"The Calm Before The Storm"

 James Bonham, a fiery young lawyer from South Carolina, had been in Texas for only three months, but his yearning for freedom left him no choice but to march alongside these Texans in their battle for liberty. He volunteered for service at the Alamo, a small mission near the Guadalupe River. As the Mexican army filled the horizon and the tiny bastion poised for battle, James Bonham broke through the enemy cordon and galloped eastward to Goliad for help.

 In his book, “Texas,” James Michener imagines what the soldier’s appeal must have been. He writes, “Outside were a 150 men. Santa Anna has nearly two thousand already, with more on the way…. What we need is for every fighting man in Texas to rush to the Alamo. Strengthen our perimeters! Give us help! Start to march now!”

 Michener imagines a conversation between Bonham and a young boy.  “Where are you going next?” the boy asks. “To the Alamo,” Bonham responds without hesitation. “Will you go back alone?” “I came alone.”

As Bonham disappears, the boy asks his father, “If things are so bad, why does he go back in?” To which the father responds, “I doubt if he considered any other possibility.”

 We don’t know if those words were said, but we know the trip was made. Bonham rode to battle certain it would be his last.

Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem and into the week he knew would be his last.   What seems like a gorgeous Palm Sunday morning when everything is right with the world, -- is really the calm before the storm. Jesus is riding right into the jaws of death.  He knows what this ride is going to cost him.  

You know, you can learn a lot about somebody by watching the way they die, because this was a king for whom the way to death was the way to victory.     

This is probably the most important week on the Christian calendar in the formation and development of our life of faith.  Watch and experience this week as Jesus conquers sin, death, and the grave.