Egg Hunts

 What are you looking for in life? 

• 
  Are you looking for love? 

• Are you looking for acceptance? 

• Are you looking for success? 

• Are you looking for happiness? 

• Are you looking for joy?

• Are you looking for fun?

• Are you looking for excitement?

• Are you looking for purpose? 

• Are you looking for meaning? 

• Are you looking for hope?
  

Everyone is looking for something in life. Sometimes we are well aware of what we are pursuing, and sometimes we have no idea, but we know that we're looking for something. 

April Fools'

This past Tuesday was April Fools’ Day, a day traditionally associated with pranks and jokes and outlandish stories. I used to work at a press release distribution company, and every year we received tons of erroneous press releases that were put out by major companies in jest and fun. Sometimes they were simply trying to trick people or make them laugh, and sometimes they were used as part of a larger marketing campaign to bring attention to a new product or a corporate change, like a new name or logo. 

When it comes to Jesus, and Easter, God sort of played the ultimate April Fools’ Day joke. For thousands of years the Jews had been looking for a Messiah. They had been waiting expectantly for the Anointed One, the Chosen One, a Savior who was going to come restore their nation. They were waiting for a conquering warrior king who was going to usher in a new kingdom and bring the Jewish people back together and free them from the chains of slavery and oppression that they had been living under for so long. 

Everything Rides On Hope Now

How easy it is to forget that God has never left us and will never leave us. When we feel broken, over and over again, when those we love are broken, when life doesn't let up, when you don't feel as if you can be strong anymore ... it's easy to forget.

God doesn't leave, though. He hasn't, and He won't, and His promises are sure. He has promised that His grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in weakness.

He is with us, and He empowers us to be with each other. We hold each other. We laugh together. We cry together. Sometimes we are the strong ones, who help lift others up. Sometimes we are the weak and broken who need to be lifted.

We don't do it alone. He is with us. We are with each other.

Never Even Think of Failing

A word that God has really placed on my heart ever since my uncle died in November is "Hope."

I've been thinking about that word a lot over the past couple of months. 

Hope in unthinkably difficult times.

Hope as it relates to Christmas.

Hope for the future.

Hope in something.

I started this year hopeful. Hopeful that it would be a far better year than the previous several have been. It may turn out to be, but it's also started pretty hard, which can make hope difficult.

The Force

It's the 4th of May, Star Wars Day, so I thought I'd write a bit about The Force today.

The Force is the energy, power, life force within the Star Wars universe, that is in and around everyone and everything. Certain beings draw power from The Force while alive and every living thing becomes a part of The Force when they die. The Jedi and Sith are capable of using/controlling/manipulating The Force, in the case of the Jedi, to selflessly protect and defend and promote peace, in the case of the Sith, to selfishly pursue personal gain and power by any means necessary, including destruction and death. The Force is what allows Jedi and Sith to wield lightsabers efficiently, dodge blaster rifles, levitate, read/control minds, move objects, have advanced senses and reflexes, etc... It is essential to life in major and minor ways. It drives the stories of Star Wars.

Yes, Jesus Loves Me

♫ Yes, Jesus Loves Me ♫

So many people have sung this simple children's tune countless times, both as children and as adults, and being that it is a children's song it is often easy to forget, or simply not look at, how profound and deep it is. Have you ever taken the time to examine this one, 4-word, phrase? I hadn't really, but it struck me yesterday, as we were singing this line in our Easter service, that is is truly a remarkable phrase. Let me show you.

Vampires & Zombies | Suicide & Blood

In honor of Halloween I am going to be writing a bit about zombies and vampires. Now, I traditionally despise Halloween with a passion. I didn't want to have anything to do with it whatsoever: No Trick-or-Treating, no handing out candy, no decorations, no dressing up, I didn't even like church "Fall Festivals." My opinion has changed a little bit, which is a topic for another blog, but for today I am going to fall into the theme of the day embrace zombies and vampires, but not in the traditional way.

A couple years ago I wrote a couple Buzz posts (Do you remember Google Buzz?). Here's what they said.

What if I said you were a vampire, evil & dead to the core & your 1 hope for life, the thing you crave most, blood that's innocent and pure?

 

Would you call me crazy if I said that, in order to live, you must drown, you're a zombie, walking dead, & your 1 hope for life is suicide?

R.I.P. (For real this time)

So I realized today that my post yesterday may have been somewhat callous as it was entitled R.I.P. and was a joke about my car dying, when, in fact, there was a tragic school shooting in Ohio yesterday in which 3 kids, as of now, were killed.

So, I just wanted to take this time to offer my condolences to the families of those who were killed, and say that I am praying for them, for all of the students at the school, and for the student who comitted the shooting, as well as his family.

I may never understand why things like this happen, and it is so tragic when it does, but regardless of whetehr or not we understand the darkness in this world, I know that there is a light that pierces through the thickest darkness, that light is Jesus. He is hope, peace, comfort, and salvation when everything else is falling away.