Easter Sunday

Day 28  Even though we are not able to attend church, go out in public, and celebrate with all our families, we will still celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This is the day we will rejoice and worship Christ and the greatest sacrifice he made for us. There is a song I have heard many times the last few days and it just keeps running in my head. The song is called, "Is He Worthy?" And sure enough, that was the first song I heard this morning when we turned on the live church service from Cornerstone. They had a group of over a dozen people singing together over zoom. It was like a virtual church choir. It turned out beautiful. We sat on our couch in the living room and watched live with hundreds of others. Here are some of the lyrics to "Is He Worthy"

Do you feel the world is broken? (We do)
Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do)
But do you know that all the dark won't stop the light from getting through? (We do)
Do you wish that you could see it all made new? (We do)

Is all creation groaning? (It is)
Is a new creation coming? (It is)
Is the glory of the Lord to be the light within our midst? (It is)
Is it good that we remind ourselves of this? (It is)

Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole?
Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?
The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave
He is David's root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave

Is He worthy? Is He worthy

Of all blessing and honor and glory?

Is He worthy of this?   He is

A few weeks before Easter Stonebridge asked me to participate in the church service for Easter by sharing my "cardboard testimony". Basically you are to write something down that represents your life before Christ, then on the other side write down what your life is now in Christ. It took me some time and prayer to figure out just what I wanted to say. I wrote that before Christ I was empty. There is a part of you that never is fulfilled, you are always seeking things to make you happy, wanting to have and be like others and seeking others approval. In Christ you feel joy, he fills that void and you have a peace knowing and loving Jesus. I wrote on my cardboard and it was shared during the message, which was also watched and shared online. Later we watched that service too.

We slept in a little longer than we should have, so we had to hurry the kids through their Easter egg hunt. I scattered candy and candy filled eggs from one end of the house to the other upstairs and down. The kids each had a basket and we told them it was a free for all. That made them hustle. Luke was on a mission and gathered up his eggs fast. I had to tell him to leave some for his siblings as they were more sleep sluggish. According to the kids, they will never outgrow Easter egg hunts and to make sure I never stoop. And to think I considered not doing it this year because they have kind of outgrown it. I just did it because after being cooped up inside, it might be fun. After baskets were full and a few sugary treats, we were on the couch for church. We even dressed for the occasion. After church, Karen and Orrie had us over for brunch. It was hard not having all of the large extended family together as we always do. I am sure the others were extra sad and it was hard for Karen and Orrie too. With the COVID , everyone felt this was for the best. The 7 of us had a breakfast of eggs, grandma's delicious pancakes,  and bacon. We watched another church service that was broadcast  locally on channel 13 from New Hope church in Des Moines. We were so impressed that a local church was able to broadcast, that was a first.. It was a wonderful sermon and I pray that many people were reached by it! Later we watched some home videos and had a piece of pie. Jayden and Luke went the day before to Karen's to learn how to make their favorite pie and today we ate them. Luke loves apple and Jayden lemon. They also made chocolate and a cherry. We sure filled up on the sweets!