My mom always used to say a pink sunset was a sign between her and God that He was thinking of her. They would always happen at the perfect times when she needed comfort the most. In 2013 she was critically ill in the hospital and scheduled to get a potentially very dangerous surgery the next morning to extend her life. We were all very overwhelmed and worried. That night, the ENTIRE sky was on fire with the brightest shade of pink you can imagine. It was even on the Chicago news because of how unusually beautiful it was. Immediately I knew she was going to be fine, and she was – God heard our prayers and was thinking about her. But she couldn’t even see it, she was in her hospital room downtown. But I saw it. So then it became a sign to me that God was thinking about me, too.

Tonight, I was in the kitchen when I heard Jocelyn say, “So colorful outdice (outside) mommy!” I took her outside and the sunset was pink. We enjoyed it for a while and counted all the different colors she could see, and as we did it seemed to get brighter and more vibrant. The clouds almost looked like they were liquid, pouring out on the sky. It changed a little more and became dimmer and darker, but still reddish-pink. I thought again about how my mom isn’t here to see this.

And then it hit me.

Today is Good Friday.

The sky looked like red liquid was being poured out on it, like the blood Jesus shed on this exact day about 2,000 years ago.

He was thinking of me.

2,000 years ago, that brilliant, infinite mind was thinking of me as He ascended that hill, carrying the cross He would be nailed to, wearing thorns shoved into His head and being whipped and flogged with barbs that ripped His skin off His back. He was as innocent as a child, as a lamb… He had never done one thing out of selfishness in His entire life and had lived only to love God and love others. He went around healing the sick, giving life to the dead, lifting the hearts of the brokenhearted. He was falsely accused and hated because of His purity and then He allowed the people He created Himself, His own children to torture Him to death, spit in His face, blindfold Him and beat Him to prevent Him from defending Himself. After He was nailed to that cross, blood spilling out from nearly every area of His body, they were laughing at Him. Bidding on His clothes. Screaming curses at Him. He had to pull Himself up and put pressure on His impaled hands and feet just to catch a single, agonizing breath. And yet despite all this, He used some of the last precious breaths in His lungs to ask His Father to forgive them.

He was thinking of me. And my mom. And you. All of us.

He did it to give us a chance. To save us from our sins…the sins that should have put us on that cross instead of Him. The Holy God of the entire universe, the One that breathes stars and knit us together in the womb…the One that imagined our children before we had any idea and decided the world needed one as beautiful as them…the One that designed every organ in our body to function and keep us alive and gives us every breath in our lungs…the One who paints sunsets just to remind us that He loves us…took the death that was OURS to give us the life that was HIS. He will forever have those scars…not only on His body, but in His heart…the scars left by those He loved who said “no.”

He was thinking of you then. And He’s still thinking about you now. And He will be thinking about you for eternity…He just wants you to be there for it.