Easter… Creating New Traditions

It is Easter today. As a Christian it is the most important holiday of the year.  The day we, as Believers, are given the joy of celebrating Jesus' rise from the dead.  I cannot imagine a love so true that would cause God to give His son, Jesus, to die on a cross for me.  But the best part of the story… He did not just die, he rose again—to show us He is God.

All week I have been well aware of the holiday.  You would have thought I could step outside my own selfishness and make the holiday about God and His sacrifice.  But NO, I have struggled feeling sorry for myself.  This is our first holiday away from Colorado, our first holiday to be away from friends and family.  Previously, we would have gone to Good Friday service with Paul, Catrina and the kids.  We would have then all gone to church on Sunday together; and then shared a holiday meal—much larger than we planned or certainly needed.

I have really struggled sleeping lately.  Some days I do not get into bed until after midnight.  Last night I woke up at 4am and thought it was time to get up.  This is only important because my poor sleep and resulting lethargy will follow me all day.  However, this morning I woke up determined to make new memories.  Our new journey of life is not a loss—it is a blessing that God has allowed in our lives.

As with most towns we visit, we looked for a possible church to visit.  We just could not find one that we really wanted to attend for Easter.  Because this campground has a chapel, we decided we would go to the Sunday morning service here.

The chapel is a sweet little country church.  There is a lady sitting at an electric keyboard that I could easily imagine played the piano in her small country church at home.  The preacher, complete with pony tail and long beard, is a biker, wearing jeans and carrying a black leather jacket.  There are several people sitting and visiting.  More people continue to arrive until the service begins.  As we are all worshipping together, I am reminded that we are all here from different parts of the country.  Everyone here is traveling and some are also far from their family.  The thing that brings us together is that we all agree that gathering together this Easter morning to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the perfect place to be.

We sang several old hymns and opened the Word together.  It was not a church I would have been drawn to if we had been at home.  The music was calm, the message was basic and it was just where we needed to be today.