Happy Easter!
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Easter
My son David almost ended up with Cadbury Cream Eggs for Valentine’s Day.
My husband Dave and I were shopping Friday afternoon, after our son left to go to my parent’s for the weekend, when I realized we forgot to get him something for Valentine’s Day. It was kind of a busy, hectic week and it just slipped my mind. (I know. Bad mommy! Bad mommy!) So we headed over to the seasonal aisle to pick up something to give David when he came home on Monday.
We arrived there to find just a few bags of Hershey’s Kisses. Where was everything? Surely they couldn’t have sold out of all the Valentine’s Day stuff?
Then I glanced farther down the aisle. There were stock boys filling empty shelves with chocolate Easter bunnies and egg coloring kits the day BEFORE Valentines’ Day.
The holiday wasn’t even over yet, and they’d already put away the lacy red hearts full of chocolates, and brought out the chick-shaped Peeps!
We weren’t the only people milling around looking dazed and confused, checking the date on our cell phones to make sure it was indeed still February 13th.
I thought it was insane when after trick-or-treating on Hall-O-Ween we went into a store to pick up some milk, and were greeted by a 20 foot fully decorated Christmas tree at the entrance. At least that holiday was in it’s waning hours before they moved on to the next.
I really didn’t know what to do for a moment as I stood pondering if David would think it strange to get a basket full of Robin’s Eggs for Valentine’s Day. Just how much would that confuse a four-year-old? Would it lead to years of therapy discussing issues about Conversation Hearts and Peter Cotton Tail?
We did find something for David at another store. But seriously. The hastiness of the retail sector to finish off one holiday so they can put their fingers in our wallets for the next is getting a little ridiculous.
I’m off now to go buy a chocolate bunny before they replace those with flags and plastic flowers for Memorial Day.
I’m pretty sure getting a wreath of fake red, white and blue carnations that says In Memoriam for Easter would lead to years of adolescent turmoil.
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Here’s proof that girls aren’t the only ones who like to dress up in crazy outfits.
For Easter I bought my son a tie to wear, because he kept asking for one every time he saw his Daddy wearing a tie. I don’t have any pictures of when he was wearing the tie with a nice shirt and pants on Easter, because he was all hopped up on sugar that day and wouldn’t pose for a photo. But later that day, after we changed him out of his dress clothes, he refused to give up the tie. So he wore it around on his T-Shirt. (It’s a clip on. Tie manufacturers apparently realize no toddler will stand still long enough to let you tie a knecktie properly.)
The day after Easter, my son emerged from his bedroom in this get-up. Golashes, that look like firemen boots, hockey sweater, tie and baseball cap. He didn’t want me taking any pictures this day
either. As you can see this photo was taken under protest. If it weren’t for the boots, he could be a high school athletic director in this outfit.
I sure hope his fashion sense improves a little over the next few years.
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All week I’d been watching the last lingering patch of snow that clung to life in the shade of our porch. Finally, on Thursday, the first day of spring, it met its demise. The last remnant of a long winter was gone.
But, yesterday we got slammed with a spring snow storm. The snow began to fall hard around 11 a.m. and continued well into the night. My son and I ventured out into the storm in the afternoon. I thought, hopefully, this would be his last chance this season to play in the snow. We woke up this morning to a total of 10 inches of snow. We were lucky. Some places just a few miles from us got 15 inches.
I would like to say for sure this is the last snow of the season, but you never know around here. We had snow for Easter last year too, and last year the holiday was a month later.
We were supposed to go to an Easter egg hunt this morning, but it’s pretty hard to find even brightly colored eggs in a foot and a half of snow.
The one good thing about snow this time of year is that it doesn’t last long. The sun is out now and it’s above freezing. Little streams of melting snow are already trickling down our steep drive way.
Here’s some photos of David playing in the spring snow yesterday.
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The night before Jesus’ death on the cross, after The Last Supper, he goes with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is there that we see Jesus at what I think is his most human. It is a poignant, touching and even heart-wrenching scene. While Jesus was holy, perfect and with out sin, he was not with out the ability to feel emotional and physical pain.
Mark describes this event in chapter 14 of his gospel. Jesus tells the the disciples,
“My soul is over-whelmed with sorrow to the point of death,”
and asks them to keep watch while he prays. The Mark says after that, “he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.”
Mark records Jesus’ prayer as this,
“Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Luke expands on this in his gospel in chapter 22 verses 43-44 saying after that, “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
Jesus returns to the disciples only to find that they’ve been sleeping as his agonizes over what he knows will come in the morning. Two more times Jesus leaves to pray and returns to find them sleeping. The last time he returns he knows there is no other option.
“Are you still sleeping? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Guards who work for the Jewish Chief Priests arrive. Judas points out who Jesus is by kissing him. The guards take him way to appear before the Chief Priests. As he’s being hauled off Jesus says,
“Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with clubs and swords to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple and the courts, and you did not arrest me, But the scriptures must be fulfilled.”
Then Mark writes perhaps one of the saddest statements in the Bible, verse 50 of chapter 14, “Then everyone deserted him and fled.”
We can only imagine Jesus mental turmoil that night. He knew in a few hours he would be subjected to beatings so severe those alone should have killed him. Then he would be forced to carry his own heavy cross to the site of of Crucifixion. They would pound nails through his hands and feet to hang him on the cross. They would place a crown of thorns upon his head. They would mock him and ridicule him even as he was dying. They would offer him only vinegar to quench his thirst. They would pierce his side with a sword.
Jesus suffered real physical pain the day he was crucified. That night he is so beside himself with the burden he must carry that he feels the knowledge of it alone is enough to kill him. Of course he cried out to God, asking if there was any other way. In his prayer he calls God “Abba”. Abba is a very intimate Hebrew word used between father and child, like our English word Daddy. The King of Israel, the Son of God, lies prostrate on the ground like a child crying out for his Daddy, asking him to spare him the coming pain. Yet he understands the ultimate decision is God’s. He knows he must do as God commands and fulfill his plan. “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Haven’t we all been there? Facing some insurmountable situation, at our wits’ end, nowhere else to turn? Feeling that certainly this trial will be the death of us? The only thing left to do is humble ourselves and cry out to God.
God answered Jesus by sending an angel to strengthen him. But he did not take the difficult task of dying on the cross from him.
Has God ever laid a task out before you to complete or alloed you to be in a situation that was difficult? Something you would rather not do? Didn’t you bargain with him? Beg him give you another route to take?
Jesus is in such despair the Bible tells us that he sweat blood. I have felt grief, I have felt fear, but never more than what brought tears to my eyes. I can not imagine the inner struggle it must take to cause a person to sweat blood.
When Jesus sees the armed men coming for him, he knows it is time for him to fulfill God’s plan for him. He doesn’t try to flee, he doesn’t try to physically overcome his captors. He goes willingly, even speaking with a hint of humor and sarcasm in his voice.
“Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with clubs and swords to capture me?”
To put it in today’s term, “Get real! I’ve been hangin’ around here all this time and never shown any threat of violence. Why do you think I would now? Come, on. Is all this really necessary? Let’s just get this over with!”
In fact, before Jesus is taken off, hot-headed Peter cuts the ear off one of the men. Jesus heals him. Not the action of a hostile criminal.
Jesus is taken away and as Luke says, everyone deserted him. Have you ever been in the midst of difficult times and felt alone? Perhaps people who you thought were your friends or even family members who you believed loved you, abandoned you rather than offering their support.
God didn’t have to come to us in human form as Jesus. Jesus didn’t have to suffer and die on the cross. Surely our all-knowing, all-powerful God could have devised any number of ways to cleanse our sins and provide our salvation. Or God could have just smote us all, wiped mankind off the earth all together, and started over.
But God didn’t. He came to us as a baby with humble beginnings. He grew into a man who had no possessions or home. A man who gave his life in the most terrible kind of suffering for us that we might live eternally with him in Heaven someday.
God loves us. He loves us so much that he was willing to walk more than a few miles in our shoes. No matter the hardship you are facing there is always one you can turn to who understands. Jesus knows your physical pain. Jesus knows your emotional suffering. Jesus understands when you ask, “God, isn’t there any other way?” Jesus knows the paralyzing fears you face. Jesus has felt the sting of loneliness.
But even if everyone else has left you, Jesus will not abandon you. Jesus will be with you always. Jesus knows the strength God will give you to face tomorrow. Jesus knows the comfort God will bring to your grief. Jesus knows God will be faithful to complete his work.
You can not say, “Jesus, you just can not understand.” He does, and he wants to take you to his Daddy, your Daddy. He wants you to know his Father as intimatley as he does.
No Not One
Word Written by Johnson Oatman, Jr.
There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus
No, not one! No, not one!
None else could heal all our souls diseases
No, not one! No, not one!
Jesus knows all about our struggles
He will guide till the day is done
There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus
No, not one! No, not one!
No friend like Him is so high and holy
No, not one! No, not one!
And yet no friend is so meek and lowly
No, not one! No, not one!
There’s not an hour that He is not near us
No, not one! No, not one!
No night so dark but His love can cheer us
No, not one! No, not one!
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Matthew 28
“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Maybe it just seems too fantastic of a story. Some one dead and buried came back to life? Everything you know about the human existence tells you it’s not possible for Jesus Christ to be resurrected after being crucified on the cross. But it did happen.
There is solid evidence that proves Jesus did come back from the dead. Truth or Tradition is a website dedicated to spreading the truth of Jesus Christ. They’ve published a booklet, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt – 23 Arguments for the Historical Validity of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. You can read it in its entirety on line and order a free copy. Here are just a few of the arguments they highlight.
1. The resurrection narratives have the ring of historical truth
The resurrection narratives bear unmistakable signs of being historically accurate. The earliness of these accounts, at a time when hostile witnesses were present, would have made a fabrication unlikely and dangerous. There is agreement on the main facts and great variety in the witnesses given, yet they are not a mere repetition of some standardized story with all the discrepancies worked out. Indeed, the accounts of Christ’s resurrection appearances are clearly independent of one another, as their surface dissimilarities suggest.
3. The empty tomb is a historical given
No reputable New Testament historian doubts the historical fact that the tomb in which Christ was placed after his crucifixion was empty. Therefore, there are only three explanations for it. Either his enemies took the body, his friends took the body, or Jesus was raised from the dead. The first possibility is extremely unlikely, because his enemies would have certainly displayed his body if they could have, in order to humiliate his disciples, quell the rumors of his resurrection, as well as to cut short any new religious movement that threatened their Mosaic traditions.
It is equally unlikely that his friends would have taken his body, because after his crucifixion they were profoundly disappointed and discouraged men who did not believe that he would be resurrected. It is absurd to think that under these conditions they would invent a scheme in which they would steal away the body to fabricate a story they obviously did not believe.
7. His enemies would have produced his dead body to silence the believers
If he did not rise from the dead, what became of his body? If his enemies stole it and never showed it openly, that would have encouraged the very rumors of a resurrection that they were very anxious to prevent. But the decisive proof that his enemies did not take the body is that they surely would have quickly produced it with great fanfare, for they stopped short of nothing to discredit the story.
9. A non-Christian historian testifies in support of the resurrection
Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, wrote about Jesus Christ and the growth of Christianity as follows:
And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.
Though some have tried to dismiss this corroborating secular testimony as fraudulent, this is unlikely because Josephus’ writings were well received at the time of their writing by both Jews and Romans. He was even made an honorary Roman citizen.
16. The unanimous testimony of eye-witnesses, who could not all have been deceived or deluded
Some critics say that the early Christians had a vision or an hallucination of Christ after his death, in the same way people today claim to have “seen” the pop icon Elvis Presley. Could it not have been an ecstatic vision? A dream? A fantasy of an excited imagination? Perhaps an apparition? None of these is at all probable, for different groups of people do not keep on seeing the same hallucination. 500 people in a crowd would not all dream the same dream at the same time.
Go ahead and question the reality of the resurrection and of Christ, then do the research. Lee Strobel, one of the most well-known Christian apologists today did just that. A staunch atheist with a law degree, he set out to prove the story of Christ was false. Instead, the evidence he uncovered through his research so overwhelmingly proved that the Biblical Jesus and the events involving him were true, that he became a Christian. He went on to write several books including The Case for Christ in which he details the evidence that changed his mind. Josh McDowell was another skeptic. He too set out to prove Christianity false. After examining the life of Christ he also came to the only conclusion that made any sense, it was true. He accepted Christ as his savior. McDowell wrote the book Evidence that Demands a Verdict where he examines the C.S. Lewis Trilemmathat if Jesus is not the Lord he can either only be a liar or a lunatic. Would a liar die for his claim? Jesus was wise, self-controlled, loving even toward his enimes. None of those characterize a lunitic. I would encourage to read either of these books as well as C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity where he writes about the trillema if you have questions about the truth of Christ, or if you want to be able to better answer others’ questions.
The Easter season is the perfect time to begin to discover the truth of salvation offered to you through the sacrifce on the cross and ressurection of Jesus Christ. If you already believe, learn more so that you can share it with others.
1 Corinthians 15:20-22
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
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How do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day six days before Easter? You color eggs!
These pictures are mostly for the grandparents and aunt and uncle in Australia, so pardon us while we have some family time. Sorry about some of the blurry shots.
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