the Resurrection in images and sounds

The Resurrection is not an event...

the Resurrection is a Person.

This past weekend allowed me the chance to realize that through some images and sounds that personalized my journey with God. I offer them here to give you that same opportunity.

Video 1: Something I found.

• Thought: Jesus could have received all the praise He deserved. Instead, He took on our all the condemnation we deserved... not just once, but again and again - even as we pridefully try to presume He can stop. For this, He becomes like a criminal... so we can become free.

Video 2: Something I assembled.  

• Thought: The Resurrection isn't what it is without the Cross. The Cross isn't what it is without the Resurrection. We are not who we really are unless we really have both. Don't just celebrate this - choose to experience it. 

Video 3: Something I said.  

• Thought: I was unexpectedly ministered by this - it involved listening to something I didn't plan on saying today in service, yet apparently said. A friend of mine caught it and put this together. In the event God wants to use this to speak to you as He did me when I listened to it (which is ironic, I know)... here it is.

Don't just celebrate the Resurrection. Experience it. Integrate it.

Because the Resurrection isn't an event. The Resurrection is a Person.

Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)

silent protectors

Up late, keeping watch from afar over my sons and their friends as they sleep in a pop-up camper in the driveway. Just watched a cop car drive by.

Maybe it's just the time of the night, or maybe it's something more. But I love seeing things like this... silent protection over our lives in the form of teamwork. Things we're unaware of, until we become aware of them.

A lot of life is like this.

Sometimes you're protected without knowing it when someone who could do something doesn't... or when someone does do something they don't have to:

• Maybe they don't take seconds because you want thirds.
• Maybe they hold their tongue as you let yours fly.
• Maybe they take a financial hit so you have a running car.
• Maybe they remember a great past so they don't give you a black eye in the not-so-great present.
• Maybe they don't like what you've said even though everyone else has.

I wonder how many silent protectors we're all surrounded by.

I wonder how often we're more in life together than we realize...
and not so far apart as we feel.

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. "Selah" (Psalm 32:7)