When my husband and I were dating, and in our early years of marriage, we would go into New York City each year to hear a performance of Handels Messiah, it was performed every night for a week, if I remember correctly, and one night was a sing-along. We never went to a sing-along, but I would like too…hmmm…maybe it’s not to late.
In recent years we have been going to hear a beautiful performance of the Messiah done by the Cathedral Choir at a church 1/2 hour away from us…the choir is made up of people like you and me who have a basic ability to sing, professional singers for the solo parts, a chamber orchestra, and organist. This year’s performance was exceptional.
I love the Messiah, the music as well as the Man Himself. I always say it is what I want to be hearing as I pass from this life to heaven. Here is a nice series of video’s explaining the meaning of the Messiah and playing well-known pieces from the Messiah using beautiful pictures and scenes.
A man is explaining it in human terms, and some of the things he shares do not take into consideration the complete context of the Bible, I’d suggest you enjoy it, but also verify that what you are hearing is true in the Bible…for example (you’ll know why I’m explaining this after you listen), Jesus did not earn the position of sitting at the right hand of God when he died for the sins of mankind, He was God come down to dwell among man…fully God, fully man…a mystery hard for our human minds to understand. See John 1:1, 2 - “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made.” and verse 10 “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him…” All of the gospel accounts of Jesus are good, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Also, Jesus death was not a universal death for all of mankind as these videos seem to indicate, it was conditional, we know this because John 3:16-17 tells us ”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Romans 3:23 tells us that “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”….what greater gift can one receive at Christmas than the gift of salvation and eternal life by repenting of our past sins and believing in what Jesus did on the cross for us…this is the reason Christ was born, so that those who believe in what He did for them may have a loving relationship with God, free from guilt and condemnation, because of the blood of Jesus, and why “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”.
Yes, this is us, the picture taken in the fall of 1978, a little over 30 years ago, so this is our 30th Valentines Day together. We went back and forth on that a bit today, me thinking it was 31 years, and he reminding me no, it was 30, as we took a quiet country drive and stopped at some spots along the way that have become part of our memories. Memories are a wonderful thing about being with the same person for so many years, you have more and more of them that bind you together if you have built a good relationship.
I got my beautiful single red rose, something hubby gives me each year, and a few other little more intimate, sweet secret things that have become special to us as a couple, those little things that are private, and bind us simply because they are nobody’s business but out own. He got his candy that he loves, and we shared time together riding, talking, stopping to eat along the way. We chose a simple place to eat, and as we went in I thought, I wonder how many others will be spending Valentines Day so simply…not trying to impress one another…just enjoying one another…as I looked around I saw many couples of all ages and of kinds. The older ones didn’t need to speak a lot, they were content just to be together. There were very young couples who didn’t know one another as well, talking, and gazing into one another’s eyes. Then there were those in between who shared their evening together with a little one, maybe they couldn’t get a babysitter. The beauty of relationship was all around.
As the years go by, my husband and I learn to treasure each other more, and to thank God for the gift of our relationship with one another.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to someone who has made MANY a movie, but for most, the greatest accomplishment is, at least should be, the making of a family. I can’t even imagine how painful it must be to lose a child, one who you have had to take care of in special ways because of his special needs, and then have to do so in the spotlight of the press, the media. I will leave the death of John Travolta’s son to the media, and just share a fond memory.
We all know that John Travolta made tons of movies, but the one that hits home personally is one of his early movies, “Saturday Night Fever”, oh, and wasn’t he in “Welcome Back, Kotter”? The TV Show? Yes indeed, sorry for the senior moment, I just googled it, and he was.
Anyway, back to Saturday Night Fever…that was back in the “disco” days….are you “old” enough to remember “discotechs”? When I started dating my Colorado Mountain husband, who had only been in NJ for about a year at the time I met him, he had only been on a couple dates after his move here before I met him, and the movie he took his date to (she was someone I went to HS with) was “Saturday Night Fever”. Now I confess, I have never seen the movie in the theaters, it was later movies by Travolta, at least a few, that I liked…but knowing he had seen it, I had to watch it on TV at least once. You know how it is when you’re first dating someone, and you just HAVE to know all the details of whoever they dated before…it was during those times. Gosh that seems so long ago, and it is! 30+ years!
Here’s the classic clip from the movie for you, enjoy if you like this sort of thing, and even if you don’t, continue to pray for the Travolta family.
This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving, a fairly quiet 4 day weekend, we don’t shop on “Black Friday”, I handle most of that online. We had a break with tradition this year by having dinner at my brother’s home, 12 of us, each household bringing a dish or 2 to share.
But where does “Fiddler on the Roof” (click image for info on the collectors edition) come in? This weekend it was on television, so hubby and I watched it….again. We’ve seen it many times together in our 30 years of marriage, and I remember seeing it in the theaters when I was dating. Today I was reflecting on how my view of the movie has changed through the years. It goes something like this:
When I saw it 30 some years ago on a date, I related to the girls in the movie, with all the romantic notions of a girl or young woman who has not yet met “Mr. Right”, and the date I was with when I saw it wasn’t “Mr. Right” by the way :-).
When my husband and I watched it together as a newly married couple with no children, we had many hopes and dreams. No children, what would it be like to raise children? Would we have daughters or sons? Would my husband be a “rich man” or sing “if I were a rich man”? I’d say right about now he’s singing the latter…but we didn’t have any idea back then, viewed it through eyes of hopes, dreams, expectations.
Watching it with children, hubby and I would look at each other knowingly as we saw the daughters rebel to one degree or another in the movie.
When we watched it this year, with a married daughter, feeling like we still have hopes and dreams, but a lot more memories than we did when we first viewed the movie, we felt empathy with the change the parents were facing, and not always happy changes. We’ve walked through many challenges together as a married couple, and looked at one another and thought “Do I love him/her”, “does she/he love me?”and thankfully can say “Yes, I do”.
What is it that we love most about this movie? The constant dialogue the character Tevye, a role so perfectly suited to the actor, Topol, had with God. He talked to God about everything, from the silliest to the most serious things, no matter what condition he was in, he was not afraid to talk to his God. Oh that we all would feel so free to talk to God, our Father in Heaven. Thanks to what Jesus has done for us, we have that freedom available to us, the thing I’m most thankful for this year.
Yes, this is us, the picture taken in the fall of 1978, a little over 30 years ago, so this is our 30th Valentines Day together. We went back and forth on that a bit today, me thinking it was 31 years, and he reminding me no, it was 30, as we took a quiet country drive and stopped at some spots along the way that have become part of our memories. Memories are a wonderful thing about being with the same person for so many years, you have more and more of them that bind you together if you have built a good relationship. 