R.E.A.L. Women Devotional - Peace on Earth

During the month of December, many cities post banners on light posts that have the words written Love, Joy, and Peace. It seems that this one month out of twelve, it is time to lay all differences aside and include those three words into our lives.

There is such a focus on peace around the world, yet to see it in action is very rare. Rather than people actually living in peace with one another, they are tolerating one another. People will protest a cause with signs that scream "PEACE". This would seem like an oxymoron. The symbol used for peace is another thing that puzzles me. Years ago it was brought to my attention that it is a symbol of an upside down, broken cross. The thought behind it is if there wasn't religion then we'd have peace. It's interesting that the symbol for religion was the cross, not any other religions symbol. Yet, Jesus was sent by God with one of his titles being the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6). The peace sign should be the symbol of the cross!

First, Second and Third John are small books, yet they have a big message. The general idea in these three books is love. The Lord brought to my mind those banners. People want peace throughout the world. Jesus is the peace that people are looking for but refuse to accept him. We all know that John 3:16 tells us that God loved us so much that He sent us love in the flesh, his Son Jesus.

In first John, a particular verse jumped out at me that made me realize true peace only comes from true love. First John 4:11 says, "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." True peace can only exist if love is the root of it. If we truly think there can be peace in the world with out love being the source of which it thrives, then we are just fooling ourselves and the peace we are looking for is a cheap imitation. Jesus paid a high price for us to receive the gift of genuine peace.

As I mentioned in beginning, we only get one month out of twelve with the theme "Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men". It is the only time of the year, that everyone gets to hear the Good News of Peace through the Christmas carols that play as the back ground music in stores and shops. Even a local secular radio station that is playing Christmas music all month long, is playing songs that proclaim Jesus has come to bring life, joy and peace to the earth.

This Christmas, I pray the world would receive the peace it so desperately wants. The kind of peace that can only be received through Jesus Christ, God's one and only Son. There is a song called "Let There Be Peace on Earth" that is sometimes sung during this season. The lyrics say this:

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me,
Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father, brothers all are we,
Let me walk with my brother, in perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me, let this be the moment now,
With every step I take, let this be my solemn vow,
To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!

May you receive the gift of peace this season through the act of love. May you be love to those without peace!

R.E.A.L. Women Devotional - Beauty Does Come From Within

Television shows, product advertisements and magazines remind us regularly that we as average women do not measure up to the world's standard of beauty. Women can spend up to $3,000 dollars a year on creams, make up, hair products, not to mention what it costs for a cut and color these days, and manicures.* With all of the world's influence on our outward appearance and never being beautiful enough, what is real beauty? 

This past week we read through 1 Peter. I personally love the chapter 3, verses 3-6. It is God's idea of a beautiful woman. Its says, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. ⁴ Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. ⁵ For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, ⁶ like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear." It is completely the opposite of what the advertisements tell us. The world tells us we have to fight for our place, because it's a man's world.

What caught my attention is where it says "gentle and quiet spirit." How often do you find yourself restless inside your soul? When I read this a few years ago, I was dealing with some inner conflict with who I was. I admit, I still often wrestle in my soul, but those four words went deep to my spirit. It's not about how beautiful we are on the outside, it's that proverbial saying, "beauty comes from within." We hear that, but I don't think we really know what that means. Peter explains it to us. Most women don't realize that when they are angry and discontent on the inside, it leaks into the way they talk and act, which can result in bad attitudes, negativity and just plain mean.

I actually don't think we women are trying to beautify ourselves for the men in our lives. If we are really truthful about it, we are in competition with other women. Afraid that our husband or boyfriend will leave us for some woman more beautiful than we are. Or maybe we just think everyone out there is prettier than we are. I have to laugh, one day my son and I were at the grocery store. He was glancing at all the of magazine covers. Out of the blue he says to me, "Mom, I don't want to date or marry a girl who looks like a doll." That's exactly what these airbrushed models look like, porcelain dolls. Something fragile. Paul describes us as jars of clay that hold the treasure of Christ inside (2 Corinthians 4:7).

I mentioned the word just a moment ago, afraid. We read about this in verse 6. If we put our hope in the Lord, then we have no reason to give way to fear. A few years ago, I did a study on this passage. I took a survey from 50 of my friends and found that 30 replied saying rejection was their greatest fear. What else I discovered was how often we use the words, afraid and scared in our conversations. It was truly amazing to me when I began to take notice of it. "Fear not" is mentioned 365 times. That means one "fear not" for each day.

What else I find interesting about this verse is that Peter referred to Sarah. We are her daughters if we don't give way to fear. It is amazing to me how Sarah is now known by her incredible faith. But it wasn't always that way because if we remember back when Sarai offered her servant Hagar to Abram (Genesis 16), she did not seem like a woman with much faith. It was about 10 years from the time Ishmael was born to Hagar until the time Isaac was born to Sarah. I am sure she had much turmoil in her spirit wondering if she would ever see her promise. I wonder if God changed her name from Sarai to Sarah after she surrendered her spirit to Him (Genesis 17:15&16). Her new identity was now based on an act of faith. Much like salvation is for us. After all, her name does mean princess and you can't reign if you don't have people to reign over.

Fear is paralyzing, isolating and deadly. It hold us captive to our circumstance. I have told this story many times of how the Lord explained circumstance to me. He told me to take the word and break it in to two. Then He had me look them up. The word circum means "to go around" and the word stance means "position while standing." We need to realize that our circumstances are going to keep going around and it's our stance of "faith" that will get us through. There are two definitions for fear. One is to be afraid and the other is reverential awe. The question here is, are you so afraid of what you fear that you revere it? What I mean by that is do you worship what you fear? It is said what you think about the most is what you worship. Our reverential awe should be for God. Do you put your fears above God?

Job sums it all up for us in chapter 3, verses 25 and 26. It says "What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. ²⁶ I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” That is exactly what happens to us. The fear we live with causes us so much turmoil and restlessness. It goes back to keeping a gentle and quiet spirit.

Whatever the world thinks is beautiful, is contradictory to what God says is beautiful. Jesus is beautiful and if we believe in him and have the Holy Spirit within us, there is no doubt that we are beautiful because He is beautiful.

This portion of scripture is near and dear to my heart. I am without a doubt guilty of struggling with fear and wrestling with my self worth on the inside. I wish I could be writing this from the perspective of someone who has overcome, but I write as someone who fights this every day of my life. If you too struggle at all with insecurity and/or fear, I want to encourage you not to give up the fight. Don't let fear hold you captive. Don't let that restless spirit from within keep you uptight. Instead, let the peace of Christ rule in your heart (Colossians 3:15), because beauty really does come from within.

R.E.A.L. Women Devotional - A Diamond is Forever

"A diamond is a chunk of coal made good under pressure." - Anonymous

"Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are? Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky..." Do you recognize these familiar lyrics? It came to mind as I was reading Philippians 2:14 &15. It says, "Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe." Several generations prior to Paul's letter to the Philippians, God had made a promise to Abraham that he would have as many children as the stars in the sky. (Genesis 15:5) Guess what? We've been included in that family of stars. We too, who have been adopted through Jesus, are now included in that family of stars. God desired so much to have a relationship with us, that all the way back then He was thinking of you. Just as the words of the nursery rhyme is sung, "We are like a diamond in the sky."

How are diamonds formed? (see diamond cutting video) A diamond starts out as a chunk of coal that is mined and brought to the jeweler. The jeweler takes that coal and begins chipping off the layers to reach the potential diamond. In that process, a piece of dull, unshaped glass-like form appears. The rough diamond is clamped in a dop and held against this whirly disc or a polishing wheel. The diamond dust is mixed with olive oil and is used on the wheel to grind away the diamond to the desired angle. The polishing wheel spins around and around cutting, scraping and shining up the diamond. This process polishes the diamond symmetrically on all the facets at angles to reflect the maximum amount of light. Eventually the outcome is a diamond that is clear and colorful. The more cut to the diamond the greater its value.

We too are similar to a diamond. God uses other people to help shape us. It is the cutting and grinding away of our rough edges and the polishing of encouragement that begins to help us see our potential. But it is the circular motion of the polishing wheel, which is similar to our circumstances that come around regularly, that also contributes to our value. 2 Corinthians 4:6-10 says it best. "For God, who said, "Let light shine out of the darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."

God knows and sees our potential. After all, He did create you. But Jesus is like the dop, standing in the gap and holding you in position while you are being cut, shaped and polished. The diamond dust represents our relationships that sometimes rub us the wrong way and yet this is what helps to allow the light to reflect. The Holy Spirit is like the olive oil that comforts us in those times and helps to make a new creation. It's the soothing of the olive oil that gives us the grace to endure that allows us to shine.

The hope is that we will become a transparent yet a brilliant and colorful diamond. We are to be a reflection of the glory of the one and only flawless diamond, Jesus. He is the treasure of Heaven. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." Who would have ever guessed such a treasure could be found in a piece of coal. God's ultimate purpose for us is to spend eternity with Him. Like the advertisement says, "A diamond is forever."

Thought: What circumstances are you facing right now that are bringing out your hidden potential? What areas of your life are being cut away and polished so you may reflect the glory of the Lord? What real-ationships is God using in your life to make you all that He created you to be?

Take a moment to think about these questions. If you are unsure, take this time to ask God the question, what are You doing in my life? Who and what are you using to bring out my hidden potential? And last but not least, am I a reflection of Jesus?

Whatever circumstances you may be facing right now that seem to be bringing you to the end of your rope, don't worry that is not the way God sees it. Just as Psalm 121:5 says God is watching over your life. He will bring comfort and hope to the most distressing circumstances. Take comfort knowing that His purpose in your life will be fulfilled. No matter what the pressure is that you are facing, it is adding another facet to your life. This process will bring beauty to your life, just as the many cuts to a diamond maximize its brilliance. You are God's treasure and His plan is for eternity, because diamonds are forever.

R.E.A.L. Women Devotional - Lawlessness & Disorder

In recent years, our elections have been very interesting. Some of the propositions we have had on our ballots would have never been considered as early as10 years ago. The television ads that seem to run endlessly during the weeks prior to an election can be a bit confusing. Most of the time I believe the proposition ads talk in circles as to confuse the voter. As followers of Jesus, we shouldn't base our decisions necessarily on moral issues, but on the Kingdom of God principles. What does God's Word say about the things man's law is trying to pass. It would seem that it is "lawfulness" against "lawlessness" and "order" against "disorder."

This week we read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and the title of this chapter in my NIV Bible is "The Man of Lawlessness." Verses 1- 12 says, "Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. 2 Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. 3 Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. 4 He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. 

5 Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you? 6 And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes. 7 For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. 8 Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming.

9 This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. 10 He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. 11 So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. 12 Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth."

Verse 12 hits the nail on the head, so to speak. Mankind today would rather enjoy evil living rather than believing the truth. The most controversial propositions are not about freedom as much as they are selfish and considered "rebellion" in the eyes of God. Rebellion is the same as witchcraft so these issues are definitely "lawlessness." They are all about instant gratification. We talk about the future of our country, yet we really don't think about the side effects it will have on people in future of our country. 

It is so disheartening to see our country so divided right now. We are in the midst of a political civil war. Laws are given to promote order and safety. There is still a small majority who vote for lawfulness and order. But the more we promote rebellion that majority is losing voters with every election. It is like some underworld movie Arnold Swartzenegger or Sylvester Stallone would play in. It is a world full of bitter, angry, hateful, and murderous citizens.

In the Book of Lamentations Jeremiah is mourning the destruction of Jerusalem from Babylon. It says "Jerusalem has sinned greatly, so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag. All who once honored her now despise her, for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated. All she can do is groan and hide her face. 9 She defiled herself with immorality and gave no thought to her future. Now she lies in the gutter with no one to lift her out. “Lord, see my misery,” she cries. “The enemy has triumphed.”10 The enemy has plundered her completely, taking every precious thing she owns. She has seen foreigners violate her sacred Temple, the place the Lord had forbidden them to enter. 11 Her people groan as they search for bread. They have sold their treasures for food to stay alive. “O Lord, look,” she mourns, “and see how I am despised." (Lamentations 1:8-11, NLT) This passage of scripture is so fitting for the current condition as a country.

Having the right to choose is what makes the United States of America great. But when the majority of the people are choosing out of a rebellious heart, it can be a dangerous place. It is said that history repeats itself and this isn't the first time a country has been teetering on the side of destruction. The disturbing part about all of this is that it is all done in the name of peace. Unfortunately, the heart of rebellion is not peace. It is wickedness which is the cause of lawlessness and disorder. It is a counterfeit peace that is truly the spirit of anti-Christ. 1 Corinthians 14:33 says, "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace." That is why He sent His son Jesus to the earth. Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Only His peace can bring law and order.

R.E.A.L. Women Devotional - Blaze of Glory

California is no stranger to fire. In the fall of 2007, it was a critical time in Southern California. The state was literally on fire. There were fires in Northern California as well as Southern California. The smell of smoke was intense. Many of us were glued to the news for several days.

One night in October, as I was doing up the last few dishes from dinner, I could see a red-orange glow outside my window. A few nights earlier, when the fire began, my son, and I sat in my upstairs window watching the tiny spark on the hillside grow into a raging fire. For days, the smoke hung over our heads like a canopy shading us from the sun. It was an eerie feeling. Although we were at least 20 miles or more from the location, the house was filled with the smell of smoke as though we had just built a bonfire on our patio. Every night I would watch the fire jump from hillside to hillside. During the day I could see the charred ground and the cloud of smoke it would leave in its wake.

I am describing all of this to you to draw a picture of how powerful our tongues can be. James 3:5 & 6 says, "Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." I watched, what looked like a tiny spark, ignite into a blaze. What an illustrated picture of what words can do. Not only does a fire damage everything in its path, but even those who are watching from afar, have to deal with the residue the ash leaves behind. There is stench of smoke that lingers in the air, even when the fire has passed. Much like damaging words that are spoken. They can destroy everything in their path and more often than not, observers can become victims by default.

Job 41 talks about the leviathan and how difficult he is to tame. 19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. 20 Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. 21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth. That picture reminds me of the giant cobra on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Often the tongue of man is even more difficult to tame than the leviathan.

I truly don't think man understands the power of words. Think about this, God spoke the universe into existence. That is pretty powerful! Of course the enemy wants to use words to retaliate, so he uses people to speak against one another. James 3:9&10 says, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be." Satan is also known as the accuser. He tries to use us to accuse and speak words of harm to each other. Isaiah 54:17 says "no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD." We are included in this heritage. Imagine what would happen if we spoke praise and blessing not only to God, but with and to each other. I bet we'd see fire. Like the fire that rested on the heads of the disciples in Acts (Acts 2:3&4). What kind of blaze would that start? A blaze of Glory that could not be contained!

I pray that we would get the destructive fire from our mouths 100% contained. I pray that a blowing wind would spark the fire of the Holy Spirit in us. That it would set a blaze of Glory that would never be put out.

R.E.A.L. Women Devotional - What's Your Sign?

Several years ago, I saw an interview of a well-known music entertainer who had recently converted to an Eastern religion. He was wearing a red dot on his forehead. The interviewer asked him why he chose that particular religion. He responded by saying that all religions can be recognized by their outward appearance as a sign as to what they believe in and the reason he chose Hinduism was because when people see him, they know exactly what he believes. He went on to say that Christianity has nothing outwardly to define what it believes.

As we read this past week in our Epic reading guide, we do have signs that define who we are as followers of Jesus. In Mark 16, when Jesus told the disciples to go out into all the world and preach the good news to all creation, he said whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. With their salvation signs would accompany them. Those signs are driving out demons, speaking in new tongues, being able to pick up snakes with their hands, drinking deadly poison and not being hurt, and laying hands on the sick and seeing them healed, all by the power of Jesus name (Mark 16:15-18).

In Acts 1, Jesus specifically talks about one gift that the Father had promised to send. Acts 1:4-8 reads, "On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Power is a sign of a follower of Jesus. The power of the Holy Spirit is truly the sign that separates us from the world and other religions. Luke 24:49 Jesus told them to stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. Reading this made me think that another sign as a follower of Jesus is patience, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Jesus told them to stay in the city until (Luke 24:48) and wait for (Acts 1:4) the gift of the power of the Holy Spirit. It was probably like us as children at Christmas waiting with anticipation and excitement for Christmas morning to see what we might find under the tree. Remember the disciples did not know what to expect.

Receiving the gift of tongues is a sign that truly separates us from the world. The challenge with the gift of tongues is that it is also the one gift that divides the Body of Christ. Some choose not to believe that it is something we can have today, yet we will believe in healing and salvation. Some Believer's are afraid of it. Some are more likely to pick up snakes with their bare hands and drink poison than to be open to the gift of tongues. All one has to do is believe to receive and then wait. In Acts 2:1, the scripture says on the day of Pentecost they were all together, in one place. I believe the power of unity is a sign of a Believer. In Acts 2:2-4, it says a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house and what seemed to be tongues of fire rested on each of them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. This reminded me of the time the Glory of God filled Solomon's temple after it was built. In 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 it says the musicians with one voice giving praise and thanks to the Lord singing, He is good, his love endures forever, that the temple was filled with a cloud and the priests could not perform because the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God. (I have heard that this cloud was from the burning of lamp stand and sacrifices in the temple because there was no ventilation. Man made that fire, but God made the fire in Acts.)

We live in a world that will only believe if there is a sign. God knew that we being of flesh nature, provided signs for us to believe in the Truth. I ask you today, are you clothed with power? Only those who "believe the things of the Spirit" can "receive the things of the Spirit." I will close with this last question, what's your sign?

R.E.A.L. Women Devotional - Beyond the Grave

Every October, we are inundated with decorations portraying death. People even decorate their front yards to look like cemeteries. In Mexico, Nov 2nd is "Día de los Muertos," literally the Day of the Dead. Over the past few years, I've realized Halloween is the only holiday that people of different faiths can celebrate together, which is a bit disturbing.

I started thinking about something I read the other day in my devotions. The last two verses in Luke 21. It says, "Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, 38 and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple." I thought about the Mount of Olives. When we read about the Mount of Olives, it sounds like this romantic grove of olive trees. At the foot of this hillside is where Gethseme is located. For some reason I have never connected the dots until now. I have stood at the top of that hill and looked down into Jerusalem. It is not a beautiful olive grove, instead the whole hillside today is covered with graves. Now I don't know if there were that many graves on the hillside in Jesus day, but it was still a cemetery. In fact, this is a special place for the Jewish people to be buried. So if you think about it, why would Jesus spend the night in or near a cemetery? This is also the location where he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He took the path next to the cemetery.

John 10:10 says that Jesus came to give us life and life more abundant. He often refers to himself as the bread of life and the living water. Why would someone so confident of his purpose, sleep and walk among the dead? My thought is that he was using this as a metaphor to explain why he came. Maybe he was saying he was not afraid of death because he would overcome it. The scripture does not say anyone was with him when he spent the night on the hill.

What else is interesting having read the through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is that the Israelites were not to touch a dead body or they would be defiled. Jesus was always creating a stir among the Pharisees. After all, he had brought a few who were dead back to life. I wonder if that could have been an issue for them as well. How can this man who claims to be the Messiah sleep where the dead sleep?

My last thought on this is, maybe Jesus was showing us in the natural what happens in the spiritual. That where he is, there is life. Maybe the cemetery represents us spiritually and it's only when he is there, that life happens. As I was just looking through the concordance, the Mount of Olives is only mentioned a few times in the Old Testament. But its only mentioned in the New Testament in reference to Jesus. Jesus actually spent a lot of time on the Mount of Olives. Did you know that Jesus never spent the night in Jerusalem, until the night he was crucified? The Mount of Olives is the location where Jesus will return. In Zechariah 14:4 it says that the Lord will stand with his feet on the Mount of Olives and it will split apart. Maybe Jesus spent time there so we would know where to look for him when he returns. That is how we will know the difference to those who claim to be the Messiah. If when they stand on it, it will split apart.

I've never known cemeteries to be places of holy ground, but I wonder if this cemetery could be considered holy ground because the One who brings life spent a lot of time there. On that day when the Messiah returns, the dead in Christ will rise (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Oh what a day it will be when Jesus comes back! I wonder what the spiritually dead will say then? Will they even be able to speak! Jesus is life and because he is, we can live beyond the grave!