Reviving Easter...

    I don't know about you, but holidays have a tendency to become repetitive and mundane as we get lost in the hustle and shuffle of it all.  We're bombarded with things to buy, places to go, and family to visit and many times as Christians we lose the whole reason we are celebrating.
    I am usually right there in the thick of getting caught up in it all, but for some reason this year Easter hasn't gotten sucked into the mess of commercialism for me.  I believe there are several reasons for this.
    A few weeks ago my mom encouraged me to read a book she'd found and loved.  It's called Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo.  It's the story of a 4 year old boy who goes to heaven during major surgery, but his parents don't find this out until months later.  Over the course of the next year they discover bits and pieces of his experience that are backed up by scripture and completely change their view of what awaits them after death.  It's a rock-your-mindset kind of book and it definitely did that for me!  It's changed many of the views of heaven that movies and secular culture blindly lead us to believe.  Read it! You won't be disappointed!

   
I've also been given some amazing and powerful worship songs recently.  They're the kind of songs that leave you with goose bumps at the end because they speak such truth.  One inparticular is the song I was given to sing for my church's Easter Services this year.  It's called "Your Great Name" by Natalie Grant.  There are lines in this song that just move me and cause me to sing louder and with greater passion like "Every fear has no place at the sound of your great name." or "The sick are healed, and the dead are raised at the sound of your great name." 

   

    

    Another song that is older, but still touches me is Nichole Nordeman's "Crimson".  I've been playing this song a lot this week as we lead up to Good Friday, which marks the day Jesus died on the cross.  This song is haunting.  It's set to a well known classical piano piece that rises and falls in melody and intensity.  The words are simple, but pointedly truthful about what he endured and what it meant for us.  No matter how many times I listen to the song, without fail the last line leaves me speechless.  I've included the words below.

Crimson

One choice

One tree

One fall for humanity

One lie

One liar

One bite is all death required

One great regret

One squandered chance and yet

One hope

One day

One name above all other names

One bridge between then and now

One way to discover how

One price

One tree

One drop of crimson covers me