​
​Good Friday
the cross
stripped
​naked

bottle rockets #38


​
seismic shift jelly beans lost in paper grass
Sonic Boom December 2017

 
​resurrection day
great grandma 
​still waiting
​
Beautiful Defect April 2019


​
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 KJV


And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.
Revelation 21:4 KJV

Alice
 
I must go,
she said, as she closed
the electric book.
Down is up and up is nowhere.
 
It is time,
she said, as she climbed down
from her wobbly throne.
It waits for no one.
 
I will look to the east,
she said, as she remembered
the line from the song,
for the sunrise.
 
One can never be lost when one looks for the sun…


​

​
Until next week,

Hopefully,

Susan
;)




Sign up for blog post and Life Poems Journal notifications delivered directly to you inbox. Just click on Newsletter at the top of the page. Check out the most recent Life Poems Journal before the special Easter Issue hits the screen on April 15th. Just click on Life Poems! Please leave a comment and tell me what you think. And if you would, Like and Share widely!
​

Thank you,

​
Susan




Alice
by Susan Beth Furst
previously published, Sonic Boom, December 2018 

photography&haiku
by susan beth furst

Watercolor, Rainbow Jesus
​by susan beth furst

​

 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. Matthew 28:1-4 NIV



So, it's Sunday, the first day of the week, and who goes to the tomb to check on Jesus? Why the Marys, of course. They had come to finish embalming his body, as they did not have time to do it properly, before the Sabbath began on Friday evening. I don't know what they were expecting to find. They must have thought about the stone at some point. It was much too large for one or two women to roll away. Perhaps they thought the guards would help...

As we read from Matthew's gospel account God provided.

A really big angel came down, and the ground shook, and the lightening flashed. The Roman guard, men who were used to walking where angels feared to tread, fell over and played dead.



The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, Now I have told you." Matthew 28:5-7 NIV



So, angels had this way of popping in and out of the lives of people here on earth. Because they were generally described as large beings and because they sort of showed up out of nowhere, they often had to tell people not to be afraid, unless those people happened to be the Roman guard...

The angel was the bearer of good news! And he told the women, who did not faint, that Jesus was alive!!

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said."

And then the angel did what angels do. He left. The message was delivered. His work was done. He was on to the next thing on his to do list.

And the women, well, they did what women do. They raced all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples.  The news  was way too good to let someone else beat them too it!



So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Matthew 28:8 NIV



So, this is the story; the Marys got up early, went to the tomb, weathered an earthquake, talked to an angel, and were the first to get the good news. Jesus was alive, just as he said!

So what?

Think of it this way. In first century Judea, women  were given little thought or value; they were not to be believed or trusted, it was a man thing.

But Jesus the one who "broke the rules," many rules, according to the religious establishment (who all happened to be men), decided that the women should be first to know, that they should be the ones who would carry the news, of the Resurrection of the Son of God!!  

And speaking of rules, Jesus broke a really big rule, He brought himself back from the dead!


Only God can do that!!


​Hmmm...


Jesus came into the world to die on a cross for our sins. Back in the Garden when Eve took the first bite of the apple, she set into motion God's plan to save us. It was a brilliant plan of course, but not easy. There were a lot of sins for Jesus to carry on that cross. But our Lord is ever gracious and full of mercy and love. He went willingly, bore our burdens and shame, and by his wounds we were and are healed.


Jesus gave us life instead of the death we deserved. This is called grace. And to sustain us, Jesus promises Living Water. This is the Holy Spirit who is poured out onto all believers...

​
"Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, "Rivers of living water will flow from his heart." (When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.) John 7:38-39 NLT 

                                       


















​ Grace


White blossoms float languidly in the lily pond. Tadpoles and minnows teem underneath the dark surface, and frogs sit fat in the green rushes. We bring baskets of Easter flowers to decorate great grandma’s grave. We climb the hill to the old water pipe, tiptoe, and turn the knob. It creaks and begins to shake. Water splashes our upturned faces, fills our shoes, spills over our pails, soaking the ground beneath us. We dance in the puddles and slosh through the mud, dragging our pails behind us.
 
evening rain--
that peculiar scent
of hyacinth

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
​John 3:16 NIV

His grace, mercy, and peace be with you...

Hopefully,

Susan
;)

Sign up for blog post and Life Poems Journal notifications delivered directly to your inbox. Just click on Newsletter at the top of the page. Check out the most recent Life Poems Journal by clicking on Life Poems. Leave a comment, like, and share widely!

Thank you,

Susan


Light haiku & photograph 
by susan beth furst
previously published, Ekphrasis: The British Haiku Society Member's Anthology 2017


Grace
by susan beth furst
previously published, Under The Basho, March 2018

​forbidden fruit
she takes another swig
from the bottle


​

Fall from…
 
Naked—white branches reach up, full of ice the river moves slow clouds in the pewter sky.

​midnight train--
smoke billows
on the far shore



"Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked..."
Genesis 3:7 NKJV


What exactly is The Fall? When did it happen? Who fell? Where to? And why? 

I have it on good authority that The Fall happened "In the beginning..." in a garden, not just any garden, but The Garden. The garden God created for his best work, Adam and Eve.

The Garden was beautiful. A river flowed through Eden watering the trees and flowers. It was in Eden, where Adam named the animals that God had made. It was in Eden, where Adam fell asleep and God created Eve from his very rib. It was in Eden, where Adam and Eve communed with God.


It was perfect, a utopia! But there was just this one little thing...


And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden: but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." Genesis 2:15-17 NKJV


And with that the stage was set...


You see, there was this serpent, and he had a reputation. He was crafty, a deceiver, a twister of the truth. And he asked the fatal question...


"Did God really say?"  

And then he told the lie...

"You will not certainly die"


Well, that is all Eve needed to hear. She grabbed the apple, pear, or kumquat, whatever the forbidden fruit was, and she took a bite. And so did Adam. They disobeyed God. They sinned.

The thing about God is that he is holy and just. And he cannot be in the presence of sin. And when there is sin there are consequences. So, God sent Adam and Eve packing, after he made them coverings of animal skins. Death had entered the garden...


And so it is today. The serpent, the deceiver, the father of lies, is still asking the question,

"Did God really say that?"


​And we like hungry children don't think twice...


So, what is a Father to do?


God, being who he is, had a plan to rescue us, from the beginning, before Adam and Eve were a spark in his eye.

Actually with God there is no beginning, He always was, always is, and always will be...

Don't spend too much time trying to figure that out. Some things are just a mystery. After all he is God and we're not!


​Someone had to pay for the sin, so that we could be bought back, redeemed. But that someone had to be perfect, sinless...


And then God had an awesome idea...


"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16 NIV


And so Jesus went to the cross, the perfect sacrifice, he took our sins, every last one of them, on His body. He suffered. And he died. But it didn't end there...


Spoiler Alert!!

Sunday was coming...


Stay tuned next week for my companion haibun, Grace, and the rest of the story.


Until then,

His Peace be with you.

Hopefully,

Susan


Sign up for blog post and Life Poems Journal notifications delivered directly to your email. Click on Newsletter, at the top of the page. Check out the most recent Life Poems Journal, by clicking Life Poems. Leave a comment, like and share widely! 

forbidden fruit haiku & watercolor
by susan beth furst

Fall from...
by susan beth furst
previously published in Under The Basho, March 2018

photography
​by susan beth furst










​

spring in the city
the rapid click
of a shutterbug

Susan Beth Furst
Washington D.C. 3/16/19


Can you see the signs?


"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." 

John 3:16 NIV


Hopefully,

Susan


Short and sweet this week! I had a lovely day visiting my sign in Washington D.C. and enjoying the beautiful spring weather. I took some great photos of the urban cityscape including some really cool row houses. And there was this fellow way up in a tree, I got a quick shot of him before he flew away... 

Another good reason to keep looking up...

;)

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Thank you!

Until next week,

Susan
​

​"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." Matthew 25:35-36 NIV

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'  Matthew 25:40 NIV

And so it will be for the sheep, the righteous, gathered before Jesus when he sits on his throne. And so it will be for my dad...

My dad died early Saturday morning, the day before Easter. Dad had not spoken for days and his eyes were closed, but he was peaceful. My sister was with him and I was on the speakerphone. We played Tennessee Ernie Ford on the CD player. What a friend we have in Jesus, we sang along. We talked about heaven and told him jokes. We thanked him for introducing us to Jesus.

Hours passed and we got quiet. We just sat in silence, Lori in the room and me on the phone. Dad's breathing got shallow and very slow. But dad was hanging on, it wasn't time. 

It was Good Friday, almost midnight, but Dad wouldn't leave. At 12:15 am Saturday morning, Dad took his last breath. He had crossed over. He was with Jesus.

Lori said to me that it was just like Dad to wait. Did I mention he was stubborn? You see, he wouldn't have considered himself worthy to die on the same day as Jesus did.

That's the thing about my dad, he was humble. He never thought himself better than anyone else. He would do for others, before he did for himself. Maybe it was being the second of five brothers, or losing his mom at age twelve, or living with an alcoholic father...

We will be perfect in heaven. Jesus does that for us when we believe. What age we will be, I don't know. I do know my dad won't need his glasses. And his knees, they will be perfectly smooth, none of the scratches left, Jesus polished those off... 

​
Hopefully,


Susan
;)


"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."  John 3:16 NIV

All you need to know...


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Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed this week's post! Don't forget to share on FB or with your friends!

His Peace,

Susan ;)

good vibrations…
 
Organ music and old hymns are essential,
and polkas too.
What is a wedding without a good polka?
And harps,
David played the harp particularly well,
especially when King Saul was in one of his
Saul killed thousands, but David killed tens of thousands, moods.
And Jesus is all right, you know,
just ask the Doobies.
I’m not sure about Black Sabbath.
It never ends well when you play on the dark side.
But we do have a good, good, father and
Jesus loves us, no matter what.
So, go ahead, sing, strum, and dance the polka.
Play your clarinets, violins, and cigar-box banjos!
Make all the music you can,
God is so big you
can never, ever, 
fill him up!
And that
is good...

 
night music  the frogs  fill the pond
 

God invented music, and he can sing,,,
 
 
Where were you?

​"while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?”
Job 38:7 NIV
 


​Hopefully,
 
Susan
;)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16 NIV

All you need to know...


You can sign up for weekly blog notifications delivered directly to your inbox. Just go to More, at the top of the page, click on Newsletter, and fill out the form. It is that easy. I hope you were blessed and encouraged by this week's post. Remember to share and Thank you for stopping by.

​Susan

Kenny waits by the dumpster
for a couple of bucks&
john 3:16 hope

Susan Beth Furst
November 2015


I have kept this poem since 2015, the year I started to write haiku. I have sent it out a few times, but it was never accepted for publication. Maybe it is just a well. The poem is about a friend I haven't seen in a long time. He used to stand in his spot, in the Walmart parking lot, and I would drive by with some dollar bills and a Jesus Pen or a gospel. Kenny was always happy to see me. We would talk about things, and he would hug me through the car window. He called me his angel. What he didn't know, was that he was my angel.

Then one day Kenny wasn't there anymore. I asked his friends but no one knew where he was. Eventually I just stopped asking. But I never forgot him, Kenny. If he is still alive I hope he is doing well. If not, I think he is in heaven, looking down on me, or maybe he is having too much fun, exploring the universe with Jesus by his side.

"Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!"
Hebrews 13:2 NLT

Life is funny, you're here and then you're not. People come and go and it is never easy when they leave, especially when they die. 

Albert Finney died yesterday. I loved him, even though I had never met him. I love his movies, especially Scrooge. It is one of my all time  favorites. I remember my parents dragging me and my sisters kicking and screaming to the movie theater. I was fifteen and I didn't want to be seen with my mom and dad at the movies on a Friday night. But I got over it real fast. The movie was Brilliant! The music was Brilliant! Albert Finney was Brilliant!

One of my favorite lines from the movie is strangely appropriate on the occasion of his passing.

"Remember Scrooge, Time is short, and suddenly you're not there, anymore!"
The Ghost of Christmas Present

We would all do well to remember that.


For Albert Finney, I shall miss you...

That night
at the movie theatre
Thank you very much...



One last thing. The Hope.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16 NLT

The New Living Translation of the Bible is very readable and easily understood. I highly recommend it!

Until next week...

Hopefully,


Susan 

;)

PS  Check out "Life Poems," on this blog. I am open for submissions of haiku, haibun, or short poems which celebrate the inherent value of life, inside and outside of the womb. Guidlines are on the Life Poems Page. Thank you!

Susan