for me, the beginning of life.” His book The Cost of Discipleship is considered a Christian classic.
On a more mundane level…
Today would have been the start of the 84th Masters Tournament. As you most likely know it is the one sporting event more than any other that I look forward to every year. It has been postponed because of Covid-19 so I am sad – but I rejoice with great joy that it will be resurrected in November.
At the beginning of the year I set a goal to do 100 pushups for 300 of the 366 days of the year. I am happy to report that so far I have done 100 pushups EVERY day this year for a total to date of 10,000.
And I continue to walk. So far in 2020 I am averaging 12,300 steps per day. My goal is only 10,000 so I am well above average.
I will leave you with a Psalm to ponder. Appropriately Psalm 100…
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Never forget that you are very loved!
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