There is no Jesus

Well didn't I come up with a classic line on Easter morning in church today that I will forever be reminded of!

Most years on Easter, our church will do a dramatic presentation related to Jesus' death and resurrection. This morning we were watching a drama in church that featured a few disciples and Mary Magdalene. As the drama team came down the aisles to begin, my daughter leaned over to me and asked, "Is Gord [playing] Jesus?" (Gord most often plays Jesus in these dramas). I responded, "No. There IS NO Jesus." My daughter looked at me in feigned shock that I would say such a thing, and now she feels like quitting life and all she's involved in because 'There is no Jesus'. LOL. And she will forever remind me I said that.

We chuckle at that statement because we so strongly believe and trust in Jesus that it's absurd to ever allude to him not existing. And yet at this time of year particularly, there are promotions of books and movies that remind us that there are many who believe there is no Jesus and in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, some also believe he never even existed.

I've enjoyed perusing material by Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, and Walid Shoebat because they were atheists who emphatically decided to debunk Jesus, the Bible and the resurrection, and ended up stating they are unable to refute the evidence and are now believers in Jesus and all He claimed to be. They've done a lot of the legwork in compiling interesting stuff in their books. Kinda reminds me of the apostle Paul when he says that he was trying to stamp God's church right out of existence....but things changed after his encounter with Jesus....and particularly the resurrection of Jesus.

There will always be those who truly believe "there is no Jesus", or at very least, he was a good man, maybe even a prophet who lived but it has no relevance to them right now. But I suggest that when one really cares to check him out and embraces the resurrection as a very real event, it changes one's perspective on everything!

"The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically
before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it;
that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again
exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his
closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at
the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that
he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent
him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I
bring up the rear. I don't deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you
well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God's
church right out of existence.

"If there's no resurrection, there's no living Christ. And face it—if
there's no resurrection for Christ, everything we've told you is smoke and
mirrors, and everything you've staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not
only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about
God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up
Christ—sheer fabrications, if there's no resurrection.

If corpses can't be raised, then Christ wasn't, because he was indeed dead.
And if Christ weren't raised, then all you're doing is wandering about in the
dark, as lost as ever. It's even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and
resurrection, because they're already in their graves. If all we get out of
Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we're a pretty sorry lot.
But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of
those who are going to leave the cemeteries."

The Message Bible, I Corinthians 15: 3-9, 16-20

Good Friday

Thorns piercing scalp

Spikes ripping flesh

Pain searing body

Temptation torturing mind

Grief crushing heart

Life abandoning spirit

Death stealing soul

It is finished.

--------

Word opening eyes

Wonder astounding mind

Grief humbling self

Repentence gripping spirit

Forgiveness entering heart

Peace flooding soul

Healing touching body

Life bringing freedom

Worship spawning joy

It is just begun

Ah Ha!!

I told you spring was coming!!

I spotted this guy (girl?) in our tree this afternoon, singing his little heart out. The robins know and are anticipating the first juicy worm of the season once some snow has cleared. In the meantime, they enjoy our leftover crab apples.

I love having a crab apple tree in our front yard - the street is lined with these trees and they provide crab apples through the winter for many birds until bugs are available.

Another sure sign of spring is that the birds are singing much more heartily these days. Mixed with sunshine it is heaven to my senses!
The robin was not my only birdwatching thrill today. The cedar waxwings are back. Up until a few years ago, I had never really seen this kind of bird other than pictures. One year our yard was suddenly flooded with over 50 of them so I got a close up view and learned about them. Here's a few shots of ones I saw today.... Cedar waxwings can be very comical if you watch them with binoculars. If their throats get completely full of crab apples, they will pass the next one on down the line to the next bird. They will often toss one back and forth to each other. Apparently, if the crab apples are fermented, the birds will get rather tipsy. These sleek birds have cockatiel-like crests, yellow bellies, and the mature ones have red bars on the back of their wings and a yellow tip on the end of their black tails. And they all wear masks.




Once they have pretty well depleted all the trees in the neighbourhood, they fly off together in flocks to find other food sources, and you might not see them again for another year.
Last year we never saw them at all, so I feel lucky that they are back for a visit. Tomorrow I will try putting out apple pieces to see if they go for them...and maybe I'll get better shots of them. And maybe next year they'll remember that bird-lady who puts out food for them and they'll come back for sure.



There may be more snow around the corner, but listen to the birds.

They know warm weather's not too far off!!

What's the problem?

What's the matter?

You don't like snow?


But it's beautiful!

When life hands you snow...make snow angels.

Be a kid again. Revel in it. Eat it. Rub your face in it. Roll in it.

Take a lesson..........

Hope springs

As I write this, there is yet another winter storm warning...the snow and ice is soon to start pelting the windows and ground around us. Seems that we've had one of these storms every week or at least every other! Strangely (VERY strangely!) I am not sick of winter yet. I have loved the changing landscape of new fallen snow, instead of the usual mud and puddles that our winters have seemed to become. It's just been visually more beautiful and I really don't mind more snow....until April. Once that third week of April hits I will have a yearning to drink in the aroma of hyacinths, lily of the valley, and lilacs...and every snowfall after that will be an irritation.

Hard to believe, just yesterday on my day off, I sat outside on the deck for 30 glorious minutes, face tilted toward the sunshine, soaking in the rays. The breeze was actually warm on my face, and smelled of spring. I listened to the rush of melting snow flushing through the eavestroughs as I basked in the sun. As my dog rubbed her face in the snow and rolled over onto her back to wriggle in the cold stuff she so loves, I pictured the seeds, once dead, now sprouting green shoots, yet still unseen beneath the blanketed earth. Bulbs anxiously await below the surface to push their leaves, now forming, toward the sun. Birds are beginning to sing with more vigour. Yes, the earth is waiting...hoping...for the lengthening of days, the turning of the season, and the warmth of the sun.

Are you feeling cold... gloomy....dead? No hope right now that you can see? Take heart. There is an answer....life burgeoning below the surface...you can't see it....but it's ready to burst forth in its own time. Keep your face turned toward the Son. In due time, hope will become sight, the hard ground will soften, and your senses will come alive in the warmth of His presence.