PDA's

Long before the age of Personal Digital Assistants, there was an abbreviated version of the term 'Public Display of Affection', namely PDA. If you've ever been a sponsor on a school or church trip attended by teens, or are a teacher or administrator at a public or parochial school with teens, you are very familiar with this term. Public displays of affection take many forms depending on one's age and the depth of the relationship. As a relationship deepens, PDA can move from holding hands to putting an arm around the other persons' shoulders and even kissing and hugging...in public. But probably considered to be the greatest PDA of all would be the presentation of an engagment ring and the proposal of marriage...in public.

The inception of the engagement ring itself can be tied to the Fourth Lateran Council presided over by Pope Innocent III in 1215. Innocent declared a longer waiting period between betrothal and marriage; plain rings of gold, silver or iron were used earliest.

As for that big rock of an engagement ring, the first recorded diamond engagement ring was presented by the Archduke Maximillian of Austria to Mary of Burgundy as a betrothal gift in 1477. And thus began the tradition of this ultimate PDA...in the jewelry sense.

As Christians, we have an ultimate PDA too. Our ultimate PDA doesn't involve the giving of jewelry, but the giving of LIFE. 1 John 4:9-10 states: "9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (NIV)

And Romans 5:8 states: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (NIV)

God set His Son AMONG us...in public. That Son walked and talked, healed and taught, and ministered among us...in public. And that Son died a cruel death for us...in public. That Son was resurrected, walked the earth another 40 days and ascended...in public. That Son will come again...in public. That Son has a name.

It is the ONLY name by which anyone can be saved (Acts 4:12). That Son's name is Jesus, and He is THE ultimate Public Display of Affection...God's affection... for you and me.

NEXT POST: Confession and Glass Cleaner

Alexandrite and Our Never-Changing God

Alexandrite is a rare gemstone named after the Russian tsar Alexander II (1818-1881), the very first crystals having been discovered in April 1834 in the emerald mines near the Tokovaya River in the Urals. The discovery was made on the day the future tsar came of age. Although alexandrite is a relatively young gemstone, it certainly has a noble history. Alexandrite is the faceted birthstone for the month of June.

The most sensational feature about this stone, however, is its surprising ability to change its colors. Green or bluish-green in daylight, alexandrite turns a soft shade of red, purplish-red or raspberry red in artificial light. This unique optical characteristic makes it one of the most valuable gemstones of all, especially in fine qualities.

Alexandrite reminds me of God's Love for us.

God's Love for us doesn't change, but everything in His Kingdom and all of His creation is in a constant state of change.
Watch the image above.
The alexandrite doesn't change shape, or its facets become re-arranged even when the colors constantly change within the stone.

God has a perfect will, a plan, for everything and everyone. And although things seem to constantly change around us within that plan...good changes, bad changes, planned changes and surprise changes, we can remain secure in the faithfulness of God’s Love for us which is constant and never changing (1 Chronicles 16:34).

The color change of alexandrite from red to green reminds me of how the (red) blood of Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to have (green) life everlasting. You cannot have one without the other, and both abide within God's Love. Jesus (His death and resurrection) is God's greatest expression of His Love for us (John 3:16 and Romans 5:8). I'm so glad He gave us alexandrite, another example of His creation that if examined closely with an eye to deeper things than its mere beauty, gives us an example of Him and His Love for us.

If you want to read more about alexandrite just click on the image. If you want to read more about God's Love just pick up the Bible.

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