Good Friday Message from Louisiana: Let It Take Your Breath Away

We are fortunate Lafayette and south Louisiana to have some beautiful weather peppered into what can often be a stormy forecast this time of year. Such is the case for Good Friday 2024. The weather folks at KATC tell me that we can expect this spectacular weather through Easter.

Every year on Palm Sunday, the story of Jesus' Passion takes my breath away. That sensation only intensifies on Good Friday.

I've lived in south Louisiana my whole life. If you know anything about our little slice of God's country, you know that roughly half of our Christian population is Catholic. I was fortunate enough to be raised by devout Catholic parents who taught me more than just the right words to say during Mass and how to genuflect and make the sign of the cross correctly.

My mom weaved Jesus into everything. As a teenager, I admit that could be annoying. We were required to go to Sunday mass at our church parish in Crowley, Louisiana. We said nightly prayers together. We did all the things.

More importantly, my mom has lived as she preached. Her actions were louder than any words she could have spoken. And I heard it, thankfully.

As Christians, it's important for us to share that message. We shouldn't be boastful or condescending with it. We shouldn't judge someone for the way they worship or believe. We should, however, stand ready to not just testify to His love but to be a testament of His love.

And that can be a tall order.

It's not easy to back up our beliefs with the actions to support them, but it's what He asks of us:

¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (KJV James 2:14-17)

Every Good Friday, this Louisiana girl feels a weight. I'm sure every Christian who truly believes in the resurrection power of Jesus feels that same heaviness. It's hard not to if you know the story of his Passion.

Today, Good Friday 2024, I was thinking about Jesus' torture and crucifixion. As they sometimes do, parts of the story of His Passion hit me different. It was like certain elements of the story were illuminated even more brightly.

And it took my breath away.

I decided to share my story via video with my Facebook friends because light and bundle and all. The need to do so was a compulsion coming from a place in my little Crowley heart that couldn't be denied.

Whether you watch it or not, no matter how you believe or how you worship, we will all be able to breathe again on Sunday. On Good Friday, it is finished. On Easter Sunday, we begin anew.

There can't be an Easter Sunday without a Good Friday.