Friday, January 1, 2010

Everything Keeps Coming Up Roses


My life has been inordinately influenced by roses. My mom’s middle name was Rose. As a boy, I often watched my grandfather gently tend to the roses growing along trellis on the side of our house.

I played in the Franklin High School marching band in Somerset, N.J., and we often opened halftime shows to the rousing tune of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” Then, attending Ohio State University in the late ‘60s, I knew one of the Buckeyes’ major goals was a trip to the Rose Bowl, the so-called “Granddaddy of Them All.”

Two of the men I've mentored in recent years are married to women named Rose.

And this afternoon I again will watch another edition of Rose Bowl, where my beloved Buckeyes will do battle with the Oregon Ducks and hopefully rip the dreaded “can’t win the big game” label from their Scarlet and Gray shoulder pads.

I have long admired the rose, a beautiful, delicate flower with overlapping petals that form such wondrous designs. And I’ve enjoyed capturing the many color variations of the flower with my camera. But I must admit, another kind of “rose” has figured most prominently in my life.

As Romans 14:8-9 declares, “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died, and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”

I hope the Buckeyes will emerge victorious from the Rose Bowl. That is, I “hope-so.” My eternal hope, however, is grounded in certainty -- the facts that Jesus died – and then rose from the dead – atoning for my sins and offering life for eternity. That’s the best “rose” of all

3 comments:

Jim Lange said...

Amen Bob! The best rose of all is what Jesus did! Go Bucks and may God be glorified today!

Dale Pyne said...

Bob,

I read your blog this morning and decided to watch the Rose Bowl to root for the Bucks. Congratulations to them, and you. Glad they "rose" above their "can't win the big one barrier", and most certainly am glad that Christ overcame death when He rose from the grave.

Dale Pyne

Unknown said...

Godd stuff!! (as always)
Albert