Matthew 17-19

Matthew 17- I can't imagine what it must have been like for Peter and James and John to hear God and to have Jesus comfort them.  It is also hard to imagine what is must have been like for Jesus to know what was going to happen to him.  I'd like to believe that since he is the Son of God that he wouldn't feel the pain that he was subjected to by the hands of men but I know it isn't so and I am so thankful that this person, this real living person was willing to sacrifice his life to save me and to save my loved ones.

Matthew 18- I really like the phrase "unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  I can understand this so much more fully as a parent who has a plan for my children; I set rules for them to protect them, to help them thrive, to help them help themselves and that is what God has done for us.  He has a plan and although we cannot understand it fully right now, we will see it someday.  I have to trust completely in Him and I have to be willing to "re-learn" so much.
There are so many amazing parables here; getting rid of temptations to sin, if your brother sins against you, the unforgiving servant.  These parables seem darker than earlier ones but I have often heard them preached about- it is always so crazy to me how "present-day" issues in the Bible are.  Although centuries have passed, the problems have not.

Matthew 19- I struggle greatly with the The Rich Young Man.  "Only with great difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven."  I worry about the balance between being responsible with money and being greedy; working hard and earning a nice home, having a safe car to drive, saving for college educations, saving for a rainy day in case something bad ever happened to us or our children, etc.  How do I balance what we want/need with others who need money more than us and then always determining how much is enough when it's never enough until it's everything.  I know that our good luck with finding jobs was not just luck, I know that God has blessed us in so many ways that was not "our" doing.  Ugh, I could ramble on about this for so long, my point is I think this will be a lifelong struggle for me.