Real Life by Peggi Tustan

Welcome to  Real Life . The son of one of my best friends is getting married in May. I've known the boy since he was a baby bump. Our families are like family. Because I know and love them well, I wouldn't miss the wedding. But, not everyone will attend. _________ The wedding date is set. The invitations are out. The groom’s father is known and respected around the world. Wedding staff has been preparing non-stop for months. Tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform live at the reception. Chef Wolfgang Puck is creating the menu. Versace is designing the wedding attire. There is just one problem. None of the invited guests have responded.  Ever patient, the father re-sends the invitations by personal messenger. Perhaps they got lost in the mail. However, this time there is no denying the snub. Doors are slammed in messengers’ faces. Some of the couriers are threatened and roughed up. Others are actually seized and thrown in prison. The groom’s father has ...

Welcome to Real Life . Tell me something good. You can catch more flies with honey. Let’s talk about the love, joy and peace found in Christ — easy, happy stuff. But, that's only part of the story. The path that follows Christ is narrow and often hard. [1]   Jesus mentored twelve men. These guys sat on a hillside and listened to him teach the Sermon on the Mount with a wisdom and authority beyond this world. They watched him walk on the surface of an angry sea and then calm the storm with words. They stood beside him as he spat in mud, smeared it on a blind man’s eyelids, and restored his sight. After three supernatural years together, Jesus asks these twelve disciples who they think he is. Peter replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Now that they understand who he is, Jesus prepares them for the hard road ahead:  “He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be ki...