The Third Day

Easter, according to Webster, is an annual Christian festival in the spring celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. Today celebrates, that the tomb they laid Jesus in, was found empty the morning they arrived, near dawn, to properly prepare the body for burial.

I don't pretend to understand this. I am in awe of this possibility and have many years of questions and doubts, yet, I do believe. I believe in what I don't understand because I fear God more than any god I've been introduced to. I believe in what seems preposterous, foolish, even crazy to many, so as not to be sorry when I die and find out it was true. Should it not be true, what have I lost? Life in this world has been hell already and my scars are deep...but I fear a hell worse than what I've already experienced or witnessed by not believing in the resurrected Christ!

With both, Dad and Mark's death I experienced such a tear in my heart. I was holding Dad when he died and I arrived at the hospital within an hour after brother Mark died. I was insane with sobs and grief after the loss of both. And with both, a sort of numbness settled around me and I stumbled for days...in a fog. Now if either of them had disappeared and then appeared later......how could my heart not burst from the sheer volume of emotion this experience would produce.....but no... this was not to be for them. So what was it like like for those whom witnessed the death and tombing of Christ, only to see him on the third day? The day he promised he would be raised, the third day after he was destroyed.

The resurrection of Jesus impacted his followers so much that they were transformed and risked thier lives to tell everyone of this experience. Faith in the resurrection of Jesus has transformed folks I knew were lost, into someone I hardly recognize. My Mom was one of those folks. Can such faith be ever found in me? Sometimes I'm over-whelmed with faith and filled with such peace and love. More often I'm stuck in a rut, buried under a mountain or screaming in a row boat on an ocean of stormy waves, no oars and taking on water fast!

Every time I've heard the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus, or read it in the Holy Scriptures, I'm captivated. I can picture the confusion, the deep sorrow, then the absolute, awe inspiring wash of emotion to behold one who was dead but now risen. I feel thier feelings, I think, when I witness similar near death recoveries of family and friends who walked a path of self destruction, a type of walking dead and when they find God, a Higher Power, Jesus the Christ.....they rise from what they once were to absolutely, awe inspiring folks! These special experiences give me hope. Hope that I, too, can be transformed and that when no longer in the flesh here, that I leave a legacy of love...not hurt, not pain, not death!