the season of easter... the season of Jesus!

wow. sometimes i just miss it. and sometimes i feel like the biggest idiot in the world. i have been so focused on myself this week that i've almost missed it. do you KNOW what tomorrow is? what this week is? this has been holy week. 2000 years ago Jesus laid down his life willingly... did you get that? willingly! for me!! for you... for us. why is it that sometimes we can get so caught up in life that we almost miss it? we almost let his sacrifice slip by unnoticed, for granted... and yet it's the single most important factor of life... any life and all life!! his death. he died that i may live. wow!
you know, for easter we all have different traditions and things we do to celebrate. at my house we set our shoes out and the "easter bunny" comes and fills them in the night with candies and goodies. we always wear our best on easter and we usually go to the sunrise service to remember the "dawn" when the women found the empty tomb. oh yeah, and then we have an amazing dinner... tomorrow will be ham. those things are all well and good, especially for little kids... something to look forward to, an opprotunity for parents to get them excited and then to tell them about the real reason behind the shoes and the candy and the ham. but i almost got lost this year in the midst of it all. i haven't even thanked Jesus for his sacrifice today. how could i? but it's not too late, huh? cuz easter isn't here yet... and i still have time to celebrate and praise Jesus for the amazing gift he gave to me. you have time too... even if it's after easter when you read this. shouldn't every day start by thanking Jesus for the life he gave through his death? i think my goal for this next year is not to get caught up in life and miss the significant moments that commemorate my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. he is, after all, the full meaning for the "season" easter anyways, huh?
thank you so much, Jesus for what you did... how you came into the world and lived a normal life and died a horrendous death so that i could be a part of you and live with you forever. thank you for your life. thank you that you hear me and you see my heart. help me to stay in tune with you and not get side-tracked by the things of this world, but to be ever thankful and grateful for your sacrifice. keep me near the cross, Lord Jesus, that i may follow after you. i love you.

we went to the good friday service last night at this church in ft. wayne and before we took communion the pastor read out of 1 Corinthians 11. it said, "Every time you eat the bread and drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." it hit me as we were taking communion that people everywhere in churches across the world as they participate in communion are proclaiming Jesus... his life his death... what that means. some may not believe in Christ or what he did, but every time we partake of his body and his blood we proclaim that he died and that he is alive and that he is coming back again!! how amazing is that!?!