I was chatting with a friend on iChat earlier this morning and I wanted to recognize this important day but somehow "Happy Good Friday" just seemed inappropriate so I settled on a rather weak and cliche "God bless you and your family today."  It's the best I could come up but I meant it knowing today should be a day of sober reflection for every follower of Christ.

Even the name "Good Friday" is paradoxical.  It's a good day for us but it wasn't so good for him.

But I also find that Jesus' final words carry a bit of paradox that a lot of people can relate to and resonate with.  I know he was fufilling prophesy but it doesn't diminish what I believe Jesus was really feeling in that moment and was honest enough to come right out with it...

Matthew 27:45-46: From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Have you ever felt this way?  Ever felt like Almighty God was letting you down?  Ever wondered, "What in the world are You waiting for? Step in and DO SOMETHING!"

I know I have.  But, I love how God in his wonderful grace and mercy has placed things in his Word so human and so raw.  It's not the glossed over Gospel that is often times presented today.  It's real.  It's gritty.  It's to be wrestled with and grappled with.

The Beautiful Paradox of Good Friday and the Final Words of Jesus can be seen in his follow up to this incredible feeling of despair...

Luke 23:44-46:  It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

The same God who Jesus felt had left him out to dry, was the same God he committed his life to... committed his spirit to... committed his pain to... committed his trust to.

Jesus is our perfect example.  He's the essence of beauty and life.  So...

May you, on this day, even though you feel forsaken and torn and broken and bruised... even by God himself... turn to Him because he's good.  He's loving.  He's faithful.

And He cares for me and you.