New Life

 

It was a long winter.  And Spring has been slow in coming.  However...the signs of life renewed, life emerging, are showing up more each day in the once gray and drear landscapes of East Central Illinois.

Today we celebrated Easter.  In so many ways, the parallels of Spring and Easter are inseparable. Death before Life restored. The renewal of life seen clearly in the changing seasons is a still only just a glimpse at the larger story of life restored in the context of Easter.

We sometimes forget that when Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross, his physical death was also a dying of hopes and dreams of those who loved him.  The dark winter of the soul surely defined each one who had only days before followed their Lord as he triumphantly  had entered Jerusalem.

But then came Sunday!  Jesus conquered death Easter Morning.  Despair became hope...Faith was renewed.  And unlike the new life we see with the changing of the seasons...New Life in Christ  is a present and future promise.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

John 11:25-26

Easter is the source of Hope in my life.  Experiencing the death of those we love brings the promise of resurrection and restoration into sharp focus.  Joy which is experienced through tears here and now will be perfected someday.  

I thought especially about the implications of Easter as I drove by our High School last week.  There is a tree that was planted in memory of Greg in May of 2003.  This past week it was in full bloom.  I had to stop, take some pictures, and pray a prayer of thanksgiving for this tangible reminder of the promise of new life...all because of the love of God and the transformational power of the resurrection.

Amazing Love

Graham Kendrick

My Lord, what love is this that pays so dearly
That I the guilty one, may go free

Amazing love oh what sacrifice
The Son of God giv’n for me
My debt He pays and my death He dies
That I might live, that I might live

And so they watched Him die
Despised, rejected but
Oh the blood He shed flowed for me

And now this love of Christ
Shall flow like rivers
Come wash your guilt away, live again!

Retreat

The annual GCBC Women’s Retreat was this past weekend. It had been several years since I had attended the gathering that convenes at Camp Warren for one weekend (Friday eve - Sunday noon) a year.

The group of women, young and ‘seasoned’, spent time in worship and listening to challenging messages based around the theme of friendship. Wonderful meals and great table talk seasoned the time spent together.

A personal highlight of the weekend retreat was the time I spent alone late Saturday afternoon as I walked beside the peaceful lake at the camp ground. The sun was bright and the sky was clear blue. I listened as the birds are beginning to sing a more convincing Spring song...and I observed the branches of the bare trees that are also testifying to the change of season as they prepare to burst forth with full bloom of flower and leaf.

Retreat for me was in those moments of quiet, meditation, prayer, and God’s Word thanks to the Daily Audio Bible podcast. Retreat was basking in the warm, early Spring sunlight, embracing the moment. Laying flat on my back, looking up to the sky, these words, this song, inspired by Isaiah 40:8, went through my mind...

“I See You” by Rich Mullins

Lord, You’re leading me

With a cloud by day

And then in the night

The glow of a burning flame

And everywhere I go, I see You

And You take my hand

And You wash it clean

I know the promised land

Is light years ahead of me

And everywhere I go, I see You

Well, the eagle flies

And the rivers run

I look through the night

And I can see the rising sun

And everywhere I go, I see You

Well, the grass will die

And the flowers fall

But Your Word’s alive

And it will be after all

And everywhere I go, I see You

I am so thankful for the weekend away...surrounded by the raw beauty of life reawakening after a long, brutal winter. The power of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave and promise of restoration are so perfectly alluded to by Spring. Indeed, these days...everywhere I go I see Him!

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah 40:8