Bursting Forth in Glorious Day

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

--Stuart Townend

This Easter means more to me than perhaps any before. It's always been a good day--Easter makes me think of being in Paris (TX, I'm not that cool!) and eating with my extended family and fighting for sofa space to read the comics. But this time, Easter astounds me. This year has been one of being surrounded and overwhelmed by the powers of darkness and death. To be able to celebrate such a glorious reality--that indeed, Christ HAS conquered death--is incredible and joyous. I want hearts to be captured by this amazing Love that defeats all other powers. I want my heart to be captured again and again by this Light and Life.

The drippy view from my porch this afternoon

I hope you are celebrating this day wherever you are--whether it's with your family or far from them, in your home country or another. I can't speak much Amharic, but I just keep saying in my kindergarten version, "It's a very good holiday! Jesus died! Jesus rose! So it's a great day!" I hope that today is indeed for you a glorious day.
I celebrated Easter this afternoon with some dear people—my small group from last year. We had a feast and great fellowshipJ

My little friends Kate and Erin

Loading up on a feast of good things--we had ham and chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy and salad and rolls and cake . . . there was nothing to complain about today!!

And all the adults waving to those in the group who couldn't be with us!!

Happy Easter!!