Good morning, fine folks! Thanks for checking in with us on this extra special day.
Today is Easter, the celebration of Christ’s resurrection following his crucifixion three days prior. I’m neither a pastor nor a religious scholar, so I won’t attempt a sermon or a lecture. I don’t have the qualifications to do either.
I’m a generally private person and have always been more guarded than I probably should be when discussing my religion. It’s a personal topic, intimate even, and I rarely talk about it with anyone outside of family and close friends. I know that this is not the directive the Bible gives us, however, so I will speak from a more personal perspective this morning than is typical for me — an exercise to better live the life my faith commands.
As a Christian, I can say that Easter represents — to me — the very basis of my faith: Jesus died and rose from the tomb for me, for you, for all of us. This ultimate sacrifice, this absolution of our sins, provides our one and only route to salvation. The hard part is already done. The heavy burden was taken off our shoulders long ago, so the most important thing left to do is believe. This is the basic idea on which almost every sermon I have ever heard was built upon.
We’re all sinners, and I’m sure I’ve committed more than my fair share, so this belief is extremely humbling to me. If you know me, or used to know me, and think “Who is this fool to tell anyone how to live or what to believe?” just know that you’re right, and I agree with you.
Easter always brings back a ton of memories from my childhood. I was tremendously fortunate in that the Easter Bunny never missed our house. The gifts were almost identical every year, and exactly what I wanted: I would usually get a pair of batting gloves, some candy, a sports book or magazine, and maybe a CD.
(Cool aside: Mom kept my Easter basket when I outgrew this particular tradition, and it has now been passed on to my nephew, Jonah, who’s about to celebrate his first Easter.)
After my sisters and I would inspect our baskets of goodies, we’d head to church. Sunday school and church on Easter always focused on the same scriptures, the verses from the Gospels on Christ’s resurrection. You always knew it was Easter because the congregation was a little bigger, the clothes a little nicer, the pastels a little more prominent.
My favorite Easter memories were all after church, and all mostly egg-hunt themed. Usually at one of my grandparents’ houses, my sisters, cousins, and I would have massive egg hunts. Every participant, from the cousin who had just learned to walk (seemed like there was a new one every year) to the cousin who was just young enough to still participate, would fill bags upon bags of eggs, and subsequently go home with a gargantuan sack of candy.
I’d give anything to see some old video of these sometimes competitive, sometimes laid-back, but always-joyous afternoons with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins — many of whom are no longer with us.
I hope there are plenty more kids growing up today the way I did. I hope they will go to church this morning and learn the real meaning of Easter, and then I hope they’ll spend their afternoon with family having fun and making memories.
We gave our interns the day off today, so we’ll get through the weather quickly: Just a few minutes after 6 a.m., it’s a brisk 42 degrees here at The County Line’s Adair County office in north Columbia, and just a couple degrees warmer down the road at company headquarters in Russell Springs. It’ll be cloudy today, but no rain in the forecast until late tonight/early tomorrow morning, if it rains at all. Today’s high will top out around 60 degrees.
We’re sending out a trio of HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes today to Wes Bryant, Bo Biggs, and Danny Willis. We hope it’s a good one, gentlemen!
