Confetti Cannons and Jesus

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter!

My Easter Sunday started early(ish).  At 6:52am to be exact.  Not sure why I set my alarm for that time.  Apparently 7:00 wasn't good enough.  didn't measure up.  made too much sense.  meant that I couldn't press snooze.  But the snooze button didn't even matter.  I was too excited to start the day to waste 8 minutes tossing and turning in an in-between-dream-and-awake state.  By 8:15 I was pulling in to the church parking lot and by 9:00 I had music and jelly beans awaiting my worship team kiddos at their practice.

The first Easter par-tay ("service" doesn't seem to do the celebration justice.  It was an all-out par-tay. And yes, it's cooler to pronounce it "tay" than "tea."  Right?) started at 9:30 and the celebration and sugar rushes and confetti cannons just continued from there.  It was amazing.  To see a hundred kids jumping up and down and singing about how their best friend and Savior Jesus is alive was a blessing that I'll never forget.  And the yummy cake was pretty good too.  

After 2 services, I was about dead on my feet.  Normal exhaustion + post-sugar-rush crashing = no bueno. But my sweet Hubs made me lunch (even though he woke up earlier than I did and he had worked at 3 services that morning!) and we got to relax a bit.

Later in the evening, we went out with some family for dinner, then came back to our abode for some pie and coffee.  mmm...french silk pie and fresh strawberry pie... 2 of my favs.  I love them so much that I can't even spell out f-a-v-o-r-i-t-e-s.  It's just favs.  They're that yummy.

So we all crowded in to our miniature-sized home (or at least it feels that small with 8 people in it) and I got to listen the The Hubs' wonderful, hilarious, loud Irish family talk and talk and talk.  They make me smile.  The topics ranged from condo-warming parties to pork chops to booze from the 70's.  Laughter and pie were had by all.

It was a wonderful day.   But ultimately, it wasn't the kids or the confetti cannons or the pie or even the family that made it so wonderful (although that all certainly helped!).  It was what Easter means.  And not just in a historical-factual-earth changing way.  It's what Easter means in my life that made it such a wonderful day for me.

On Easter I celebrate that Jesus died.  He was innocent of any crimes, and yet He died willingly.  Why?  For you.  For me.

On Easter I celebrate that Jesus paid the price for my sins.  Because I believe, when God looks at me, He doesn't see all the horrible and disgusting things that I've done, thought, or felt.  When He looks at me, He sees the innocence of Jesus.

On Easter I celebrate that Jesus is alive.  Like today! He's alive today!  He didn't just die and He didn't just pay the price for all the horrible things I've done.  He came back from the dead with the power to overcome death.  His death, my death, anyone's death- anyone who believes and asks Him.

That is why Easter is so important. That's what made it such a wonderful day.  The kids and the confetti cannons and the pie and the family and Jesus.

I hope that each and every one of you:
             a) had a wonderful Easter
             b) will be able to have some fresh strawberry pie
                  in the near future
          -and-
             c) already know or will come to know the love of
                 Jesus.  (reading the book of Luke in the
                 Bible is a good place to start if you want to
                 learn more!)

Till next time, you beautiful people!