He is Risen

Christ is risen from the dead, trampled over death by death. Come awake come awake, come and rise up from the grave. He's alive, He's alive!!

In Matthew 17:22-23, Jesus tells His disciples, The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised up on the third day."

I'm sure the disciples were baffled by Jesus' prediction. How can He be killed? Much less rise up on the third day. After all, death is final, no coming back from that. Why would men kill Jesus? How can He predict His death?

In Matthew 16:22, after Jesus predicts His upcoming passion, Peter replies to Him, "God forbid, Lord. No such thing shall ever happen to You." I'm sure this was the general consensus of the rest of the disciples,barring Judas.

His death on the Cross did happen, and with it brought us the promise of eternal life in Heaven with Him. Eternal life! Jesus told the thief on Cross, "Amen,I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." Luke 23:43

What a promise! To be with Jesus in Paradise! What a treasure it must be, more than we can even imagine. There is still the matter of Him rising up on the third day. Really? That sounds pretty far-fetched.

In Luke 24:2-3, Scripture says, "They found the stone rolled away from the tomb: but when they entered, they did not find His body." That would be quite puzzling. Where was His body? Was it stolen?

Moving along to verse 5 and 6, we read, ".....Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, He is risen, like He said."

How convincing was that? Okay, you had two men who appeared to be angels telling you Jesus was risen, but....that is awfully hard to believe. After all, you saw Him die on theCross just 3 days ago. Later that day, Jesus appeared to two disciples as they walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus. When He broke bread with them, they believed. He also appeared to them in Jerusalem.

What can you do then but believe? Jesus died on the Cross, but now He was alive,and standing before you. He's alive, He's alive! Jesus trampled death by death, come awake come awake, come and rise up from the grave. HE'S ALIVE!! Happy Easter!!

What an amazing gift we have been given. Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.

Chela

Easter Story

Farmer John was a kindly farmer. He had a bunch of farm animals out in the country. There was Hazel the cow, Jill and Belle, the goats, Lilly the sheep, and a bunch of chickens. All of the animals got along just fine, and spent their days eating the sweet green grass in the big pasture. All of the animals except for the red rooster, Flyer. While all the other chickens quietly ate their corn, Flyer would shove the hens around, and scold Farmer John. When the hens wandered off to lay eggs, Flyer would stomp the eggs, and break them. Farmer John would try to milk Hazel, and Flyer would pull her tail. When it was bedtime, and the hens went to bed, Flyer would shove them off the roost.

Everyone was getting tired of Flyer's antics. One day, Farmer John told the animals he was going to send Flyer away to live somewhere else. He was tired of the scolding, broken eggs, and sleepy hens. Everyone was so happy! "Send Flyer away, and we can all be happy again!" Said the goats, as Flyer ate the oats Farmer John had set out for them.

Then to everyone's surprise, the old rooster, Jack, came up and said, "What Flyer has done is wrong. No matter what I've told him, he won't listen. But don't send him away. I will take his punishment, and I will leave in his place."

"Why would you do this?" asked Lilly the sheep. "You have done nothing wrong. You didn't shove the hens, scold Farmer John, break eggs, or pull Hazel's tail. You don't steal food from the goats. We love having you around, you are such a gentle rooster."

Jack simply said, "It must be done."

Farmer John was very sad, because he loved Jack the rooster. He watched over all the hens, and was friends with everyone. Jack loved to sit in the green grass with the hens while they ate.

Then one of the hens came forward. She said, "I understand why Jack has to leave. I, too, am sad, but I understand. Let me explain. A long time ago, the world was in sin. Everyone acted like Flyer, they had turned away from the right way. The Father saw all that was going on, and felt very sad. He knew the punishment for sin was for us to die. But He wanted us to live. So the Father sent His only Son, Jesus, to teach us the right way to live. He wanted us to live the right way, to love Him above all else. He also wanted us to love each other, and not do mean things like Flyer does.

After Jesus taught us all this, he died on the cross for our sins. He took all our sins, and died on the cross as punishment for us! He loves us so much! After three days, He rose again! He took death away, so we can live in Heaven with Him forever! All you have to do is love Jesus with all your heart, all your soul, and all of your mind. After that, the rest comes easy. We celebrate the Resurrection on Easter. It's such a beautiful holiday, as if Jesus is saying, "don't worry, I still love you!"

Letter to Reno the dog

I solemnly swear that I am not taking you outside at 2:30 AM in the rain, or drizzlies after the rain, to eat dead grass from the yard. You are allowed to wake me up during the night only in case of EMERGENCY!

This means, you have to go out and immediately tend to business...you know what I mean. Another reasonable reason to wake me up is if someone is here. That would be an emergency, I'm sure. Lastly, if something is wrong in the house, like a fire, or a very sick family member.

Nowhere in the above rules does it say you may wake me up at 2:30 AM so you can go outside and eat grass. Dead grass at that! And just because you asked this morning, NO I won't FEED you at 2:30 AM! Breakfast is at 7:15 am with dinner at 6pm. Exceptions may be made if I have an opportunity to sleep in. 2:30 AM is not one of those exceptions.

Thank you
Mom