This Mama Squirrel

The moon and stars they wept
The morning sun was dead
The Savior of the world was fallen
His body on the cross
His blood poured out for us
The weight of every curse upon Him

One final breath He gave
As Heaven looked away
The Son of God was laid in darkness
A battle in the grave
The war on death was waged
The power of hell forever broken

The ground began to shake
The stone was rolled away
His perfect love could not be overcome
Now death where is your sting
Our resurrected King has rendered you defeated

Forever, He is glorified
Forever, He is lifted high
Forever, He is risen
He is alive!
He is alive!

The 7th time Christ’s blood was spilled was after He died.
That was the last time Jesus was pierced, a sword to His side.
Out of that side drained the last drops of Holy Blood,
making Jesus Christ the perfect sacrifice.
And it was at that moment that the church was born.
Do you remember back in the garden of Eden?
God put the first Adam to sleep,
and He opened up Adams side then God pulled out a woman…
God formed a woman from Adams side.
The bride of Adam. Remember?
And at Calvary, God put the second Adam to sleep,
that’s Jesus Christ, the sleep of death,
and He opened up Christ’s side then God pulled out the church…
Out of His Sons pierced side
God formed the Bride of Christ, the Church.

They also nailed Jesus feet to the cross. The 6th outpouring.
More blood flowed out.
More of CHRISTS life was being drained out of HIM so that you and I could live!
At that time you dear one, you were forgiven
every dumb place you ever set your foot…
every evil thing you ever did in places you should not have been…
each group of “friends”  you were walking with
and doing stuff with that you shouldn’t have been doing.
I don’t know,
maybe you walked away when it got hard…
maybe you wouldn’t move forward when GOD told you to…
I don’t know.
But I do know this
forgive, forgiven, forgiven.                                                                                And, not only that  but because of the nails in those sanctified feet
and the blood that poured from them,
every place on which the sole of your foot treads…
every land you will ever step foot on…
whatever circumstance you will ever walk through…
GOD has given you the victory!
You walk around today with Kingdom power and Kingdom authority
right through every situation life will ever throw at you
all because of the Blood of your Savior’s feet!

Now our Lord comes to Golgotha, the place of the skull.
This is where His blood will be poured out for the 5th time.
Here the Roman soldiers crucified Christ’s hands.
They nailed them to the cross.
And while that blood began to flow from those nail-punctured hands
you and I were being forgiven every sin our hands would ever commit…
We were forgiven every stupid gesture…
every sinful action…
every ungodly work…
we were forgiven as He bled at Golgotha.
By now Christ is well on His way to shedding every last drop of blood for you and for me.
And while we are being forgiven, as those hands were being pierced,
the body of Christ, His beloved church is being anointed.
Have you heard the chorus, “We are His hands, we are His feet?”
Well, where does that power come from?
Where does the power to lay hands on the sick,…
to offer a cup of cold water…
to cast out a demon …
to preach the WORD…
where does that power and ability and anointing come from?
It came from the shed blood of CHRIST when HIS hands were being pierced.

Christ’s blood is shed for the 4th time as His beard is being ripped out fulfilling Old Testament prophecy in Isaiah 50. Jesus continues to bleed from yet another area of His beaten body. Jesus’s beard is His hair, correct?
What is the best way people have found to study someone’s health, genetics and DNA?  It’s their hair, right? Our hair tells everything about us.
Well, guess what?
All the sin DNA that was infused into your humanness at the fall…
When Christ’s beard was being torn out in chunks…
and He bled…
all your sin DNA was being forgiven…
and that shed blood
made it possible
for your sinful makeup (your sin DNA)
to be replaced with the DNA of your Heavenly Father!!!!
WE ARE NOW NEW CREATURES IN CHRIST.

The 3rd time in the Bible where we find Christ’s blood was shed is in Matthew 27. This is when Pilates soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium where they made a crown of  thorns and pushed it down over His head in the form of a mockery.
The soldiers then continued by repeatedly slapping Jesus in the face.

So, have you ever slapped someone around…even in your mind?
Have you ever mocked someone…
slandered someone…
made fun of someone…
or antagonized someone?
That’s what the soldiers were doing to Christ.  Jesus was going through the agonizing process of death, and His blood was being shed as those thorns were pressed into His skull…
so that you and I could understand that we have been forgiven any mental torture we have ever put someone else through.

Now, think back to Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden…
the Lord cursed the ground with what?  Thorns and thistles.
Thorns were a direct result of sin.
Thorns represent the curse.
When Christ’s blood was poured out as the thorns were being pushed into His skull the curse of sin and death were being defeated,
and the generational curses over your life were broken,
and every word curse ever spoken against you just lost its power.
The blood from those thorns is what made it possible for you and I to be forgiven for living our Christian lives like we are still under the curse.

The 2nd time we see Christ’s blood shed for us is in John chapter 19.
Here Pilate has just sent Jesus out to have Him whipped.
And as Jesus was taking those 39 lashes for us
as that whip repeatedly cut into our Savior’s back…
Christ was being punished for all of our presumptuous sins
(the bad stuff we do on purpose)
and every one of our hidden faults
(the bad stuff we do without realizing)

Not only that but all of Christ’s blood poured out as He was being flogged, provides you and I the power to forgive other people’s presumptuous sins and other people’s hidden faults.
By the blood from Christ’s lacerated back, we can now forgive every offensive thing that has ever been done to us…
every hurtful word someone has spoken over our lives…
each unfair thing done…
every rotten injustice thrown at us…
the same stripes by which we were forgiven…
are the same stripes that give us the power to forgive our enemy.
Amazing.

There were 7 times in the Bible that the blood of Christ was poured out for you and for me.  Seven, as you may know, is the number of completion.
Christ’s blood had to be completely spilled, completely shed, completely drained out in order for ALL of our sins to be covered.
The first time Christ shed His blood for each of us was in the garden of Gethsemane, remember?  Luke 22...
As our Jesus was agonizing in the garden over His upcoming trip to the cross…
He prayed to His Father; He cried, and He sweats like droplets of blood. By the wisdom and power of God, that initial blood dripping from our Saviors brow began our redemption process. Every drop of Christ’s blood from start to finish was perfect and necessary. The first time Christ’s blood began to spill in that garden was completely sufficient to forgive and cover the sins and the problems of our minds…
all the problems in our heads…
all the problems making decisions…
all the problems saying “yes” to GOD…
all the oppression of the mind…
the strongholds in our brains….
any torture in our thoughts…
forgiven and covered through the shed blood of Christ!
Now, think for a moment, of the problems in your mind;
the raunchy thoughts,
the jealousies,
the foolishness,
the depressions
and the self-pity…
(just to name a few)
Every one of these sin problems of the mind, forgiven and covered
by the Blood that began to flow in the garden of Gethsemane.

One year ago today…I drove happily to my kids AAU Basketball tourney in Cortland. I was over-excited about this new season. I am a basketball mama through and through. I loved the adventure of 3 kids playing highly intense, quick-paced games, all on different teams. I used mega brain cells plotting the different teams game times and locations. I enjoyed mapping out the weekends and looking up directions. I thoroughly enjoyed the crazy schedules and the jump-in-the-car and zip to the next game stuff. It was always so fun to watch the games and crazy wild connecting with parents and coaches as to who, when, where, how….ready, set, go…meet you there! By the end of the tourney everyone; players, coaches and parents were exhausted…but we would be refreshed by the next weekend ready to do it all again. I treasured the thought that these tournaments were a huge connector for me and my kids. I long for my children to remember me as their biggest cheerleader.

One year ago today…the walkway was sloppy, covered with fresh snow. It did not look threatening as I hurried down the path to the side door. Noah’s game was soon to start and we were moving along.  Halfway to our destination, my foot slipped, and I fell over backward smashing my head on the icy pavement.  I heard the sickest sounding whap as my head met the cement. I lay still… frozen in time, probably from shock, trying to process what just happened. My youngest boy Noah towered above me, looking down into my bewildered eyes. Neither of us spoke for a few moments then we both chimed in simultaneously with the exact same words, “That wasn’t good.”

One year ago today….my kids were off and running, game time! I sat on the outskirts holding a bag of ice on the back of my head.  I had scarfed the ice from the concession stand after I reported to the head of AAU that the sidewalks were dangerous.  I jokingly quipped, “I sure hope I didn’t just get a concussion!”

One year ago today…a kind woman approached the table where I sit alone.
“Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
“I’m fine,” I answer. “I fell and hit my head, but I’ll be okay.”
She bought me a coke and left me with my ice, a drink, and a growing headache.

One year ago today…as the hours passed I began to grow dizzy and confused. I managed to stumble into a couple of games. I watched my kids play a few quarters. I held on to chairs and tables and walls as I walked.
“Wow,” I thought, “This stinks.”

One year ago today…I managed to drive to the hotel. Kids were in and out. Friends were around. I went to bed and slept. I would feel better after a good nights sleep.

One year ago tomorrow…I did feel better after a good nights sleep. A lot better!
With renewed strength and energy I hopped into the shower.
“Thank God that’s over,” I thought happily.
After a good hotel breakfast, I drove some girls to their next game.

One year ago tomorrow…I kept pace with the intense game schedules. I saw my kids win some and lose some. I watched good playing and dirty playing and buzzer beaters. By the end of the day though I was walking around in a daze trying desperately to find the doorway to the gym.

One year ago tomorrow… an AAU coach approached me, “Kim, are you okay?”
“I think so? I don’t know…I fell and hit my head yesterday,” My voice trailed off.
“Listen,” He replied, “You don’t look good. You need to fill put an accident report.” He led me over to the tournament Medic.

One year ago tomorrow…the Medic grew more and more concerned as he talked to me. Obviously, the blow to my head was beginning to affect my memory, my ability to concentrate and my sentence structure.
“You need to go to the ER. You should be evaluated.”
“I can’t leave, I’ve got kids here; I don’t know where I would even go.”
After promising that I would call my primary doctor as soon as I got home, I slid into a seat on the sidelines watching another game.
Well, sorta-kinda watching…the lights, the crowd yelling, the whistles.
the thud of the balls on the gymnasium floor.
the buzzers and time clocks ringing.
the players running, running, up and then down.
Another spectator leaned over to ask me a question but his words were muffled.
Life began to downtempo.
I was now living, walking, moving, talking, hearing, seeing and breathing…
in slow motion.

One year ago tomorrow…”Yes, we can stop and get food.” I responded to three hungry basketball playing kids. It had been a busy weekend. Food on the road was part of our AAU adventures. I turned into a familiar fast food joint and we ordered. “Let’s eat on the road guys, I’m really tired and I wanna get home.”
Like any good mama, I didn’t want to trouble my kids with my minor accident so I pressed through and continued on the hour and a half drive home.

One year ago tomorrow…I reached for a french fri but couldn’t eat it. The nausea proved too much. I took some deep breaths as my kids munched away tired but happy. I slowed down because the road was weird, the shadowy figures lining the hills seemed to quiver next to me. The pressure in my head mounted and I felt a tight band wrap itself around my temples.

One year ago tomorrow…”Ben, I’m a bit tired. Do you want to drive the rest of the way home?”

And that’s how it all started……………………One year ago today.