HE'S ALIVE!!!!

I love this day! You know how sometimes a song from your childhood is very associated with a day in your mind? I love how music expresses our feelings about events better than just words possibly can. My song for Easter Sunday morning is Sandi Patti singing, "Was It A Morning Like This?" It doesn't matter how many hundreds of times I've heard it, I still get chills when she gets to the chorus and breaks into,

"Did the grass sing
Did the earth rejoice to feel You again
Over and over like a trumpet underground
Did the earth seem to pound he is risen
Over and over in a never ending round
He is risen! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"

Later in the day, I'll be sitting there and over and over in my mind will go the words to Don Francisco's song, "He's Alive." Again, the goosebumps arrive with his final ending after the story is told when he sings,

He's alive! He's alive, He's alive and I'm forgiven!
Heaven's gates are open wide:
He's alive, He's alive, oh He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive, He's alive, He's alive, He's alive!

I don't know how many times I've heard this story but it still brings me to tears whenever I think about it. Those precious disciples grieving the man they followed when all of the sudden the cries began echoing among them as some reported that now instead of following a dead, great man, they were welcoming a risen Savior!!! What a day!!! Last night as I sat in our wonderful Easter service at church during the communion, I thought once again how being a mother has changed my perspective on even salvation. Now, whenever I am thinking of the sacrifice Jesus made for us, I not only thank Him for my own salvation and the opportunity that we all have to come to Him, but with tears, I try to express my gratitude that my babies have the ability to be forgiven, to just reach out to Him and have Him do all the work to save them. That in their baby voices they can pray and be heard, that no matter what happens, He wants them to be His even more than I do! What a comfort to know that He is already seeking after them, calling them to Himself! Thank you, Jesus!

On a random note, for any old school A-team fans out there, do you think when God watched all of this unfold that he looked down with His biggest smile ever and said, "I love it when a plan comes together!" What a plan it was, so many years in the making. What a God we serve! Oh, where are the ones who don't know, Lord? Who needs to know today that You are alive and that they have not lived until the know the risen Lord? Help us to find them, to reach them, and then come quickly back to us, Lord Jesus!