Happy Easter

It has been a long time since I have posted.  We have been "busy" doing life around here...  Running around, digging in dirt, learning new words, learning to write letters, avoiding the cold, wishing for spring, planting stuff, hunting for eggs long before Easter, reading stories and climbing on all things.  And that was just Brad.  (haha)

Life around us continues to move fast, while we move slow.  I am thankful for the slow and simple.  (I am wishing the girls would grow slower.)  Life can be so crazy.  So emotional.  So big.  All around me, babies are being adopted, children are moving out, parents are getting old and sick, babies are being miscarried and born.

This Easter weekend I am thankful.  Thankful for God's perfect plan.  Thankful that our God is not a God of confusion or anxiety.  He is justice and mercy at the same time.  His love is persistent, perfect in its pursuit of us.   The entire Bible speaks to this.  All of history moves towards our redemption in Jesus.  All through the Old Testament - the histories, the Psalms, the prophets - the stories point to Christ.  To the perfect Lamb giving Himself so that we can experience true freedom and joy.  God's people experienced such turmoil and change: hundreds of years in slavery, wandering in the desert, exile, etc.  And most of it (with the exception of Daniel and Job and the like) due to their own sin.  Life in this fallen world will be crazy and uncertain.  It will be joyful and painful.  At times it will not make one bit of sense.  But God is still in pursuit.  Even when He has our heart, the Holy Spirit seeks to have all of it.

We have been reading a lot about the Easter story around here.  One of our children's Bible stories goes into detail about the day Jesus died - the sky grew dark, the ground shook, the earth mourned.  The pictures look dark and scary.  Addison asked why Easter was happy if that day was so scary and sad.  What a good question.  The end is what makes it happy.  What makes it the best.  Just like all the good princess stories (because we have to relate it to a princess in this house I guess).  Sure, Jesus gave himself.  Sure, He paid the penalty for my sins and yours.  That was absolutely a huge deal.  Worth savoring and honoring and considering and dwelling on.  But that was Friday.

Sunday is worth celebrating.  Sunday is worth cheering for.  Jesus rose!  Resurrection.  Life.  The defeat over death.  Freedom from fear and freedom in suffering.  Joy in life, in all circumstances.

He is Risen!  He is risen indeed.