The Hope Chest: Random Thoughts a Few Days After Easter
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>
THE HOPE CHEST HOME SCHOOL NEWS
RANDOM THOUGHTS A FEW DAYS AFTER EASTER
FROM VIRGINIA kNOWLES
APRIL 17, 2001
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I confess that I initially had a hard time getting into Easter this year.
For starters, with two family members out of town during Holy Week, I
was just too frazzled to even think about it. We did enjoy our church's
annual Resurrection Egg Hunt in the park last Friday, where Pastor Ken
Wells shared the glad story of Jesus, and I'm glad someone ELSE organized
it! Speaking of eggs, to be honest, I really hate dyeing them. In a
concession to my children this year, I told them they could do it if I
didn't have to do anything. (I did have to go to two stores trying to
locate enough eggs on Saturday afternoon!) They managed to do the rest,
and I STILL got frustrated with the mess and the cries of "She won't
give me the purple bowl!" and "My best egg cracked!"
As for Sunday, any mom with a few young ones can relate to the juggle of
getting ready for church in the morning. I was especially looking
forward to going as I had missed three weeks due to a case of the stomach
flu which made the rounds in our family. Thad took the older girls to
Sunday School, leaving me extra time to prepare Andrew (almost 4), Micah
(almost 2), baby Naomi and myself. Of course Andrew fussed about the
pants I wanted him to wear and took his socks back off. I couldn't find
my hairbrush, after giving strict instructions for it to be left in my
bedroom. I ended up brushing my hair and the boys' hair with a tiny
little doll hairbrush -- the only one I could find. (Humorous in
retrospect, but as Naomi was screaming by this time, I wasn't feeling
amused.) I thought I was running late and rushed out to the van to strap
all three children into their safety seats. In the process, I managed to
ram my knee really hard, at which point a neighbor strolled by and
started chatting about the sunrise service he had just attended. I'm
afraid I wasn't very attentive to him! We did make it to church on time.
It was worth the effort!
"Christ is risen!" declared our worship leader, Kurt Hefflefinger. "He
is risen indeed!" responded the congregation. "CHRIST IS RISEN!" he
repeated. "HE IS RISEN INDEED!" we replied. We jubilantly sang the
traditional Easter hymns and choruses, and I pondered the thought that
millions of believers around the world, including most of you, were
singing ones just like it that day. Our friend David Lang did a tender
rendition of O Sacred Head Now Wounded, and Pastor Tim VanderMey
passionately preached about who Jesus REALLY is. It was quite a glorious
Resurrection Day service. That afternoon we went to Thad's mother's
house for Easter dinner. It was so good to see two of his sisters, a
"potential" brother-in-law (?), and an older aunt. We also watched The
Miracle Maker on TV.
We were tired after such a long day, but Lydia (6) and Andrew (3) wanted
a bedtime story. I made up one about our serial characters, Max and Liz,
and how joyful they were on Easter Day. This sparked a "miracle moment"
when Lydia seemed ripe for spiritual things. She asked sincere questions
about salvation and insisted that she wanted Jesus to be in her heart.
We couldn't finish the conversation just then, but in the morning she
hopped in bed with me and told me she was ready to talk about it again.
A little while later she prayed about confession, repentance, forgiveness
and Jesus being Lord of her life. Angels rejoice in heaven over such a
prayer! (Luke 15:10) And we do too!
I decided to commemorate this occasion by taking Lydia to buy a new Bible
with clearer, larger print than her old one. After we got in the van to
go home, someone noticed that Andrew had a wad of gum in his mouth --
that he had filched from the Christian bookstore! I don't think he had
much of a clue about needing to pay for things, but he certainly needed
to learn -- fast! After making him spit out the gum, we marched right
back into the store, he apologized (almost inaudibly) to the sweet clerk,
handed over 52 cents restitution and got his receipt to show that he had
PAID for it (alas, with Mommy's money)!
Dear ones, do we know that someone needs to PAY FOR our sins (yes, we are
ALL sinners!), and the price is more than we ourselves can bear? When I
was a teenager on a missions team in Scotland we learned a little chorus
that goes like this:
"He paid a debt he did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay!
I needed someone to wash my sins away.
But now I sing a brand new song, Amazing Grace!
My Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay!"
It's true. Our debt is not 52 cents. It is our life! Miracle of all,
while "we were yet sinners,"Jesus paid for our lives with his precious
blood (Romans 5:8, 1 Peter 1:18). Thus mercifully redeemed, we are not
our own anymore. We belong wholly to him, to be in his service, at his
command, our entire lives. But oh, the reward we get that we did not
deserve! We have been reconciled with God the Father, and have the
promise of eternal joy in Heaven, where God the Son has gone on ahead to
prepare a home for us. In the meantime, we also have the counsel and
comfort of God the Holy Spirit!
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gifts!
If you haven't already taken the time this year to truly contemplate the
victorious message of resurrection and share it freshly with your
children, won't you do it right now?
Blessings in the Risen Lord,
Virginia Knowles
P.S. I wil be sending out "Extras and Announcements" in the next day or
so. If you have any item that you want me to include, send it my way!
For those of you who have asked (and those who haven't) I will also be
sending out my resource list.