Since this week has been a little slow with the kids gone and us having a couple of days off in Rurrenabaque, I had alot of time to think. One of the things I have been thinking about is Easter weekend. I thought about all of this things I will miss and how that its ok with me. I wont see young boys in the church who are ususally sweaty with messed up hair wearing suspenders and clip-on bow ties. I wont see girls modeling their new dresses and maybe even a hat that matches that of their mothers. I wont hear plastic eggs given by Sunday school teachers popping open and candy falling to the floor during Brother Jerrys sermon. I begin to think how this what I think about when I think of Easter and these are things that we, the church, have made it. The Resurrection is sometimes, if not most times, an afterthought. The way Easter is, its kind of silly if you think about it. ´´Hey, did you see my new bright green shirt? O yeah, remember the tomb is empty? Man, I hope these Cadberry Eggs dont give me a cavity.´´ In a way, I am glad this Easter will be different for me. I think it will be refreshing. In all likelihood, I probably wont even go to church. And, I m ok with this. I plan on thinking alot about the Resurrection and not pastel colored shirts and jelly bellies. Furthermore, on the topic of the resurrection, I would like to share with the readers something I read last year by Brennan Manning, probably my favorite Christian author. In his book Abba´s Child, Manning writes that the church often times talks about two Resuurections. One is the physical resurrection of Jesus two thousand years ago and the other is the one promised to all believers in the end times. However, hardly anyone talks about how Jesus IS alive. We serve a risen Lord. According to Manning, if people really believed that our Lord was alive, they would be acting much different than carrying an attitude of serving a God who sits on a throne from a distance. I believe we are called to rejoice in that our Lord not only did rise, but he IS risen. – Jarred