Some Thoughts...

I was sitting in my studio this morning continuing to prepare for Palm Sunday and Easter when I noticed something new. I'll set the stage a bit by saying, while the view from my window is nothing spectacular, rather standard suburban fare, there is a beautiful Bradford (flowering) Pear that is currently covered with clusters of white blossoms. Of course the blossoms are not anything new, as we have lived in our house for a bit over four years, but the upstairs vantage point is new to me this year. From this vantage point I could see, up close, hundreds of honey bees hard at work. It was really fun to watch, even though I got absolutely nothing done.

I've seen bees working before, I've even seen them in this number. I guess what struck me is, even though they were hard at work, they seemed to be having fun. Would it not be excellent if we glorified the Lord by being truly excited to work? In all things, to His glory, absolutely enjoy all things in the light of Glory.

The second thing that struck me was a line from a song I was working on at the time. I was making some modifications to a chart for a song called "On the Third Day" by Michael Olson (props to the writers too, Matt Maher and Marc Byrd). Just prior to each chorus is the line, "For everything must die to rise again." Seeing the tree blooming and listening to this tune I really plugged into the fact I was witnessing the beginning of a couple of life cycles, a rising again of sorts.

You see, the tree lost its blossoms, gained leaves, lost its leaves, then basically died for the winter. Did this tree die? Yes, it showed no obvious signs of life all winter. Was there still something acting behind the scenes? Yes, although physically dead the tree was still it's existential self. Is this not what we see in Christ Jesus?

The Apostles Creed states "...who descended into hell, and on the third day rose again from the dead." Now I'm not going to go deeply into theology other that to say this is not a literal hell, rather a translation of the Greek hades, which a literal translation renders as the place of death. It is clear from scripture Jesus is still alive while physically dead, in fact telling the thief on the cross "I assure you: Today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Jesus died. He was physically alive, physically died, and physically rose again!

Look around today. For that matter, look around everyday. We see things die and rise again all around us. The natural world is filled with things that do this daily. Trees, flowers, caterpillars into butterflies, and the list continues. For that matter, look at the things man creates: How many times do you reboot your computer to get that new software you installed? It is amazing how the entirety of our being is surrounded by the glory of God, yet we are so quick to dismiss it. The Gospel is true! It surrounds us all whether we recognize it or not.