Will Vaus

There is great power in a face. When we have not seen a loved one for a long time, and suddenly we see them once again, perhaps at our front door, or in the middle of a crowded airport, just the sight of their face can move us to tears.
The disciples had not been parted from Jesus for very long, but the parting was devastating nonetheless, because the disciples were certain it was the end, that they would never see Jesus’ face again. Then suddenly, they did see his face, and the sight...

“Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last.” Luke 23:46
In a sense, Jesus died just like everyone else has died or will die. A moment came when he breathed his last breath on earth. Then his friends took his body and buried him in a tomb. But there are, of course, some ways that Jesus’ death was distinctive...

Listen for God's word to you from John 13:18-30...
“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’
“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”...

I was born not far from the home of Washington Irving, the author of Rip Van Winkle. Imagine with me for a moment that you are a modern Rip Van Winkle. You fall asleep one day while on a mountain hike and you wake up twenty years later. As you walk back...