The season of Lent began earlier this week when Catholics and other liturgical churches observed Ash Wednesday. A smudge of ash applied to their heads signifies humility and repentance.
That is not my tradition. But I felt it was a good way to communicate to others that I am a Christian.
Easter is the most sacred and blessed time of the Christian calendar when we celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord. Every year we like to do something special. And this year, on our website, we are putting a video every day about lent from my friend and mentor, Jamie Buckingham.
He shot the videos in Israel. And we are showing one a day for the 50 days leading up to Easter. Here are links to the four videos we have already run on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. You can subscribe at our YouTube channel by clicking here.
Today (Friday) is 44 days before Easter, and Jamie Buckingham’s video is called Two Kings—Herod and Jesus—contrasting the cruelty of Herod and his sons with the gentleness of Jesus.
Jamie had an enormous impact on me personally and on our organization. He was one of the first national leaders to take an interest in our fledgling church magazine. He taught me networking skills that I use today.
Jaime went to his heavenly reward in 1992. While he was a major author in his lifetime, few in the new generation know Jamie to be the enormous talent and spiritual giant that he actually was. The videos shot on location in Israel give insight into who he was as a man and as a spiritual leader.
Interestingly, I made my first trip to Israel with Jamie and we went onto climb Mount Sinai (in the Sinai peninsula). In the late 1970s, it was controlled by Israel after the Six-day War but was later returned to Egypt. It proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and it was very memorable. Jaime taught us about different points of the Sinai desert where the children of Israel wandered for 40 years and were commemorated in Scripture. He did that for our group of 12 men and later went back with the film crew and filmed the Lenten videos that we are highlighting this season.
Jamie’s oldest son, Bruce Buckingham, has been a close friend over the years and is the curator of jamiebuckinghamministries.com. There is a wealth of information about Jamie on the website along with many of his writings that no longer remain in print.
Please share these Lenten videos with your social media followers not only as a means of encouragement but also to to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in a very winsome and special kind of way. After you have seen the videos, please share your comments with us.
Stephen Strang 
