It was a gray day out.  Rather foggy and kind of damp and really just pretty "blah".  I was driving down 495S on my way home from a doctor's appointment.  As I drove along, the orange cones that signal the beginning of road construction and thus slowing traffic and impatient drivers. 

So there I was.  Going exactly 0 miles per hour in the right lane, when all of a sudden, a car whizzes past me in the breakdown lane.  Now, you must know, there are a few things about other drivers that really bother me when I'm driving.  The first thing is when their directional is blinking and continues blinking for the 2.7 miles that I'm traveling behind them while they are blissfully unaware of how ridiculous they look.  The second thing is when people pass me illegally i.e. in the breakdown lane.  So back to our story.  Well, I thought. It was a Rhode Island driver so that explains it. (I'm not a fan of much of anything Rhode Island.  Especially their drivers.)  But then all the Massachusetts drivers behind me started pulling into the breakdown lane as well.  Oh, my gosh.  This is ridiculous.  I know I have to get off at the next exit but clearly traveling in the breakdown lane is wrong and so I'm going to have to fight my way through these stupid people in this non-travel lane in order to get to my exit.  Gah!!  I hate driving on the road with such selfish, impatient, stupid people!  I actually had a whole blog post in my brain about how clearly I was one of the best drivers on the road because I was not using the breakdown lane and I was being patient and ooh, boy, wasn't God just mad at those other drivers for being so sinful.  My self-righteous anger continued to build and build.  How dare these people do this?  Don't they know that this is illegal??

And then I saw it.  The sign.  The sign that proves God has such a wonderful sense of humor.  It wasn't colorful or flashy.  It was simple and plain and black and white.  It said "Travel in breakdown lane permitted in work zone."

Yep, folks.  God has a really good sense of humor.

*inspired by conversation with Marc and Bry last night...thanks for the idea, guys!!
*all quotes true and direct from the mouth of my little sister who just turned 5

July '06
Upon seeing the half moon:  "I love the moon!  I've always wanted to see it!...(pause)...it's a little broken."
While wearing two bracelets and a necklace:  "Mommy, look how beautiful I am!  Connor, look how beautiful I am!  People, look how beautiful I am!"
Responding to the question "Are you hungry?":  "Chocolate.  Chocolate will make me better."
A conversation with Bailey

August '06
Regarding her "baby":  "My baby is making me nuts!"

July '07
A conversation with Mrs. Aiduk

Son of God.  No beauty.  No majesty.  Despised.  Rejected.  Man of Sorrows.  Acquainted with grief.  Despised.  We esteemed him not.

He has borne our griefs, sorrows.  He was stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  We transgressed.  He was wounded.  We are full of iniqituies.  He was crushed.  He was chastised to bring us peace.  By his stripes, we are healed.  We went astray.  God laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Oppressed, afflicted, like a lamb led to slaughter, like a sheep before the shearers he was silent. 

It was the Lord’s will to crush him.  We sinned.  He was crushed.  We rebelled.  He was crushed.  We disobeyed.  He was crushed.  We followed false gods.  He was crushed.  We turned away from God.  He was crushed.

“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Sinful man pounds the nails into the hands of the Uncreated One.  The Majestic One of creation watches as those He has created and sustains drive cruel iron into His flesh.

“Today you will be with me in paradise.”  As He is dying, suspended between heaven and earth, exchanging his perfection for the sins of all the world, he still extends mercy to one broken sinner.  The agonies of the cross are not yet over and still He promises deliverance.

“Dear woman, here is your son.  Here is your mother.”  His breath is ragged now, the blood loss beginning to take its toll.  His mother kneels beneath him, staring up into the face of her dear son whom she brought into the world to the scent of scandal.  She has nurtured him, cared for him, and now he is being executed before her eyes.  But He does not leave her destitute.  He still provides for her care.

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  The scream rips through the air.  The Son of God who has enjoyed perfect fellowship with His Father for all eternity feels the guilt of the world on His shoulders.  The Father in His holiness cannot abide sin and turns away.  The Son experiences the full cup of righteous wrath for all of sinful mankind.  He cries out in agony.  Silence.  The Father does not answer.

“I am thirsty.”  His body is finally beginning to give out.  Dehydration is setting in.  The blood loss is great.  Great pools of blood gather beneath the cross.  The Son of God, the Creator of the oceans and rivers, needs a drink. The Master of the Universe longs for a sip of water.

“It is finished.”  The shout sounds out.  The deed is done.  The mighty struggle is complete.  God is fully satisfied.  Judgment has been wreaked to its fullest extent upon the only person in the universe who did not deserve it.  The full cup of wrath has been endured by Perfection so that imperfection might be redeemed.

“Into your hands I commit my spirit.”  It is over.  The Son, the God-Man, Very God of Very God, has died.  Has breathed his last breath.  Has completed his earthly mission.  Has fulfilled all of history.  Has accomplished all that must be done to save foul sinners.  Has made a way for man to be reconciled with God.  Has opened the gates of Heaven to all who would believe.

And so the Father says,

“Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
 and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
   and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
   and makes intercession for the transgressors.”