Easter on My Mind

I’m still thinking about Easter. 

Although the recognized holiday has now come and gone … I am still pondering the power of Easter. 

You see … Easter was never meant to be acknowledged on only one day of the church calendar every year. 

Easter is a way of life … it is an eternal promise … it is the answer to every question. 

Easter is more than brightly colored eggs … a new outfit … and a family dinner. 

Easter is power … it is joy … it is hope. 

“The resurrection of Christ is the most important article of our faith, and without it the hope of eternal life is extinguished.” – John Calvin 

I heard a powerful story about Easter recently … I’d like to share it with you. 

Pastor Rick Warren and his dear wife, Kay, have served the Lord faithfully for decades. They have built a great church in California and have written many books that turn the reader toward the truth of Scripture. 

Their son, Matthew, battled mental illness for many years. They loved him dearly and tried to get him the help that he so desperately needed. 

However, when Matthew was in his mid-twenties, he took his own life. 

Amidst the devastation and raw pain, Pastor Rick was asked, “How do you get through a trauma such as this?” 

His answer leaves me breathless. 

“There is only one word to answer that question,” the grieving father and well-known pastor explained. “That word is ‘Easter’.”  

“Two thousand years ago, in the Middle East, an event occurred that permanently changed the world. Because of that event, history was split. Every time you write a date, you’re using the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as the focal point.” – Pastor Rick Warren 

If not for Easter, our faith would be meaningless. 

Easter is able to instill hope where before there was only despair. 

Easter can offer peace in the middle of war. 

Easter brings joy to the grieving heart. 

“The resurrection of Christ changed the midnight of bereavement into a sunrise of reunion; it changed the midnight of disappointment into a sunrise of joy; it changed the midnight of fear to a sunrise of peace.”  - Billy Graham 

Easter. 

Easter is the answer to everything. 

We should not quickly let go of the Easter celebration … but we should incorporate it into the other 364 calendar days of the year. 

May I tell you just one more story this week post-Easter 2024? 

This story is at once both personal and powerful. 

It was the week of Easter in 1976. I was a junior attending a vibrant Christian university. 

The highlight of every week, for me, was the chapel service at which 3,000 students … professors … administrative staff … would join to worship the Lord and to hear the Word of God preached with fervor and with truth. 

Brother Bob Stamps, the beloved campus chaplain, was everyone’s favorite speaker. He made the Bible come alive in his west Texas accent and with academic insight. 

As he closed his Easter sermon this particular year, we were all listening with rapt attention. 

“We are an Easter people,” Brother Bob declared. “Something so good has happened to us that nothing can ever really be bad again!” 

As he proclaimed those unforgettable words, the entire student body rose to their feet as if one person. Our hands were in the air and our faces were turned toward heaven. 

“Amen!” 

“Praise the Lord!” 

“You are worthy!” 

You could hear the shouts of the student body and the university staff as the pipe organ began the final Easter hymn. 

“Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! 
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia! 
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! 
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!” 

In that moment … nearly 50 years ago … I believed. 

I believed that Easter was my identity. 

I believed that because of the promise of Easter … nothing could ever really be bad again. 

I sang with gusto and with agreement. 

And then … life happened to me. 

Infertility … loneliness … depression … repeated miscarriages … a broken heart … financial stress … deep disappointment … prodigal children … cancer. 

While grappling with the undeserved yet certain trauma of life … I had to decide once again what I believed. 

Could I find my identity in Easter? 

Could I believe in the ultimate goodness that only Jesus brings? 

Could I hold onto the hope of the resurrection story? 

I had to ask myself the question, “What kind of life would be mine if Jesus had not risen from the dead?” 

And so … I decided. 

I do believe. 

I was made for Easter, and Easter was made for me. 

I emphatically and undoubtedly believe that something so good has happened to me that nothing can ever really be bad again. 

I will continue to sing of the resurrection … even when my heart is filled with the pain of earthbound living. 

I will raise my hands in worship … even when my heart is breaking with pain. 

I will shout my enthusiastic praises to the Lord … on every day of my life … 365 days a year. 

My friend … do you believe? 

We are an Easter people. Something so good has happened to us that nothing can ever really be bad again. 

“I believe in Christ, like I believe in the sun — not because I can see it, but by it I can see everything else.” - C.S. Lewis 

Thanks for listening to my heart this week.  As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me.  And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!