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John 11:1-16
February 7, 1971
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We continue our study of John's gospel, a rich study of the person of Jesus Christ. We have learned many things and we come today to what is a transition period in the life of Christ and also in the text of this gospel. These 16 verses that we shall consider this morning form for us the preparation for the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. The title of the message is "Sickness for the glory of God." And the reason I chose that title is because of verse 4 where Christ said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified by it."
Now we remember back some weeks that we talked about the glory of God. And the fact that the glory of God is really the reason for everything in the universe. Everything that was created was created to bring God glory. And any rebel in the universe that refuses to give Him glory, such as fallen angels or fallen men, are thereby removed from His presence forever into a bottomless pit called hell. God desires glory. God desires that He receive the glory. And the purpose of the raising of Lazarus was not so much for the life of Lazarus, nor for the love of Mary and Martha as it was for the glory of God and Jesus Christ. For it is the most astounding of all the miracles that Jesus has performed up to this point. And it is the greatest manifestation of His glory yet seen. And that indeed is the very purpose for it that God and Christ might receive the glory. And that means that men might recognize Christ as God and God as the God that He is.
Now, as we come to chapter 11, the full open public ministry of Jesus is over. It ended with the hatred of chapter 10. It ended as the Jews attempted to stone Him in verse 31 of chapter 10. And then in verse 39, attempted to take Him to murder Him by going through the processes. And Christ escaped and went beyond the Jordan, verse 40tells us. His public ministry is over. He now moves into the seclusion of His own circle. He now begins to minister to His own disciples and those who loved Him. The world has had its chance. Israel has had her day of opportunity and the sun has set and night has come.
As we begin chapter 11, we stand in the shadow of the cross. The little time that He was in the area beyond Jordan recorded in verse 40 of chapter 10 comes to an end and He moves back into the area of Jerusalem/Judea and into the shadow of the cross which is just really a few days away.
But in these last few days before His death, the scene changes from the hatred and the rejection. And as we come to chapter 11, there is an unmistakable and blessed witness to the glory of Jesus Christ. And I like to call this miracle the defiant miracle because it almost seems as if God is saying, "Okay, world, so you didn't want Him, so you hated Him, so you rejected Him, that doesn't deter Me from My purpose to glorify Him." And almost in open defiance to the rejection of chapter 10 is the blazing glory of the miracle of chapter 11. All of the hatred and all of the hostility and all of the anger and all of the rejection of Israel could not dim the glory of Jesus Christ one wit. And you almost get the feeling that that's what God is trying to say in chapter 11 as He brings to pass this most mighty manifestation of divine power through Christ.
Then chapter 11 and 12 is kind of a transition into chapter 13. And from 13 to 21 is the passion of Christ, the events around His cross. So, 11 and 12 is a little transition into the passion when Christ was crucified.
And it's really a tremendous truth. How fitting it is that after the total rejection that Christ had experienced, we see His total glory blazing in defiance in rejection. Now we've seen all through John's gospel that everything Satan tried to do failed in terms of dimming the light of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that the light was in the world and the world loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. But then back in the first chapter, John recorded for us the fact that even though the world didn't like the light, the world could not put it out. Satan didn't like it, he couldn't stop it. And he still can't. Jesus said in Matthew, "I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." And nothing could dim the blazing glory of Jesus Christ.
Even though He met with incessant opposition and undying hate, His glory was still obvious. And after all the raging, you fall into the glory of chapter 11. And no more miracle...no other miracle that we have seen has been more detailed or more dramatic than this one. And it's a beautiful thing from the standpoint of the Father's attitude. You almost get the impression in studying this chapter that the Father is so jealous of the glory of the Son that He makes this miracle happen in the face of the world so that He can vindicate Jesus' honor and glory even in view of the hatred of the world. It's a defiant thing. The Father is jealous of the Son's glory. He is so jealous of His glory that lovingly He guards the honor of the Son. And anybody anytime any place who refuses to honor the Son is removed from the presenceof God forever to a place called hell. God jealously guards the glory of the Son.
And that leaves a solemn thought in my mind. For the man who refuses to give honor or glory to the Son, he falls into the hands of a living God. And the writer of Hebrews said, "It is a fearful thing...." The end is near, the cross is just around the corner. And in view of that and all the hatred and rejection, Christ performs a miracle in defiance of all the hate and vindicates His glory.
Now there already have been six miracles in John's gospel. Turning water to wine, healing of the nobleman's son, restoring the impotent man, multiplying the loaves and the fishes, walking on the water and curing the man born blind...six miracles. Now here comes number seven. And if God uses numbers and seven is the perfect number, then this is the climactic miracle...and indeed it is. A climax as He raises Lazarus right out of the dead. Tremendous power.
You say, "Well, what's so climactic about this? He did it twice other places." That's true. Mark tells us He raised Jairus's daughter from the dead. And Luke tells us He raised the son of the widow who lived in Nain. But both of those resurrections were immediately after death...immediately. In the case of Lazarus, the miracle is even more monumental because Lazarus had already been in the grave four days and his body stinketh, the Bible says, rot, corruption and decay had already set in. The processes of decomposition were already existing and it is in that situation that Jesus Christ creates new life. That is the stupendous miracle of chapter 11.
Now as I said, the miracle is to reveal the glory of God. And it does it in three ways. Three ways this miracle gives glory to God. It's a miracle for the glory of God. That's what the miracles were for. They were always for that purpose. Back in chapter 9, the blind man who was made to see, the disciples said, "Well, who made him blind? His mother's sin, his father's sin, did he sin, what's the deal?" Jesus said no, he's blind that God's works might be made manifest. In other words, the miracle was to declare theglory of God.
Now, there are three things in this miracle that give glory to God. Number one, it brings glory to God because it points to the deity of Christ. Only God can give life. Jesus had been claiming to be God and now He gives life. And that vindicates His deity. Jesus had said, "I am the bread of life," and then He multiplied bread and f ed a multitude. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," and then He gave light to sightless eyes and sightless souls. In this chapter, Jesus says, 'I am the resurrection and the life," and then He gives life to somebody who is dead. This miracle gives glory to God because it vindicates all the claims of Jesus Christ to be deity, He is not a man, He is not like God, He is not a little sub‑god, He is God of very Gods.
Second thing that causes this miracle to give glory to God, not only it vindicates Christ's claims but secondly, it confirmed the faith of the disciples. A little while later we'll see how Jesus said I'm glad Lazarus died. You say, "Well, that's kind of a heartless comment." No, because He knew that in the resurrection of Lazarus, the disciples' faith would just take a giant leap forward cause they would see the expression of His power and their faith would be strengthened. So, it brings glory to God because of the strengthening of the disciples' faith.
Third reason it brings glory to God was because it led directly to the cross. You say, "Well, how could the cross bring glory to God?" Listen, the cross was the greatest glorifying event in the life of Christ. Over in chapter 12 verse 23, Jesus said, "The hour is come that the Son of Man should be ... what? ... glorified." Listen, when they put Him on a cross, the world thought that was the end and that was the glorification of Jesus Christ bearing the sins of the world.
And so, the miracle brings glory to God by pointing to the deity of Christ, by strengthening the faith of the disciples, making them more effective witnesses, and by leading directly to the cross which was the great climax of the life of Christ.
Now the chapter falls into four parts. So that you'll understand it: the preparation for the miracle, verses 1 to 16; the arrival of Jesus, 17 to 37; the miracle itself, 38 to 44; and the results, 45 to 57 ... preparation, arrival, miracle and results. This morning we're going to talk about the preparation. And these are just kind of details, a little data at the beginning to get our selves in gear for what He's going to do. And there's some tremendous truths here.
But I want you to see the preparation and in order to prepare us, there arethree sets of characters. And that's the outline. If you have your bulletin, you probably have a little outline you might want to follow along. There are three key sets of characters in this preparation period: getting ready for the miracle which really doesn't occur until over at verse ... well, 38 to 44, all in through there, particularly verse 43. But in preparation for the miracle, we meet the three sets of characters.
Number one, the critical man. Number two, the concerned sisters. And number three, the cringing disciples. And then there's a fourth character here, the confident Christ. Now that's not on your outline but that's woven all through all three of them...the critical man, the concerned sisters, the cringing disciples and woven into the whole story is the confident Christ. Everybody else is all in an uproar about what's going on and Jesus is like a rock of confidence, "Relax, people, I have it in control."
All right, first of all, let's look at the critical man. And he's critical in more than one way. First of all, we meet his critical illness, verse 1, "Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus ofBethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha." Now you'll notice that the first phrase is "a certain man was sick." The sickness is the first thing because that's what the whole story's about. It's about the glory of God and how God got glory because a man got sick and died. It's not the story of Lazarus, it's the story of Jesus and resurrection power. Lazarus just happens to be the guy. So the emphasis in the verse is the sickness of Lazarus, not Lazarus. It doesn't say, "And there was a wonderful man named Lazarus who was sick," it says, "There was a man who was sick," he just happened to be Lazarus.
Lazarus is an interesting name. It comes from the old Hebrew name Eleazar. And Eleazar means "one whom God helps. A fitting name for Lazarus. He got as much help as you can possibly get: resurrection from the dead.
Now he's not the same Lazarus as the one in Luke 16 who was a beggar, just the same name, very common name.
Now you'll notice that he was in Bethany. That's just so we know which Lazarus it is, give us a little identification tag there, gives his address. He lived in Bethany, you know the one there. And Bethany doesn't help us a whole lot either cause there were two Bethanys. One Bethany was a couple of miles from Jerusalem, the other one was also called Bethabara and it was up beyondJordan. In fact, it's very likely the place where Jesus has been up there in verse 40 of chapter 10, where he is when the message comes to Him because Bethabara was another name for Bethany where John baptized. So you have two.
So, Lazarus doesn't help us so he adds Bethany. And then to clarify Bethany, which Bethany? You know, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. So now we know where it is. It's in the Bethany where Mary and Martha live that this Lazarus lives. And that's the Bethany that's just less than two miles from Jerusalem. That little village insignificant was about to be the stage for a display of blazing glory. The greatest miraculous attestation to the deity of Jesus Christ that had yet been done was going to take place in the little town, little village of Bethany.
Now, interesting thought that Mary is mentioned before Martha. Always the oldest was mentioned first, but not in this case because Mary was the most well‑known and that's explained in verse 2. "It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick." Now this is the Mary who anointed Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair. What a humble condescension on her part. And what love she had for Jesus.
Now John alludes to that here in verse 2, although he doesn't explain it until chapter 12. And we'll get into the whole thing in chapter 12, the first 11 verses describe that whole anointing. But John just alludes to it here. You say, "Well, why would he allude to something he hadn't told them about?" Well, because John wrote his gospel years after Matthew, Mark and Luke had already been written and this is also recorded in the other gospels. So the readers were familiar with the story of Mary anointing Jesus and they would know which Mary it was. Now later on he explains his own view of it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But here he simply designates the family, Mary and Martha, two sisters who lived in Bethany, had a nice home there where Jesus spent many hours, where He loved to go to get away from the hatred of Jerusalem. And these were dear friends to Jesus. He had ... as close to a home as He ever had, He had at Bethany. That's the closest He ever had for ... to a home. And He learned to love them in a deep and genuine way, as we shall see. And they loved Him the same way. And He could go there to rest from the terrible pressure of all that He faced in Jerusalem.
And now, one of His beloved friends is sick, Lazarus. So we meet the critical man. Critically ill, but more than that, he is also critical because he's going to manifest the glory of God. He is critical because he's going to strengthen the testimony of doubting disciples. He is critical because he is going to provide the object for a miracle that leads to the cross. He's critical in all different ways. Lazarus the critical man.
Second set of characters, not only the critical man, the concerned sisters. And they were concerned, verse 3: "Therefore his sisters said unto Him," that is to Jesus, "saying, Lord behold he whom Thou lovest is sick." Now there's so much in that verse, we could preach on that verse for ... forever. That's a loaded verse. But let me give you what's going on.
Backing up to Bethany, Lazarus is dying. The word "sick" here implies the kind of sickness that's very serious. Death begins to threaten and they immediately think of Jesus. Why, why Jesus actually healed strangers, certainly ... certainly if only Jesus was here, He'd come to the aid of one whom He loved. I mean, He would heal those in the multitude whom He did not have any personal relationship with, certainly in knowledge of Lazarus' illness Jesus would be here to heal him.
And then there was the sorrow because the wicked plotting of the Jews had caused Jesus to have to escape for His life and Jesus was nowhere around. And what were they going to do? Well, through some method, they got a message to Jesus because they knew they had to have Him there. They wanted Him there. Over in verse 21, Martha says, "Lord, if You had been here my brother hadn't died." over in verse 32 Mary said the same thing, "Lord, if You had been here my brother hadn't died." They wanted Him there. They knew His power. They knew who He was. They knew what He could do.
And somehow in that frame of mind they got a message to Jesus. And the message is absolutely beautiful. It is just loaded with truth. Listen to it, verse 3, "Lord, behold he whom Thou lovest is sick." And you can almost catch the flavor. The word "behold" could be translated "listen." Lord, listen, the one whom You love is sick. It's a tender, humble, beautiful, simple message. There is no medical diagnosis there. Lord, Lazarus has compound whatever of the whatever. It doesn't say that at all. It doesn't say ‑ Lord, here's the problem, now we've ... You've got to do something, Lord. No, it doesn't even ask Him to do a thing. Did you look at it again? It doesn't even ask the Lord to do anything. It just says, "Lord, listen, the one You love is sick." That's all. It doesn't tell Him what to do. It's a surrender of lave. It just says, "Lord, here's a need," and that's all it says. It doesn't even say his name is Lazarus. But the Lord knew who He loved. No problem there.
It has a lovely humility. I like it because there aren't any instructions in it. You like that? How do you talk to God? "God, oh I have a need, now let me tell You how to work it out." See. "God, if You'll just do this and do this and make him do this or make her do that, that's..." You don't need to do that. "Lord, here's a need." Give it to Him, that's it. That's all it takes. You don't have to say, "God, here's my need now let's work on the solution." No. They didn't do that. They just said, "Here's a need, Lord." That is the surrender of love. Here's my need, there it is. Lord, I'm just going to leave it with You. That's it. That's really good.
Then there's another thought in this verse that just really jumped off the page and hit me. And that is this, "Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick." That is good. That is so good. They don't say, "Lord, You know that guy that really loves You, he's sick." That's bribery. He says, "Lord, You know the one You love, he's sick." You see how much more motivating that is?
Listen, friend, if your love for Jesus activated His blessing on your behalf, whew... If Christ operated in my life on the basis of my love for Him, I would be in sad shape because my love is inconsistent, my love is earthbound, my love is very often self‑centered and my love is sometimes not even within my grasp. No, listen, Jesus is not activated in your behalf because you love Him, He's activated in your behalf because what? He loves you. Isn't that good? And you see, that means that no matter what my problems, no matter how, you know, really bad I'm involved in something that's out of His will, it doesn't change His operating in my life because He does not operate on the basis of my lave for Him. He operates on the basis of His lave for me and no matter what I am He loves me.
Now that's no excuse to trade on His love, but it's a comfort to know, isn't it? I mean, listen, I am so glad that God does not bless me in proportion to my love to Him. It's just the opposite. Everything I have is because He loves me. What a thrilling thought. And He really loves. He loves so much that He gives and we don't deserve, right? He loves so much, when He cares when we don't care. He loves so much that He chastens us. And you've got to love to chasten. You know that, don't you? He loves so much He blesses us when we don't deserve His blessing. He just loves and loves and loves and loves. Listen, if He acted on the basis of our love we would be powerless, we would be weak, we would be blessingless, we would be without resource, we would be feeble because that's how our love is. But, praise God, He operates on the basis of His love for us. That's a tremendous truth.
Then I want you to look at the word "love." It's a terrific word. "Lord, behold he whom Thou lovest." Now, you know, there's lots of words in the Greek for love. Eros which means, "sex love." Agapaō which means, "divine supernatural love," you know, God love. There's another word, phileō, that means like human affection, brotherly love. Of all those three words, the word here is phileō, brotherly love.
You say, "What does that prove? Oh, just this, it's beautiful. Jesus was not only God, He was also what? He was a man. Listen, do you know that Jesus actually had a warm love for the man Lazarus? Listen, I want my Savior to be human, don't you? O divine but human, too. And so the sisters say, "Hey, you know that Lazarus that you have that warm human affection for?"
Listen, Jesus ... you know, you have men in your life and friends in your life that you just love. Listen, Jesus needed that. He was a man. He needed human affection, both ways. That's a picture of the humanity of Jesus Christ, isn't it? It's obvious that Jesus shared a divine love. We know He loved everybody from an agapaō love, He loved everybody. But from a phileō love, there were certain ones that He just had a warm affection for. And the thought is that as a man, Jesus loved the physical companionship of Lazarus. He just loved him, man to man.
You can see His love, look at verse 35. Two words, what are they? "Jesus wept." And look at verse 36, beautiful, "Then said the Jews, Behold ... what? ... how He loved him." Jesus really loved Lazarus on a man‑to‑man basis.
You say, "Well, what's so practical about that for me?" Just this: Jesus as a man needed the fulfillment of human love. Did you know that? He needed to love and be loved as a man. You know what that means to you and me? That means that He understands our need for that, doesn't it? Listen, when you're alone sometime and you're lonely, or maybe when you're with a crowd and you're lonely, and you feel kind of empty of love and loving and you feel like there's not really anybody that you can love and anybody that really loves you, you can say ‑ Lord, You know how I need that love. And He'll say Yeah, I know, Lazarus fulfilledit for me, Bee. He knows. Wherever you are He's been there, right?
And just wait on Him. Somewhere there's a Mary or a Martha or a Lazarus for you to love and be loved by. Jesus knows you need that. It can be a lonely world but there's somebody for you to love and be loved by.
You say, "Well, how do you know He'll do that for me?" Because He holds back no good thing from His children, does He? He knows. Why do you think He was a man? That He might feel what we feel. He knows we need that. Sympathetic Jesus, sympathetic.
There's another thing about that verse that .. I could go on and on about that thought, I can go on and on about most things ... heh, as a matter of fact. Anyway, verse 3, another thing that strikes me as really being thrilling here is the fact that Mary and Martha went right to the source. Isn't that good? They didn't...you know, they didn't fool around, they knew where to go, right? If you've got somebody who's got a problem, you go right to the Lord. Terrific! I wonder if we do that. God is our ref uge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble. Boy, when the people were murmuring in the wilderness about every ten minutes or so, the Bible says Moses went and cried before the Lord. See. Didn't call a committee, he told the Lord.
I remember Hezekiah. Hezekiah got that threatening letter from Rabshakeh, just really a scary letter, terrorizing. And oh, what you going to do, Hezekiah, what are you going to do? Get the army going, get a committee, get a thing? No, he just took it out and he went before the Lord and he laid the letter out. And he said, "God, just look at that. Now what You going to do about it?" You know, just laid it right out before God, let Him read it.
And John the Baptist was beheaded, you know where John's disciples went? To Jesus and they told Him. Some people have known where to go, the source of all our help.
What examples for, us. Listen, we have not a high priest who
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points ... what? ... tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He knows. Wherever you are He's been there in terms of understanding human life. That's why Peter says casting all your care...where? ...on Him for He careth for you.
So, the sisters of Lazarus acquainted with the critical condition of their brother appeal to Jesus and they left it in His hand. And they just said, "He's sick." No instructions. It reminds me of verse Psalm 37. Listen, "Commit thy way unto the Lord." Isn't that good? Commit thy way to the Lord. Then it says, "Trust also in Him."
You say, "Well, now why does it say trust also in Him in connection with commit thy way?" Because you know what most people do? "Lord, here's my problem," and then they get an ulcer. See. They commit their way unto the Lord but they don't trust Him. We get on our knees, "0 God, I have this need, here's my problem," and then oh, oh, oh, oh, see. That's why those two have to go together. Commit your way to the Lord and then do what? Trust Him. See. Now I don't want to get an ulcer. He said commit your way to the Lord and then get an ulcer. That's about right.
All right, verse 4. "When Jesus heard that He said, This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified by it." Jesus said ‑ Listen, the whole point of this is not death. Death may happen but death isn't the end result. What is the end result? The glory of God. It's all set to be for the glory of God.
And you notice there it's the glory of God and the Son of God. Remember, I've said this before in other contexts in John, you do not glorify God unless you glorify the Son and you do not glorify the Son unless you glorify God. This idea of believing in God apart from Christ is not scriptural. There's no glory given to God by anybody anytime who is not also having to give glory to the Son. And to give glory to God means the Son is glorified and to give glory to the Son means the Father is glorified. One and the same because the glory of God is both theirs.
All right, so he says the whole thing is to manifest God's glory. It's sickness for the glory of God. You know, this is ... we'll talk about this tonight in our message ... but a lot of people who are in the faith‑healing thing feel that sickness is always a result of sin. That isn't true at all. Here sickness had nothing to do with sin. Back in chapter 9 it had nothing to do with sin. Here it was for the glory of God. Then the healers always come along and say, 'Yes, and the glory of God is always great when there's a healing." That's not true either. Sometimes God got glory by healing, didn't He? You know, even today somebody might get sick, God will heal him so we can give Him glory, right? Sure. But other times, somebody gets sick and
God doesn't heal them and gets the glory that way. You say how.
Because suffering often produces a stronger servant.
Look at Paul. God never healed Paul. Paul remained with his infirmity in the flesh. Why? Because he was a better man for it, a stronger Apostle, a greater man in terms of God's service. And God got the glory by Paul's illness rather than by his health. So, being sick can be for the glory of God just as well as being healed can be for the glory of God.
All right, verse 5. This is really interesting. "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." Now that I ... you know, that must have been a kind of a little thing in John's mind just to tongue and cheek in a sense. Because what he says is, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus," and it's important that he say that because of what's going to come in the next verse. Incidentally, the word there is agape which is from agapaō, it's divine love. Here he's not talking about the phileō love, the affection, here he's talking about divine love. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
Now why does He say that? Because of verse 6, look at verse 6. "When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was." Now you eliminate verse 5 and read it like this: And he was sick, he came and gave the message‑no verse 5‑‑ he says the sickness is for the glory of God and when He had heard it He just stayed there for two days. And you say, "Wow, that's real concern, real love." So he puts in verse 5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
Why does he put it in there? To explain the two‑day delay. You see, He loved them so much He stayed where He was for two days. You say, "That's a strange kind of love. The guy's dying and He's just staying around for two days."
So you see, verse 5 is interjected that we might understand that the delay did not mean He didn't lave. Right? Can you imagine love on the basis of time? You say, "God, You have 20 minutes to fulfill his need...20 minutes, Oh, God doesn't love me, God doesn't care." See. Ridiculous. You don't measure love on the basis of time. And sot John fires in verse 5 so we know that the delay of verse 6 isn't a delay of love, it's only a delay of time. And God often makes us wait, doesn't He?
You know, human love would have hurried to Bethany with heart pounding, you know. Got to get there, got to get there. Divine love wasn't in any hurry at all. I mean, what does omniscience got to worry about, right? Just waiting for God's time and He knew that the delay would make His love all the more real. And He knew the delay would bring more glory to God, more joy and faith to the lives of Mary, Martha and the Disciples, more fantastic testimony to the people around. The delay was important. The delay was based on lave. He wanted His Disciples to have all the faith they could have. He wanted Mary and Martha's joy to be totally complete. Love caused the delay. He wanted to delay until it was the right time to really have an impact. And so He delayed. They didn't understand the delay but Jesus did. And during the delay, Lazarus died, during those two days. And that was setting up the great miracle that Christ was going to perform.
It's interesting how God makes us wait. Let me give you a little principle that might help you, you know, when you worry about the fact that God doesn't just really jump in fast. God often makes us wait before His love becomes visible. His love is there but it may not be visible, we may have to wait. But remember this, if you're waiting for God, that's a gilt‑edge guarantee that blessing is on the way only it's probably coming in a package you're not expecting.
In other words, when you pray and you expect something and it happens, then it's all ... it's one thing. But when you pray and nothing sort of happens, you can be sure that God is wrapping up something that you really might not initially recognize. And just hang on. And Isaiah had it right. Fantastic verse, write it down somewhere. Isaiah 30:18, listen to this, now don't get so busy writing it you can't listen. Isaiah 30:18, listen, "And therefore will the Lord wait." The Lord waits once in a while, right? Why? Listen to this, "That He may be gracious unto you."
You say, "Now wait a minute, if He really wanted to be gracious unto me, He wouldn't wait so long." No, wrong. It takes God a while to wrap up all the packages the way He wants them delivered. And, friends, if you're still waiting, be ready cause when it comes it's going to be blessed. Don't hurry God. And the end of the verse says, "And therefore will God be exalted." God loves you so much He may make you wait for something much better than you ever dreamed you were going to get in the beginning. Don't ever settle for the second best, wait. The Lord knows what's best and He knows the right time. And you never interpret His love by time, do you? The poet said, "His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour, the bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower." And Isaiah said, "Blessed are they that wait upon the Lord."
All right, so we see the critical man and the concerned sisters. Now very quickly, cause this dialogue moves very rapidly, the cringing disciples. Verse 7, "Then after that saith He to His disciples, Let us go into Judea again." Now, He just escaped from there with His life, right? So He says to His disciples, "Men, let's go back to Judea." Well, that went aver real big.
Verse 8, "His disciples say to Him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee, and goest Thou there again?" What are ... Lord ... they want to stone You there. And besides, we've got a good ministry coming around here. This is a terrific place. Look back at verse 42, "Many believed," we've got a good thing going. Let's get this ministry built up, Lord. No sense in going back to Jerusalem and getting stoned, that's ridiculous.
They didn't understand. And I think, too, that they looking back to what Jesus had said in verse 4 when He said the sickness is not unto death figured that meant Lazarus wasn't going to die physically. You know, they're probably thinking, Lazarus isn't even sick enough to die, Jesus said, what's the point of going back to Jerusalem? Ridiculous. All we're going to do back there is get killed. And there's no sense in that.
Well, Jesus replies with a fantastic illustration. You know, as a Christian you don't need to fear death, no time. Don't even fear death. It's no problem. You'll never die one split second before your time, or one split second after your time. Verse 9 and 10, Jesus illustrates this with a Hebrew illustration and I'm not going to take the time to take every part of it apart, I just want you to see the meaning. Verse 9 and 10, "Jesus answered, Are there not 12 hours in the day? If any man walk in a day he stumbleth not because he seeth the Light of this world," that's the sun and the sky. "But if a man walk in the night he stumbles because there's no light in him."
Now what's He saying? Just this, He's saying, don't you people realizethat there's day and night? Twelve hours in the day, twelve hours in the night. General statement. To the Hebrews every day was arranged around a 12‑hour day, the light period of light, and then night 12 hours. And so, Jesus is saying don't you realize that a day can't finish until it's over with? Don't you realize that no day is done until it's done? Don't you realize that you can't turn the day off at 12 after three if it's not time for the day to be turned off?
Now what's He saying? He's saying this. God has prescribed the bounds of My life and by all your concern, you can't lengthen it and by all the Jewish rejection, they can't shorten it. Do you see now what He is saying? He ... what have I got to fear, what have you got to fear? God has fixed the calendar. We shall live out the day. Now there is coming a time when night comes, right? Isn't that what Jesus said earlier in John when He said work while it is day for the night cometh when no man can work? Sure. We only have our lifetime, don't we? God set the boundary on our lifetime, we'll not live a minute after and die a minute sooner. If a man is serving God, he has his day. God gave him his day, prescribed the bounds and that's how it's going to be and he can't lengthen it and he can't shorten it. A time of life is granted by God. Jesus is saying the time allotted to Me to accomplish My ministry has been set by God in eternity past and you boys can't lengthen it and the Jews can't shorten it.
And remember how often He talked about "Mine hour is not yet come?" See, He knew when midnight hit. And it wasn't yet. Well, this has great application for us. No Christian needs to fear death. What are you in danger of? God set eternal bounds on your life. You're not going to the one second before God says your ministry's through, come on home. That's a fantastic assurance. What do you need to fear? You can walkinto the teeth of opposition, hostility, hatred, everything, and just say here I am, invincible. Until God says I'm going, I'm not going.
Now there's also a serious note to an unbeliever. If you don't know Jesus Christ, you've never invited Christ into your life, consider this. Time is extended for no man. And God set boundaries on your life, too, and there's just enough time to receive Christ but no time to spare.
The legend of Dr. Faustus, which was made into the drama by Christopher Marlowe. In that Faustus struck a bargain with the devil, you know. He said, "If the devil would serve him for 24 years, at the end of 24 years held give his soul to the devil forever." At the end of those 24 years, Faustus knew he made a bad bargain. He said this in Marlowe's play, "Oh Faustus, now hast thou but one base hour to live and then thou must be damned perpetually. The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, the devil will come and Faustus will be damned." There was no more time and that's the way it is in life. God gives the bounds of time and there is no more time.
Verse 11, "These things said He," this indicates a little pause here, the disciples kind of think about it, wand after that He saith unto them, Our friend," notice the disciples, evidently, really loved Lazarus, too, "our friend Lazarus sleeps but I go that I may awake him out of sleep."
Boy, what ... talk about the confident Christ, Lazarus ... what He's saying to them is, fellas, Lazarus is dead but I'm going to go wake him up. See. Confident power. He's going to wake him up.
Well, the disciples didn't get the message, of course. They thought He was talking about the fact that Lazarus was taking a nap. And they thought that was real good cause if you're real sick a nap is good for you. And they say that in verse 12, "Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleeps, he'll probably get better." See. That's real good if he's resting nice, comfortable. Sort of pseudo‑medics, really didn't know what they were talking about. But the confident Christ has no problems.
And finally He says ‑ Well, let Me give it to you real simple, fellas ... verse 13, "However, Jesus spoke of his death but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest of sleep, or in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. See, getthe message, Lazarus is dead.
You say, "Well, He didn't seem too concerned." No, in fact He was glad. He was really glad. You say, "That's heartless." No it isn't, it's not heartless. He was glad. "How do You know He was glad?" Verse 15 tells me He was glad.
"And I am glad." See, I told you He was glad. "And I am glad ... why? ... for your sakes ... for your sakes that I was not there." I mean, I'm glad I didn't get ... I'm glad he's died to the intent "ye may...what? ... believe." Now Jesus says this is good because when this miracle comes to pass, your faith is going to leap forward. And you know something? They needed to have faith in Jesus' ability to give life, didn't they? Because pretty soon they were going to see their beloved Savior hanging on a cross and they were going to need to reach back for some reservoir of faith to believe that He had power over death, weren't they? And so Jesus verifies His power over death in this great miracle and it is a miracle to show the disciples His power so that when the cross comes they'll trust in His power. And so He was glad.
Listen, what does omniscient omnipotence got to worry about? So he's dead, that only means we get to raise him, see. Tremendous, that you may believe.
Now, the idea of believing doesn't mean they had no faith, it just means their faith should be increased. But isn't it an interesting thing about faith that as you move one step up in faith, the step you just left seems like unbelief? Have you ever thought about that? I look back on my life and I ... I look back and it used to...what it looks like now is unbelief. Every new step of faith makes the last step look like unbelief. Every time my faith expands, I think I used to be unbelieving. And the disciples had faith but they needed to believe more and this miracle was going to be part of it.
Verse 16, "Then said Thomas who was called Didymus," and that means "twin." He was a twin. "Then said Thomas who was called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with Him." See. He's going to go back to Jerusalem, we might as well go. You know ... it's really kind of an interesting thing. I really admire his love. I can't say much for his faith. He...his love was so strong he was willing to die for Jesus and his faith was so weak he knew he would. You know. Great devotion and great despondency at the same time. Big love, little faith, see.
Well, before you knock his faith, just see if you can match his love. He was saying, we can't let our Savior die by Himself, let's go die with Him. Now that's love, that's love. Before you criticize his lack of faith, see if you can match his love. He loved Jesus.
You say, "Well, when they did crucify Jesus, Thomas didn't die with Him." No, he scattered like the rest of them, but he sure had good intentions. And you know something? Later on he did die for Christ. History tells us he was a martyr. He did die for Jesus if not with Him. No, I really can't say too much for his faith, but I certainly can say something for his love. He was willing to go right back into the teeth of the hostility, into the seething unrest.
You know, I don't know about me and I don't know about you, about whether we'd be willing to die for Christ. But the sad part of it is most of us haven't even been willing to live for Him. You know that? Most of us live for ourselves, for our own goals, our own pleasure, our own material possessions, our awn money, our own desires, our own physical cravings‑whether it's sex, or food, or whatever else it may be‑we live for ourselves. Friends, that is as remote as it can possibly be from dying with Jesus, or for Jesus. That's the antithesis. Thomas says let's go the with Him. We say let's live for ourselves. And we claim to be Christians. And we knock Thomas's faith when our love can't even scratch his.
Listen, you need to be, first of all, willing to the to self, then you'll move a little closer to the poll of being willing to die for Jesus. You need to crucify yourself and so do I, daily. Thomas meant it. And the measure of his life was his selfless sacrifice. And that's the measure of your life, too. Don't say "I love you" and then live for yourself. Your love's a lie. Don't say anything if need be, just live for Jesus Christ and be willing to die for Him, then your love doesn't even need to speak. It's obvious. The measure of your love is your selflessness, that's the measure of your love. And with Thomas, we should all say, whatever the cost, my love is so strong that I'll die to self and to life if need be, for Christ whom I love.
And so we meet the characters in preparation for the manifestation of the glory of the Son of God.
Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word, what its taught us. Thank You for Lazarus. Lord, we're anxious to meet him in heaven. Thank You for Mary and Martha. Thank You for Thomas‑‑teaches us what not to be in faith and what to be in lave. Thank You for teaching us this morning.
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Congrats, Stefani, on your new DS! So glad to hear he is doing well after a bit of a nerve-wracking start. I'm so sorry the c-section didn't go well this time; I hope the rest of your recovery is easier and swift!
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March 2013 Pregnancy
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/22/2013 11:24 AM EDT
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/22/2013 1:29 PM EDT
Stefani, congratulations! Sounds like you guys are having a tough start, but it's wonderful that your DS is doing so well now. Good luck with the rest of your recovery.
crackersandcheese, and the others who responded to my worries about having two, thanks--I appreciate hearing from some people with two that it's doable, and also it's nice to know that I'm not alone in being worried!
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/22/2013 4:10 PM EDT
Congrats on the baby boy Stefani! I hope things continue to improve!
JL - Sorry about the job situation. I know it is probably impossible not to worry, but maybe it will all work out ok.
Siena - I would second (third) a lot of the books already mentioned. I liked Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits book (I think it really helped us establish a schedule), Happiest Baby on the Block has some great tips (I was obsessed with swaddling), and I also occasionally used Baby 411.
AFM, I am at 36 weeks as of today, and my feet are swollen all of a sudden. I can't remember when the swelling happened last time. Is this a little early to be swollen??
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/22/2013 4:55 PM EDT
Congrats, Stefani! Sorry to hear about the C-section and infection. :( Did they put you on antibiotics? And your DS is doing well now?
Thanks for the book rec, JL, I'll check it out! I hope your job situation works out. I'm not one of the "it's meant to be" people, but I do believe in turning lemons into lemonade--maybe you'll have more time during your maternity leave to check out options if necessary (admittedly I have no idea what it's like to have an infant!) and spend the time you'd like with your newborn?
Memes, my SIL is also 36 weeks (maybe 35) and having intense swelling and carpal tunnel issues too. IN the pre-natal massage certification I took (I'm a massage therapist), they recommended keeping your feet elevated to allow the edema to flow backward and not pool in the feet. Good luck!
I think over the next two weeks we'll start telling close friends. Is that too early/am I crazy? I'm a little over 9 weeks. When did you start telling? If I can corral my mom, I want to keep it off facebook until after we find out the gender.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/22/2013 5:51 PM EDT
WPP - I told people as I saw them. It worked out for me at like 8 or 9 weeks that most of my close friends were going to be together anyway, so it made sense. For us, it basically came down to "Who would be supportive in the worst case scenario?" If we didn't think the person could be supportive, we didn't say anything until after we heart the heartbeat at the midwife's office. We didn't tell DH's grandparents like 15 weeks because we didn't trust them to keep it a secret. (And DH's grandmother has a well-documented history of saying mean things to me and I didn't want to give her the opportunity to say the wrong thing if something went wrong.) I kept it off Facebook until week 18 or something. I actually set the permissions so that people couldn't write on my wall but I honestly don't think I had to do that. Every we told was really understanding that Facebook was off-limits.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/22/2013 6:26 PM EDT
Thanks for the support re: the job situation, everyone. I'm hopeful it'll all work out. I'm trying to use my Hypnobirthing visualization techniques to visualize the outcome I want.
WPP -- I told my parents at 11 weeks, and told close friends (those who knew about my miscarriages) between 7 and 12 weeks. We let people start spreading the word at 14 weeks. I have yet to put anything on FB. At this point, I'll probably just post a photo introducing the baby to the FB world once he's born. For me, I find it easier to tell people I've had a m/c if they didn't know I was pg. But hopefully you don't need to worry about that since your numbers are good and you've seen the heartbeat.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/22/2013 10:33 PM EDT
WPP--I told my parents, siblings, and best friend right away each time and don't regret that. (Second pregnancy esp was some scary s*** from the perspective of my own health, and I felt they needed to know what was going on and I needed their support. Knowing it could recurr, I followed the same strategy this time around.)
My DH went ahead and told most people he talks to after our early risk assessment/NT scan at 13 weeks. I told 2 more close friends after the NT scan, but that was it. I told my colleagues and (the rest of) my friends at around 19 weeks, i.e. after my anatomy scan.
We have so far kept it off FB, and don't plan on "announcing" anything there until after baby is born. Initially, I made DH communicate a moratorium on congratulatory FB posts, since I was waiting to tell my co-workers for several weeks after he decided to share the news. At this point, it wouldn't really bother me if someone else posted something about it, but it just hasn't happened.
Anyway, it all depends on your own comfort level, and I tried to just keep in mind who I would be willing to communicate with if things didn't go as we hoped. At some point, you lose that option because people need to know or they will figure it out anyway, but I preferred to maintain it as long as possible.
...sorry that was a long-winded answer!
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/23/2013 2:32 PM EDT
Anyone else fairly far along who is keeping active, but wondering if/when they should cut back? I'm 32 weeks tomorrow, and I've been going to the gym 3 times a week the whole pregnancy, usually doing the elliptical for cardio, and I'm in the last third of a prenatal yoga class. But it seems like the last couple of times I've worked out, it just takes so much out of me. Like the whole next day I have zero energy. I've slowly lowered the intensity as I've gotten further along, and today I just did 20 minutes instead of 30, but I'm wondering if I should just give up on the cardio and stick with the yoga. I must say that overall, I am feeling better than I did with DD, when I wasn't really exercisng at all. For example, I don't feel winded just bringing laundry upstairs, which I know I did towards the end (although it might have been more like 36-38 weeks) with DD.
My OB and NP think I should "keep exercising until you can't" but I'm starting to wonder if the trade off of total exhaustion the next day is worth it. Any thoughts from others who are/have been in a similar situation?
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/24/2013 10:06 PM EDT
amy-lynn, I think doing less each workout is a good idea, or doing fewer workouts per week. I would try that before you stop altogether, and that way you'll see if you really do need to stop. (Also, I have to ask--have you had your iron checked recently? I was really dragging by my third trimester in my last pregnancy, and it turned out I was a little anemic. I started taking an extra supplement and immediately had way more energy.)
I'm only 14 weeks but trying really hard to keep running, which is pretty much all I do for exercise. So far so good, although a little more bladder control would be nice.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/25/2013 11:11 AM EDT
Thistle, an avid runner friend of mine actually ran 5 miles (down progressively from her regular 20) the day she ended up giving birth. She wore 3 jog bras at a time, lol, and her doc gave her the go ahead as long as she felt ok, which she did. You'll be encouraged to know that she told me her non-drug birth experience, "wasn't that bad."
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/25/2013 12:19 PM EDT
Amy-lynn, I am impressed you are still working out at that level! I wish I was doing the same. I am only doing 20 minute pregnancy videos or a short walk like twice a week. My last pregnancy I was probably doing 3-4 days per week and for closer to 30-40 minutes. I did scale it back or just go slower depending on how I felt each day. I don't remember it really affecting me the next day though.
My swelling seems to be a little better. And I went out and bought new shoes yesterday, so that is helping too.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/25/2013 2:41 PM EDT
amy-lynn, impressive job keeping with the workouts. Do you feel wiped during/right after the workout, or just the next day? Is it possible that if it's just the next day, you need either more calories or more water than you think in order to compensate for the workout?
Please keep in mind that I have NO idea what I'm talking about! I do feel more agile/active in this pregnancy, but a lot of that has to do with keeping up with DD. Mostly getting up and down a lot, walks, playing chase, and throwing around my 27 pound weight. :) Oh, and the mandatory dance parties. But I have not been vigilant about keeping up more formal workouts, even the prenatal Pilates DVD's I was so excited about.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/25/2013 4:08 PM EDT
Amy-Lynn, I'm in awe that you're still working out! If you're feeling like it's too much, I might try taking a day off mid-week and see how it goes. (But I do agree with Med that maybe bumping up your food or water may help too.)
I was totally wrong about my little one flipping to tranverse. I was right about where his head and feet are, but his torso is above his head, not next to it, like I thought. I thought babies hung out all scrunched up, but not this one. His legs are laying straight across my belly. No couch hanging for me! I have to do the GBS screening and another anemia test at my next appointment, so of course I'm freaking out. I need to ask if being GBS positive will risk me out of being able to use the birthing center. I'm also really upset at the prospect of having an IV the entire time. I know that's how 99% of women give birth, but I'm still completely grossed out about it. (And yet the idea of pushing a little person out of me doesn't gross me out at all. How does that happen?)
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/26/2013 10:38 AM EDT
Chiclet, I totally understand not wanting an IV the whole time. I learned at my last appointment that I tested positive for Strep B, which is going to mean that I will need antibiotics during labor, and I was surprised by how upset I was because I thought it would mean constant IV fluids. (It turns out I'll just need them for 20 mins. or so every four hours, so I'll need an IV port in my arm but I won't need to be attached to the thing the whole time.) I did have an IV the whole time when I gave birth to my daughter because I was induced, and while I wasn't happy about it while I was in early labor because it made it really hard to move around or walk around outside of my room, once things were really underway it didn't bother me. I actually kind of held onto the pole for support during contractions. I think in practice once things are really moving you'll be too focused to care, but I totally get wanting freer movement, especially if your goal is as intervention-free a birth as possible.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/27/2013 11:16 AM EDT
Chiclet - I think you were the one who is more than a little squeamish with medical stuff? Like me? If that's one of your concerns with the IV, I can tell you that with DD I was also freaked out by that when I was worrying ahead of time, but once I was actually in labor, it was a non-issue. I barely even noticed them doing it because I was focused on other stuff. :)
How does it work with group B strep if you are trying to labor at home as long as possible? I didn't have it with DD, but my plan currently is to wait to go to the hospital as long as possible. Haven't been tested for it yet, I think that's next week.
AFM, doing well. Another non-stress test yesterday and everything was great. This kid is active! But he's stayed head down for over a week so I'm hopeful. They did say at my last ultrasound on Friday that the fluid is a little too high, and that does mean he has more possibility of flipping, but on the other hand they had to go pretty far down to get his head measurement!
This morning I bought a yogurt with an expiration date that's after my due date. Yikes... it's soon!
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/27/2013 12:42 PM EDT
Medford, I actually don't know how it works with Strep B if you want to labor at home as long as possible. Last time I was negative for it, and I was induced so didn't labor at home at all. This time I tested positive at my first midwife appointment, and although I've now been treated for it with antibiotics, they apparently will not retest me and I need antibiotics during labor regardless. All of which seems really odd to me. I'll ask when I'm further along whether I can still labor at home (I also would prefer that) or whether they'll want to admit me early.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/27/2013 12:50 PM EDT
I'm in the home stretch this week, I had my last appointment this morning! It took all of 10 minutes. My C-section is next Wednesday, if she doesn't decide to come sooner. I have one more day physically in office, but will work right up to Tuesday from home. In some ways it is easier having an exact date, but when it comes to finishing up at work it has been very stressful!!
Any suggestions, as to whether or not to tell DS, who's almost 4, exactly what is happening when we drop him off at the sitter's next Wednesday? He know his baby sister is coming soon, but do we tell him that where we are going Wednesday morning/Tuesday night??
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/27/2013 1:00 PM EDT
med, I was strep B positive with my first and I labored at home for a long time before I went in and it was fine. I think (though you should ask your doctor) the threshold is something like a half hour or an hour before birth to get the antibiotics into you and have them do what they're supposed to do. Very few women get to the hospital only an hour before they give birth. We waited until my water broke and contractions were 3 minutes apart before we went in and it still took almost 8 hours to give birth once we got to the hospital.
If you have a choice, request they put the IV/port in your non-dominant arm, or at least, try not to squeeze your partner's hand with the side with the IV. I ended up all black and blue from tensing around the IV while squeezing DH's hand during contractions.
SAW, it's entirely your decision what makes the most sense for your son, but we definitely told DD when I was going to the hospital what was happenning. I wasn't induced, I was just in labor. I basically told her that I was in labor but that it was going to be a while. we had already talked about when I went to the hospital Daddy would go with me so she would stay with Grandmom and Grampa. When I knew I was in labor we packed her bag for the sleepover (I'm a procrastinator haha) and she was very excited. My mom came to get her she was all excited about sleeping over and going to the beach (they live on the coast and it was summer). After the baby was born and we knew it was another girl (it had been a surprise) my mom took her to a store to pick out a gift for her new sister.
DD was 3 at the time. She's a pretty laid-back kid and has always been very good understanding time and plans, so we figured she could handle information. If you know your son might get more stressed out worrying or thinking about things ahead of time you might do differently.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/27/2013 7:09 PM EDT
Thanks for all the support! I think I might need to up the water, and just stay with cutting down to 20 minutes max. I felt better after just doing 20 minutes Saturday and Tuesday. I also have an appointment on Friday and will ask about iron - never thought about if that might be an issue.
Good luck to everyone else in the home stretch. I feel like I have so much left to do to get ready for this baby, and zero time in which to do it.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/28/2013 10:17 AM EDT
I'm glad to hear that others didn't have an issue with the IV. I have a friend who was supposed to get the antibiotics for 4 hours prior to delivery but labored at home a little too long. I don't think she was in the hospital 4 minutes before she had her daughter (literally, she got into the bed, her water broke, and she was ready to push - they didn't even have time to admit her). They took her daughter immediately to check her stats etc because she didn't get the antibiotics. She ended up being fine. But I guess if they don't have enough time to run the antibiotics, you might have to sacrifice some of the immediate skin-to-skin contact on the other side of the delivery. I have a lot of questions to ask at my next appointment, I guess.
Amy-Lynn - I totally agree. We have so much to do and no time!
DH's grandmother was just admitted to a hospice house and we've been spending a lot of time with her. I can't complain because we obviously want to have these last few days with her, but it's made for some really long nights and we're not getting anything done at the house. I just feel so worn out! Then waking up all through the night to get comfortable isn't helping matters!
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 3/28/2013 10:55 AM EDT
Chiclet - I tested positive for Strep B and I was told I needed to be on the IV for 4 hours as well. This ended up not being an issue for me as I was in the hospital for 14 hours before giving birth. For me they put in the IV and gave me the antibiotics and once I finished with the bag they unhooked me for a few hours and then 2 hours later hooked me back up to give me another bag. It was at that point that they started the pitocin for me so I stayed connected to the IV after that.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 4/1/2013 1:45 PM EDT
Just came back from a great doctor's appointment. I'm 26 weeks now and apparently the twins are huge. Our smaller petitie princess is in the 90% percentile for weight at 2 lbs 2oz, and our boy is 2 lbs 10 oz which is pretty much off the charts. The ultrasound tech comment that it looks like he's a porker and eating lots of cheeseburgers haha.
I also found out that my complete placenta previa which they gave me a less than 5% chance of moving is now downgraded to just a low lying placenta. So I'm ecstatic it looks like thats not going to be an issue.
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 4/1/2013 2:28 PM EDT
Congrats on the great news SS! I bet you are relieved.
I am sorry to all that are worrying about the GBS. I luckily tested negative, but I know I would be worried about it too if I was positive. Hopefully it won't interfere too much.
I am now 37.5 weeks and starting at 2am last night I was having contractions off and on until the morning. At first I definitely thought it was early labor because they felt a little stronger than the Braxton Hicks and I was a kind of crampy (but they were still mild in general). But by the time I actually got out of bed they kind of trailed off. DH and I DTD last night, so I am not sure if that is what triggered the contractions?? I usually don't get Braxton Hicks if I am laying down. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I didn't go to work today so that I could get some rest and to see if anything else happened, but I have been pretty much fine all day...just a little crampy. Now I feel like I was imagining feeling the contractions last night! I was kind of skeptical while it was happenening because I was 11 days late with my first pregnancy, so this would be very early for me. I don't think that DH and I DTD this late in my last pregnancy, so I am not sure if that could be what triggered the contractions. Thoughts?
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 4/1/2013 2:30 PM EDT
That last post was from me!!
Re: March 2013 Pregnancy
posted at 4/1/2013 4:41 PM EDT
SAW, good luck with your C-section on Wed.
SS, that's great news about your twins!
I'm about 10 1/2 weeks (I think--looking forward to seeing the midwife next Tuesday to find out what my due date really is and how far along I am. I'm mostly guessing at this point). We've started telling more friends and that's been fun. I also just invested in some new bras and that's been life-changing. I feel like I just popped a little bit because I'm definitely on the bella band now and my pooch is looking a little rounder.


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Railroad traffic shows rebound from harsh weather for week ending February 12
February 18, 2011
Railroad traffic for the week ending February 12 saw solid year-over-year gains, according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Carload volume at 274,043 was up 6.2 percent compared to last year and ahead of the week ending February 5 at 267,682. But it lagged behind the week ending January 29 which hit 291,147 and the week ending January 22 at 282,837. The AAR said that carload volume was up 21.8 percent in the East and down 2.5 percent out West.
Intermodal volumes for the week ending February 12 was 228,035 trailers and containers for an 18.5 percent hike. It was also up significantly from the week ending February 5 at 198,249. The week ending February 12 was ahead of the weeks of January 29 and January 22 at 222,742 trailers and containers and ahead of the week ending January 22 at 180,888 trailers and containers.
As LM has reported, while volumes are up annually and at recent levels on a sequential basis, it appears the annual comparisons for railroad data will be less impressive than they were in 2010, considering 2010 comparisons were up against a difficult 2009.
But railroad volume appear to be picking up where 2010 left off, and prospects for 2011 look very encouraging, especially in light of recent fourth-quarter and full-year earnings results from multiple Class I carriers, which pointed to continued pricing and volume increases.
Of the 20 commodity groups the AAR tracks, 16 saw annual growth for the week ending February 12, with metallic ores up 105.1 percent and farm products excluding grain up 27.4 percent.
Estimated ton-miles were 30.3 billion—matching last week— for a 7.3 percent annual increase, and on a year-to-date basis, the 189.4 billion ton-miles recorded are up 7.4 percent.
While volumes for the week ending February 12 saw some gains over previous weeks, which were negatively impacted by severe weather, Robert W. Baird analyst Jon Langenfeld noted that service issues are likely to persist for two or three weeks before weather-induced network congestion is relieved.
"Decreased average speed and increased dwell time confirm the aftermath of the weather impact," wrote Langenfeld.
For more articles on railroad shipping, please click here.
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Anyone know if these tires fit the Bullet? If you are running them how do they rate?
Joe, there is no 4.00-19 K70. Stay with the stock sizes 3.25 and 3.50, any alteration will do no good. Furthermore, the K70 is ridicolously cheap in the US, you may get them for about 65USD. Regards
Stationed in your wonderful country in the 70's near Wiesbaden. Finthen Army Airfield.
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By Chadwick R. Gore
Staff Advisor
"For the first time, an incumbent president in Egypt had to campaign nationwide to present his political, economic and social agenda for public scrutiny: to be held, in effect, accountable. This is something that presidents in Egypt simply did not do in the past. He had to ask for the trust of the voters."
Click here for the previous year's Articles


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Marion Bartoli was not pleased with anything after losing her second round match in Paris today.
The Frenchie was frustrated by the heavy conditions, her health and the tricky play/cheering squad of Tathiana Garbin and fell 3-6, 5-7 to her Italian conqueror. Bart was sure to let the media have it in her post-match presser:
Q. You didn't really feel good physically? You were like all white in the face when you hold? What's happened?
MARION BARTOLI: Well, I was a bit tired. A bit sick, I think, as well. So it was not easy. It was so cold out there. Really cold on the court.
I was not really fit,that's true. The conditions were notreally good for me. It was really hard.
Q. What about the incredible number of break points?
MB: Well, you know, the court was really heavy. The balls were heavy. My serve was not okay at all. I couldn't hit the balls correctly, either. So I wanted to fight back as well as I could,but that was not sufficient.
The way she played, her attitude was getting on my nerves, so I had to calm down. It was not easy. She would always return all the balls, all the points. I was not hitting strongly enough. The surface was really slow.
There was a lot of clay under my feet. It was a bit heavy. 15 degrees. It's not the best conditions.
Q. You said difficult conditions. What do you mean by this?
MB: What?
Q. You said her attitude was a bit strange. What do you mean by this?
MB: Well, it's her clan. When I made unforced errors, her team would shout. It's not sportslike. They're Italians.
Q. You're Italian too. Your grandfather, as well, is Italian.
MB: I'm from Corsica.
I knew her on a faster surface, like on hardcourts. At the beginning of the match it was not the same type of match. But this time it was the slowest surface on earth, so to her advantage.
Q. What about her shouting all the time?
MB: She does that all the time. I do it, as well. Last time when I played against her, youknow, I didn't care.
This time, it's mainly the conditions that were really not good. It was so cold, freezing out there. The balls were stuck on the strings of the racquet, so that's why there were many break points, and the ball was too slow. It was not to my benefit. It was never something I could do well, you know, to hit the ball and to have many moon balls.
I thought, you know, I could hit as strong as I could. I couldn't have winning points. It was not, therefore, easy for me to get into my game.
Q. You said you thought you were sick. What do you think you have?
MB: Well, it's like a bit of a sore throat, and my nose is running. It was cold. It was very warm on Monday when I played, and then cold for two days in a row.
So I think it's the temperature change, and also a bit of tiredness.
Q. You had invested a lot on this tournament. So what do you feel today, just off the courts?
MB: Well, of course now I'm disappointed. I was very much involved. I had trained a lot and practiced for a very long week before, and fortunately this was not rewarding. Not the way I wanted, in any case, but this is the way it is. That's sports.
You can try and do your best before the tournament. You can try and practice as best as you can. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. This is the way it is. It's life.
Q. You said you couldn't hit your balls, and you wanted to strike stronger and stronger. You made more mistakes?
MB: Yes, the ball, I tried to strike really strongly, and then it went off the court immediately. You know, I couldn't feel anything today. I couldn't feel my racquet. When I play well, this would never happen to me.
Everything was tough. Her game was not good enough. There was no pace in her game, so I had to hit more strongly, more strongly, and this is it. I was off‑pace. I started this match correctly, and then there was a long period of time when I couldn't feel anything. And then during the second set, I wanted to be back into the game, but it was too late.
Q. What next, then, for you?
MB: I think there's something called Wimbledon next, so I'll try and get ready for grass. This is it. I'll practice again. That's the only thing I can do.
Q. Maybe you will not really like my question, but don't you think that it's something else that has to be changed when you contemplate a new tournament? It's time for a turnaround for you.
MB: Do you have ideas for me?
Q. Or your coach?
MB: Oh, you mean changing coaches? You think my coach is really bad? That's why I'm No. 13 in the world.
And there's more: read the rest of her lovely remarks here, for comedy relief of course.
(images: getty)
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Bart gets bundled out of Paris, gets uber-cranky in post-match presser
Marion Bartoli was not pleased with anything after losing her second round match in Paris today.
Labels: French Open, Marion Bartoli, media, player quotes, tennis
7 comments:
That's a charming attitude... She clearly has to learn not to let things like that get to her. And that its not particularly respectful to bitch about other players...ReplyDelete
Speaking of the French, (lamest transition ever, I know) Did you see the oh so French moment Tsonga had with Monaco at the net after their match? It was hot and endearing.ReplyDelete
Ooh, someone's cranky. She bugs me to no end. I hate players who make it seem like having any fun whatsoever in the game is impossible.ReplyDelete
Ugh, I never liked that woman...ReplyDelete
If her fitness is bothering her, why doesn't she lose some weight? Isn't she supposed to be a professional athlete? Or is she in training to be a sumo wrestler?ReplyDelete
of course no complaints about her big fat ass.....ReplyDelete
True 'dat Jay, True 'dat.ReplyDelete


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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lots of folks celebrate baseball's opening day. Now, Budweiser wants to make opening day a national holiday.
Baseball's official brew has started an online petition drive to declare the start of the Major League Baseball season a day of national observance.
The idea is to collect 100,000 online signatures on the White House website. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Cardinals great Ozzie Smith is leading the promotion.


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UPDATE: (ALGIERS, Algeria) - The hostage situation in an Algerian natural gas complex appeared to reach a dangerous crescendo Thursday, with Islamic militants claiming that Algerian helicopter attacks have left 35 hostages and 15 captors dead.
Details were still emerging Thursday morning and there was no official confirmation from U.S. or other governments involved on the reported deaths. The British Foreign office did confirm that they were aware of an "ongoing military operation."
A diplomatic source confirmed to CBS News that the Algerian military had a plan to retake the facility and that there have been casualties among both the terrorists and hostages, including multiple deaths.
A British security source, citing a contact close to the scene, told CBS News "that the Algerians were firing from helicopters at anything that moved," but could not confirm any deaths.
Meanwhile, multiple sources reported the earlier escape of some hostages, but details differed. An employee at the facility, partly operated by BP, told CBS News that 26 Algerians and four foreigners, including one American, had escaped, citing a briefing from BP officials. Two British and one French hostage accounted for the other foreigners.
One Algerian security official told the Associated Press on Thursday that 20 foreigners had managed to escape, including some Americans and Europeans.
Those reports were also unconfirmed by government officials.
Al-Qaeda-linked militants stormed the natural gas complex in the Sahara Desert on Wednesday, seizing up to 41 foreign hostages. Algerian forces have surrounded the militants at the plant since then, and have rejected demands for safe passage.
The group claiming responsibility -- called Katibat Moulathamine or the Masked Brigade -- said the attack was in revenge for Algeria's support of France's military operation against al Qaeda-linked rebels in neighboring Mali. Militants phoned a Mauritanian news outlet to say one of its affiliates had carried out the operation at the Ain Amenas gas field, and that France should end its intervention in Mali to ensure the safety of the hostages.


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This is one of the defining novels of English writer Julian Barnes. An entertaining melange of stories, starting with a contemporary account of the launch of Noah's Ark, takes us into unexpected areas of human foibles, activities, and tendencies.
After success with the main novels of Haruki Murakami, Naxos AudioBooks turns its attention to other major literary works of recent times.
Download the accompanying reference guide.
©2007 Naxos Rights International; (P)2007 Naxos Rights International
"Barnes's witty and sometimes acerbic retelling of the history of the world. The stories are connected, if only tangentially, which is precisely Barnes's point: historians may tell us that "there was a pattern," but history is "just voices echoing in the dark . . . strange links, impertinent connections." Fascinating reading from the author of Flaubert's Parrot." (Library Journal)
"Frequently brilliant, funny, thoughtful, iconoclastic and a delight to read." (Salman Rushdie)
"More Great Julian Barnes"
HISTORY OF THE WORLD is one of the best books I have yet to listen to, and I have listened to hundreds. Barnes is brilliant with his wide ranging intelligence and splendid writing style. Alex Jennings is one of my favorite narrators and has done equally well with other of Julian Barnes' books.
These are stories that are linked in the most subtle (and not so subtle) way.
Alex Jennings' narrations of other Julian Barnes books are truly wonderful.
Some of these stories are quite funny, and others serious and philosophical.
"An uneven collection of smart short stories"
The stories were "smart" as contrasted with "interesting" or insightful, though some were better than others. It seemed like more of an intellectual exercise by a clever man rather than the kind of literature Barnes has written before, and the stories are tied together very loosely, if at all. Not close to his best work and not as good a style as his novels.
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies…The man who never reads lives only one." (George R. R. Martin)
"A Look at our Place in History"
Good stories and a few great ones read by a talented narrator.
That's difficult to say but I think that the stories being so different from one another but having unifying themes was one of the collection's strengths.
The character in the last story 'The Dream.' Somehow reminded me of Ricky Gervais...
I'm not sure. That's a bit of a strange question...
Overall Review: 'A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters' contains one of what I believe to be the best short stories I have ever listened to, the last story in the collection, titled 'The Dream.' For my money this story alone is worth the price of admission. I also thought the collection's opener 'The Stowaway' was a standout.
I felt that the audiobook was a challenging one. The stories at first glance appear to be unrelated but are connected though the themes of voyage, discovery, and the interpretation of history. Barnes is deftly able to handle these subjects with a sense of good humor and the seemingly unconnected stories make for a unified piece once viewed together.
If you are familiar with Julian Barnes work then you should be pleased with this collection. If you are new to Julian Barnes it's best to know that he's a contemporary English writer who writes literary fiction. If you're a fan of literary fiction and you like short stories then you can't really go wrong here.
Dead Man Dancing
"Top drawer!"
Because of Alex Jennings, yes. Though, of course, Julian Barnes is to blame. What a combination!
Hard to say, when I was laughing so hard
He's always wonderful
I would listen to Alex Jennings read the phone book!
"Intelligent but ponderous"
No. It was ponderous
Not for me
Interesting concept and structure; I quit before the ending. Wore me out.
Exceptional brilliant narration!
A Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - maybe because of characters
just in progress
I`d like to listen more books narrated by Alex Jennings
"Not what I expected either"
Think about this book as a loosely tied together collection of short stories which is not how it was described. It's first and last "chapters" (read stories) are entertaining enough, but I can't seriously recommend the entire book.
"Not what I Expected"
The publisher describes this book as 'one of the defining novels of English writer Julian Barnes' and whilst it is a clever and creative look at human nature, I was disappointed because the title and Audible description did not adequately describe that the book was not actually a serious work about history.
I suppose I was looking more for a WORLD HISTORY FOR DUMMIES, so Barnes' stories took me by surprise.
Entertaining, none-the-less! For whiling away long hours of boring long-haul flying, and mindless train journeys, this was a good audio book to have tucked into my iPod.
"Pedantic ... very little to do with History"
It's not a history of the world as advertised ... unless you're crazy about wood worms and Noah's Ark
Nothing by Julian Barnes
The story about the actor in the jungle, that was kind of interesting... not that I know why, the author stops and the story goes on and on about the definition of Love...
too much to make a book
make your own decision, but if you want a real interesting world history listen to The Mental Floss History of the World (Unabridged) available on Audible
"Entertaining, often funny"
This is like a collection of short stories that have an overlap with characters and themes, without quite making it seem like it is just one whole story. I found it was a very pleasant listen and quite enlightening, a few laugh out loud moments too. I really liked the style of the stories all being so different but having a common thread linking them all in some way. There were a couple of parts I found went a little bit off what I would normally expect to listen to but I was quite suprised to find I was happily engaged by them and neither went on long enough that I lost interest, just enough to be interesting. Well narrated, well written and entertaining. Will give some of the other titles by this author a listen.
"Odd - but enjoyable"
I like short stories and so this was perfect, for that is what the book is, basically. A series of short, often very different stories. Some are sad, some savage, some dry, witty and wry.
The narration was perfect.
I have given it 4 stars overall partly because of the reader; the story (such as it is, there isn't one, really) gets only 3. So if a book that has a beginning, middle and end is your cup of tea, this might not be. It's not a novel, it's a series of (very lightly) linked tales.
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A new school year has started, marked by a new burst of energy from students and instructors alike. But there's a different kind of energy bubbling at Colorado Mountain College: integrated energy.
Integrated energy technology has become the flagship program of Colorado Mountain College's campus in Rifle. Under the umbrella of integrated energy, we continue to develop education and training in process technology, instrumentation, solar and biofuels. These fields of study have been developed to prepare our students to enter or to find better jobs in the marketplace of oil and gas and renewable energies.
We've recently hired new faculty and staff to help provide students with a top-quality, high-value education. Here's a look at a few of them:
• Dr. Dennis Zhang is our new associate professor of integrated energy. He brings considerable knowledge, skill and experience to our energy programs. Dr. Zhang earned his doctorate degree in chemical engineering from the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. He won a teaching award in China and has taught at Washington State University, Clarkson University and North Carolina State University. He has served as senior chemical engineer at Solix BioSystems in Fort Collins, with a focus on biofuels and bioproducts. This fall, he is teaching Equipment and Systems for the process technology department.
• Chris Ellis is our new full-time faculty member in solar and instrumentation. For a number of years, he has taught for the college as an adjunct instructor in the solar field. His experience in solar energy benefits students and the community alike, as his classes recently installed solar panels on the new Garfield County Public Library in New Castle. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Colorado State University and an associate degree in renewable energy from San Juan Community College.
• Dr. Shauna Kocman joins us with a rich background in sustainable water and energy infrastructure, including natural gas extraction and operations, renewable energy systems, air quality monitoring, water and wastewater treatment and storm water management. Dr. Kocman has also taught classes in our bachelor's of sustainability studies program. She earned her doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Colorado, Denver.
• Robert Wynn is the new grant coordinator for the Trade Adjustment Assistance effort, which allows us to improve our ability to deliver programs that prepare students for high-skill, high-wage jobs. He has a master's degree in school administration and supervision from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural education from CSU.
• Art Scibelli is our new career coach and will coordinate with the Colorado Workforce Center on referrals, internships and job placement; provide career guidance; recruit and screen students; and coordinate students' transitions from developmental studies into energy programs. He has master's degrees in counseling, with an emphasis in career development, and in public administration.
We invite you to stop by and meet our new faculty and staff and encourage you to enroll in integrated energy. Call 625-1871 for an appointment.
Nancy Genova is Colorado Mountain College's vice president at the Rifle campus.


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Profile: Alexandra Stanat
Peace Corps Volunteers never know where the experience will take them. In the case of agriculture Volunteer Alexandra Stanat, a college course in beekeeping opened the door for a beekeeping opportunity in Paraguay.
"When I signed up for the course, I never could have imagined where it would lead. My friends and family kind of laughed at me for taking it. I never thought I'd use it. And I certainly never thought it'd have such a big impact on my life, let alone the lives of some Paraguayan women."
Alexandra built on her small beekeeping background during pre-service training. "We'd spend half the day training with the bees and half the day in language training."
"Beekeeping is such a valuable skill for the women to learn in Paraguay, because the people love honey. It's a delicacy and it sells for a high price. Plus, it's considered a natural remedy for many things."
When she arrived on site she helped a women's group expand their own apiary. They built the hives, packaged, and marketed their own honey.
"The women all voted and decided to call it 'The Golden Bee.' Then we found a bunch of wine bottles, sterilized them, bought some corks, designed a label, and took it into town and found some people who were willing to sell it in their stores. It was an unbelievable experience to see it all happen."
It also afforded the women a chance to bring income into their household in a way that made a significant difference to their families' quality of life. That is part of what was most rewarding for Alexandra.
"I think the best part of the Peace Corps is the commitment to helping people help themselves. To promoting lasting changes." And the apiary she helped start continues to make a difference in the lives of the women involved, even now, after she's returned home from Paraguay.
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Today marks the 20 year anniversary of the snowstorm that came to be known as the Blizzard of 1993 in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, and the Storm of the Century in New England. I usually don't write about historical storm anniversaries, but this one in particular is very special for me, because you could say that this storm launched my career as a meteorologist!
I was living in Eastern Pennsylvania in March of 1993. I was just a few days away from officially becoming a teenager, and I was in seventh grade. Like most kids my age, I was awkward, with braces on my teeth and an awful wardrobe consisting mostly of brightly-colored rayon fabric. (It WAS 1993, after all.) And, like most kids my age, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had plenty of ideas, which my parents always supported- one month I wanted to be a paleontologist; the next month, a doctor; after that, a fashion designer. I was all over the map, but I had always been captivated by science. I always did well in my math and science classes. I even founded a Science Club at my school when I was in fourth grade, and in first grade, I taught my classmates about space and the solar system with my teacher's permission. So, you would think that I would have known that a science field was the right fit for me! However, it didn't all come together until the elements for this megastorm began to come together in the Atlantic Ocean.
The snow started falling during the day on March 13th, and it continued through the night into the morning on the 14th. When all was said and done, the snow in my backyard was up to my knees, and in some spots, even higher than that. I really wanted to know how much snow we had gotten, so I ventured outside with a yardstick in my hand. Instead of just measuring in one clear spot, I took three measurements on our quarter-acre lot, then computed the average of those three when I went back inside. No one told me I should do it this way; it just seemed like the right thing to do!
The Blizzard of '93 caused a pretty heavy snowfall in my area, with about a foot and a half in my backyard. But Eastern Pennsylvania had certainly seen worse, and we would actually experience a much heavier snowfall less than 3 years later with the Blizzard of 1996, in which we got more than 2 feet of snow. That storm shut my school district down for an entire week, delaying final exams and graduation ceremonies. However, no storm stands out in my memory more than that one in 1993 as the storm that set me on my current path. It was the first time I really looked at weather from a scientific perspective-- something I do on a daily basis today.


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DDP in Philadelphia
One of the many names that has been rumored as a mystery entrant at the Royal Rumble tonight is Diamond Dallas Page. Those rumors are looking pretty good right now, as the former WWE and WCW star has reportedly traveled from Utah to Philadelphia this weekend. DDP was in the Beehive State because he was attending the movie premiere of a film that is based upon the resurrection and rehabilitation of Jake Roberts.
January 25, 2015


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Showing 1 - 2 of 2 for "exercise science"
Faculty Profile: Julie Walton
Calvin owes the design of its human performance lab to Julie Walton, a Calvin professor of health, physical education, recreation, dance and sport (HPERDS).
June 25, 2010 | Amy Surbatovich
Mastering the art of practice
Calvin College kinesiology professor Julie Walton is the recipient of the 2014 Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching.
May 09, 2014 | Phil de Haan