Dear Lord Jesus, You are my victorious Savior. For your life, death and resurrection You have my never-ending thanks and praise. In Your Name. Amen.

"A Race Won" May 9, 2012 When the days drew near for Him (Jesus) to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem. Luke 9:51 Claire Squires was running for dollars. That's right. She had entered the London Marathon, so she could raise some money to help support a suicide-prevention group called the Samaritans. The group was special to her since her brother had died from an overdose when he was in his mid-20s. At the time of the race Squires had $807 in pledges. It was a good race and Squires did fine. Five, ten, twenty miles were clicked off. Finally, she was in the homestretch, and the finish was within reach. Squires had completed 25-plus miles in the 26-mile run when she collapsed and died. The story of what Claire Squires was attempting to do touched people. The end result was, at the time of this devotion's writing, over 10,000 letters have come in, bringing her total fund-raising contribution to more than $500,000. It always amazes me that sometimes people have to die before what they're trying to do is appreciated. That is certainly the case for numerous composers and artists who die heartbroken, alone and convinced they were failures. Yet, after they're dead their work rises in value a hundred-, a thousand-, a million-fold. When Squires died short of her goal she probably felt she had failed. No doubt she would be surprised to find her death has managed to do that which she couldn't have accomplished if she had lived. Now if you think I am going to compare these folks with the Savior and His death, well, you're wrong. Jesus was different. He was 180 degrees different. You see, Jesus knew He had to die if His work of saving sinful human beings was to be completed. So He might die is why Scripture says He set His face toward Jerusalem. So He might die is why He was silent before His accusers. So He might die, He remained upon the cross. Then, having done all which had been asked of Him, Jesus gave up the ghost and let go of life. The success of what He had done was shown three days later when a living Lord emerged from the tomb and showed to all the world that sin, the devil and death had been defeated. From that moment on all who believed on Him as Savior were forgiven and promised eternal life.