Rich Rockwood, Christian Author

Do you remember dreading tests in school?  I was never fond of the cramming method and was always looking for the best way to take a test.   One fellow I met suggested having a drink beforehand because it helped him relax.   I don’t remember trying that, but the idea of going into a test in a relaxed state made sense.  My goal was always to stay on top of the material so I didn’t have to cram or stress when test day arrived.  I don’t think that ever happened.  And then there was immense feeling (sometimes) of relief after the test was finished.  If I thought I had done well, I was relieved.  If I didn’t know the answers or had to bluff my way through, I felt a bit lost and a whole lot of regret.

According to the dictionary a test is “a short written or…

It seems like I have always lived in this dark, smelly cell.

I cannot remember when this day began.  A memory of Passover with my men flickers for a few moments and puts itself out.

The door clangs open.  Two soldiers yank me off the floor and drag me to the Governor.  I see faces with open pits for mouths and hear a sound like the sea.  Distant and alone I stand before the crumbling pillars of justice.  A man’s voice says “I am innocent” but he is not speaking for me.  No one is, not even me.

I fall under the weight of the woody bulk.  For the first time, I see the busy “Skull.”   Whenever I stumble, I hear cheers slowly bouncing off the city walls.  A nightmare is invading these holy streets.

And now giant nails rip open my flesh and splatter my blood.  A throat burning…

What is Happening:  We don’t know anything about what happens earlier in the day other than Jesus is focusing on the Passover Meal (start reading at Matthew 26:17).  At some point his disciples come to him and ask where he would like to eat the Passover Meal.  According to Wikipedia, the Passover Meal is:

“The Passover Seder (Hebrew: סֵדֶר‎ [ˈsedeʁ], “order, arrangement”; Yiddish: Seyder) … a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in the Gregorian calendar.

The Seder is a ritual performed by a community or by multiple generations of a family, involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient…

A Gust of Grace: blew through my life when I was in the US Army.  I was in during the height of the Vietnam War (1967-1970).  I had finished basic training at Fort Knox and the class ahead of me and the class behind me all were sent to Vietnam.  Then ten months later everyone in my class except another fellow and me were ordered there.  I had an office job, but my heart was heavy with concern that someday soon I would have to kill people.  This became my entire focus and so in August of 1969 I left my post and headed to Canada.  There were a lot of other young men also leaving because they had serious reservations about that war.  For me, however, the bottom line was fear.  I was afraid and so I drove north.

I contacted a man who was in the business of…