Easter Sunday Message I Don't Want To Forget

This is specifically for me, myself and I!  No pictures.  But maybe some talk about babies!

We went to Church this morning in Oneonta and took up the whole pew.  I knew it was going to be a teary eyed service when someone walked up to my pap paw and asked to get a picture of her teenage daughter with him in front of the cross of lilies.  Then I opened the bulletin and there were the printed words of Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone.  Two times before the service had started and I had teared up. 

We took Bailey's sticker book and she played it with it for about 15 minutes after the service started and then she laid her head over on me. I picked her up in my lap and rocked her to sleep.  She snuggled the whole service as the two 7 ounce sisters she was squishing kicked at her.  I was a bit uncomfortable, but I wouldn't have dared put her down.

The preacher started to preach the same ole Easter sermon we hear every year.  But, then, he took it to a whole new level for me.  He talked of the Friday before, when Jesus was hung on the cross and died  for our sins.  He talked of the women coming to roll the stone away and finding the tomb empty.  He had risen!  But he also talked about how we, you and I, live our lives in between these days.  That we know Jesus died on the cross for us, and we know he rose from the dead.  But do we really, honestly, with our entire beings know that we know that we know that Jesus lives and he walks among us today on this sin-ridden earth.  That we have hope because of Him.  That we don't have to be scared and fearful in this life because He lives, HE is here.  He likened it to drug addicts and people living in jail.  He said there was always the question of how did those people get there, how did they become the people they are.  He said, you know, no one wakes up one morning and says "I think this is a great day to go ruin my life."  No one has plans to live a life of being addicted to drugs or doing things that will land them homeless, in jail, whatever.  But we, as humans, trade one moment for what think is bliss and joy, instead of knowing that our ever-lasting Father is the only thing that brings us eternal bliss and joy.  We do this because we are living in the moments between the death and the resurrection.

This spoke volumes to me.  Sid and I find ourselves at a time in our lives where we honestly do not know what we are going to do.  Decisions are being made and we are making them the best we know how.  To work or not to work?  To fork over money for 3 babies in daycare or put that money into staying home?  What if I stay home, how will ends meet?  Insurance?  Do we stay in this small house or do we try and get a bigger house?  Do we look for jobs in Alabama because we know Alabama is way more money than we will ever see here and we need that money now more than ever?  Just life changing decisions that we as mortal humans do not know how to make all of our on.  There is hope for us making all these choices and decisions and knowing that whatever we decide, we are taken care of because we have eternal hope and safety in the Risen God we so freely choose to serve.  We have the support of family and friends that we know God has placed in our lives for a reason.  Not just for this season of our lives, but for always, no matter what we decide. 

This spoke volumes to me.  No one wakes up one day and decides they will go ruin their life.  That they will trade one moment of what they deem joy for the eternal joy in Jesus.  But, thanks to the same Jesus who died and was buried, and on the third day rose again, we have LIFE.  And like I said last Easter, it is good!  I could never imagine that the Good Lord would save me from myself time and time again only to give me these three lives of my daughters to raise and shape and mold into wonderful human beings.  Oh, I'm not stupid, I know they will fail. I know they will make decisions living in between the days of the death and the resurrection.  I know these mistakes will come no matter how good of  Mom I am and how good of a Dad Sid is.  But to teach these precious souls about Jesus and that he is hope, he is safety, he can and WILL save us from ourselves.  It was more than my heart can soak in this morning.

So on this Easter night of 2011, Christ is risen!  Risen so that we have life!  And it is good!!!!

Much love, Barbie