主基督

What a week it's been. God continues to teach me, mold me, shape me, prune me, and prove Himself faithful to me.

Photo credit - TeenPact

Another beautiful soul passed on to Heaven this week. On Thursday, I received news that Yetta Hein has passed away after battling cancer. I never met Yetta, but I have heard much about her joyful spirit through the years she was involved with TeenPact.

Yesterday, I attended the Celebration of Mrs. Reich's life. It was a beautiful time to share memories and to remember Mrs. Reich's love for people because of her love for Jesus. She demonstrated a truly adventurous follower of Christ, and we rejoice that she is in Heaven. While we will never be able to fully cope with the unnatural event of death, we know we stand in an unshakable hope.

Amidst this theme in my life right now, God has carried me so closely, giving me beautiful gifts that demonstrate His care and redemption.

This week, I was reading my Bible. Sometimes, that's all you can really do. You don't know what to pray, you don't know who to call, you don't know what to remind yourself of, so you just go read. And He is always faithful.

I was reading in my Bible, which is a Chinese/English Bible. After a little while, I spent some time studying the Chinese in the scriptures I'd been reading. So I started translating slowly, character by character, using a translator app for more than a little assistance. I came to a set of three characters that I didn't recognize at all. The first one was

主 (zhǔ), and it meant "primary." Okay.... The second character was 基 (jī), and meant "base." Sure... I wasn't getting. It didn't fit the context of the verse at all. The last character was 督 (dū), and meant "supervise." What?

Then I punched all three of the characters in the translator together. After processing for a second the result came up: 主基督 means "Christ the Lord."

主. Primary. Main. First. One and only. Alpha and Omega. 

基. Base. Foundation. Solid Rock. 

督. Supervise. Watch over. Shepherd. Sovereign Lord.

I was in awe for a little while, loving how deep the simple translation of my Savior's title could be. How it encapsulates His majesty, His power, His wisdom, His will, His love, and His protection. 

I'll go through many things in life, I'm sure. You will too. But regardless of the circumstance, though I know they can be harder that we can even comprehend, we can rest assured. Christ the Lord, He holds us when we don't know how to hold on any more. Christ the Lord, He redeems every heartache for His glory and His people. Christ the Lord, He loves us with an unfathomable, nonhuman love. Christ the Lord, He will come again and take me Home. 

"Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,' for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' 

He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'"

~Revelation 21:1-5