He Is!

No doubt this week you have seen or will see many images of Easter. I could write so much about this amazing time of year for believers, couldn't you?

One person I know exclaimed, "What is it with you Christians and your eggs and chocolate and candy crosses? I don't get your commercialized holidays!"

At first I was embarrassed by her comment. I do succumb like many to filling my daughter's Easter basket as well as my relatives' baskets in the past.

At the same time, I also fondly remember sunrise services at the First United Methodist Church in my small, Illinois hometown. -Rising at 5:30 to sit in a not-so-crowded sanctuary, listening the the testimony of people as they stood before bleary-eyed children, praising God for the Resurrection of Jesus.

After testimonies and a short sermon, the congregation moved to the church basement where we ate scrambled eggs, bacon, and home-made biscuits. We rushed home for a quick Easter egg hunt, donned our finest Sunday clothes to journey back to the church for a more formal, yet still celebrational meeting. Unlike the 5:30 service, the traditional service found people crammed into pews, extra chairs lined the aisles, and the pastor preached to a sea of new faces.

As I look on past Easter traditions, I no longer am embarrassed by the chocolate, colored eggs, and new attire for Easter though. Consider most of our society's celebrations: birthdays, team championships, family reunions, engagements, and marriages. All these are celebrated in our culture with food and festivities.

Easter deserves to be celebrated even more than all of these events. It is the ONLY reason we can call ourselves CHRISTians.

He is Risen!

Therefore...

He IS!

He is Risen!

Therefore...

I am His forever and ever!

That is such good news!

What a celebration we need to have!

Why wait?

I say, "Let's go eat the ears off that chocolate rabbit NOW!"

Have a wonderful Easter celebrating Jesus!

For His Glory,
Gretchen