Blessed Life: church

Showing posts with label church. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Time. And thoughts...

May already? Where does the time go?

Time.

Time passes so quickly. Caysen is two months shy of 2. I can't believe it! I'm 3 months out from losing my best friend. It seems so short, yet like an eternity. Our lives are but a mist, as it says in James 4. Hard to keep that in perspective, but we will be reunited. Must. Focus. On. That. It's still so difficult, getting further away. You know, the distance and space of time. It's all really hard to wrap my brain around and to fully comprehend.

Pain.

Pain is still so strong at times, and at others leaves a smile on my face. It's weird how it does that. God doesn't protect us from the pain, but he calls us on these paths. And its on these paths that so often its incredibly painful before it's beautiful. It is hard to focus on the beauty in the midst of pain. I know there is beauty in the fact that she is happy, healthy, hearing, whole, loved. Doesn't mean it isn't still painful, though. This translates into many other parts of my life. It is incredibly painful to watch my child undergo procedures or surgeries and to not be able to take his pain. It can be physically painful for me to hold him down while he cries out wanting me to save him. But in the end, I can look at his journey and see how beautiful it has been. How strong and brave he is, the courage that he has. It reminds me what a testimony he has to share with others, and most importantly the new and valuable relationships he has brought to my life.

Trust.

A smart friend of mine said that "insecurity breeds lies and vulnerability breeds trust". Learn to be vulnerable. Be honest and open. It takes bravery, but it allows you to be restored in a way that only God can do. Trust is the single hardest thing to do, because when you trust, you have to believe in others. You wear your heart on your sleeve and risk being hurt much easier and deeper than others. But by trusting others, you are allowing yourself to see true beauty that you can't see if you are guarded and closed.

Loyalty.

Having those people in your life that you can count on. That you can call on to understand you or just "get it", are imperative. Knowing that no matter what happens, you have that person/people on your side, it's a true gift. Don't let those people go. The ones that fight for you, when you forget how to fight. They are a true treasure, with the God given ability to pick you up when no one else can.

And the greatest of these is Love.

Love and appreciation for those that have impacted my life is ever present. I am better able to recognize what is important in my life, my list of priorities has definitely changed. Don't take a single second for granted! Love is never wrong, and is always worth it, even if it causes pain or heartbreak. I love to love. This includes people, friends and family, as unconditionally and strongly as I am able. Why? Becuase that is how God loves us. "His love is fierce, it is strong, it is furious". God's love for us is so deep, that we can KNOW that he never starts something without having a plan. We may not see the end, or understand it when we get to it, but He has his reasonings. Maybe its because he's saving us from a future we can't understand, or torment we don't deserve. God can help us to heal, He loves us. In His arms we can know the true meaning of love. I've learned the beauty of loving others as Christ loved us. It's one of the best things we can do, and despite the pain, the vulnerability, and the sacrifices, it's truly one of the most honest and rewarding things to do.

Just some quick thoughts on this Cinco de Mayo.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

On Grief

Grief.

It's a tidal wave of emotions, a pool you can't seem to swim out of. You seem to have forgotten your life vest, and you do your best to just float.

Some days are good. You accept things, you realize why things are that way and the hurt is minimal. But other days...it hits you like a ton of bricks. It's so incredibly difficult and no matter what you do, you can't seem to get out of your funk. You question why repeatedly, and you just can't seem to understand. The hurt cuts so deep that you would do anything to get away from the pain.

I was watching Grey's Anatomy a few weeks ago they said a line about one of the characters who was undergoing a surgery and not expected to live.

"She's in my head, but I'm not ready for my head to be the only place where she exists."

yeah, that. Do you think anyone is EVER ready for that? I can make a safe assumption here to say that in most cases, no. People aren't ready for that. I can think of all of the friends, family and co-workers of my dear Andi, and I can tell you in that instance? Beyond a shadow of a doubt, NO. Definitely not.

I've done a lot of reading lately, Bible devotionals, books, really anything. A few on the specific topic of grief and healthy grief. One thing that seems to come up repeatedly is that if you don't talk about it and deal with it from the beginning, it manifests in unhealthy ways and will continue to be a bother for years, even messing with your own personal health.

I read this particular exerpt in one of my Bible reading plans on YouVersion. It's called Deep Grief and is by Lysa TerKeurst:

Deep Grief

I stood at the side of a casket too small to accept. Pink roses were draped everywhere. And I watched my mom as she lay across the casket. Within that casket laid part of her heart, so quiet and so still. Her little girl was gone.

It was the type of loss that cuts a heart so viciously it forever defines you. A loss called "deep grief'.

I remember standing paralyzed at the funeral. Just days before we were doing everyday things; suddently it all stopped. People were everywhere. Soft chatter filled in the gaps of our stunned silence. Eventually people went back to their own lives, and we carried on with ours, bound in deep grief.

I desperately longed for God to fix things. To take away my bloodshot eyes. To take away my anger toward him. To take away my guilt for being the one that lived. I felt I didn't deserve to be happy, ever.

This is the reality of deep grief. Even when you love God and believe in his promises, healing takes time.

It takes wading through an ocean of tears.

It takes discovering one day that the sun still shines and it's okay to smile.

It takes prayer, and a decison to stop asking for answers and to start asking for perspective.

Then one day you take off the blanket of deep grief. You fold it neatly and tuck it away. You no longer hate or resist it. For underneath it, wondrous things have happened. Things that can only come about when Divine hope intersects with a broken world.

And finally you can see years stretching before you once again. You look up, blow a kiss, wipe a tear and find it's still possible to dance.

I just love how she worded this. It is so honest and true. Those are all of the initial feelings that one might feel, and it is just so hard to accept. She goes on to the part where she talks about taking off the blanket of deep grief. The first thing I noticed is that she didn't mention a time frame. Because, there is no time frame. It takes as long as it takes. You may wear that blanket for a LONG time. It may take a while before you feel comfortable without it. You get to a love/hate relationship with that blanket. It's almost like a security blanket, but at the same time it's not healthy. Because what grown adult takes their blanket with them everywhere? But that doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. In that moment, at that time, you do what you need to do to cope. To grieve. She gives hope, saying that eventually one day you will be able to step away from it. You won't have such a love/hate relationship with grief. The part where she mentioned that you will "see years stretching before you once again"? That part is SO comforting to read. When you lose a loved one, and especially unexpectedly, it seems like you can barely see until tomorrow. The thought of looking ahead is an impossible task. There is just no way to even think of seeing years ahead. It is just unfathomable.

It's good to know that one day it will be.

Even in the Bible, Jesus wept over the death of his dear friend, Lazarus.

It says in John 11:33-36; (we pick up where Jesus is speaking to Mary - who was the sister of Lazarus)

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

How beautiful is this scripture? Jesus wept right along with them. Jesus was not above the painful and crushing emotion. Jesus wept. And so can we. It's perfectly normal. God wants to hear your heart, and by letting it all out he can slowly begin the process of helping you heal. God weeps along side us as we grieve our loved ones. He feels our hurt and knows our pain. And when we start to heal, he can give us hope and comfort. We may begin to realize what a beautiful place our loved ones have reached. To have all the things the Lord can bless them with in heaven, and to be perfectly healed and well, and rejoicing in His greatness.

But for now, it's okay to cry. Its okay to hurt, to be mad and sad. To be homesick to join those loved ones in heaven. Because they are experiencing one of the most beautiful things that anyone has ever been given, and to join them one day in heaven will be a glorious meeting. Our time will come, but for now we must carry on their legacy here on earth. And what an honor it is, to have the chance to do that!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Time Heals All Wounds...or Not.

Yesterday was tough. A month has passed, and Andi just seems so incredibly far. I don't want to be further away. The further away from that day we go, it almost seems to make it worse.

The saying goes, "Time heals all wounds".

That saying makes me wrinkle my nose in frustration.

Why, you might ask? Simply because, the wounds remain. Eventually, like you would have with a real life wound, it will scab over and be covered with scar tissue but visible scarring remains. On top of that, you also have the emotional pain associated with the injury.

No matter how you are hurt, scars remain. Those scars remind us that the past is, indeed, incredibly real.

Unfortunately, as time goes on from such a great loss, the pain remains fresh for those close. The wounds they bear seem to be cut that much deeper, wider and the injury is just so intensely and consistently present. To those that weren't as close, they seem to carry on without as much pain or hurt. It's as if their scars heal so much quicker, and those of us trying to slowly heal get left behind and forgotten about. We seem to sit behind stuck in a dimly lit hospital room attached to a wound vac because our non-healing and stubborn wound has left us hospital bound, unable to free ourselves from cords to get out to the fresh air and everyday routine. (sorry for the hospital reference there..)

The hard part about losing a loved one? The scars aren't visible to just a passer by. To co workers, to strangers, or even on a day by day basis. You can't know the injury by looking, there is no attached wound vac, no zipper scar, no visible chest tube scarring. When others look at me, they don't know the scars on my heart and soul, the pain of my loss, or that I have only acknowledged that loss no less than a hundred times already in the span of six hours upon waking for my day.

Sure, time will help to heal the wound of loss, but there will always be reminders.

But at the same time, I almost don't want to heal. I want those reminders. I want them repeatedly, so that the legacy of my beautiful friend lives on. I don't want it to heal completely and be like our friendship never happened, our support of each other, our disagreements, and our amazing triumphs over difficulties and trials. I want to be marked, forever. People need to know what I knew about her as a person. They need to know how she changed lives. They need to know about her compassion for others, how genuine her love was for her patients and families, and the way she served others. They need to know how she saved lives.

In the same way, I want to be sure that I live my life so it is known that I have been marked by Christ. I want reminders of his goodness, his grace, how he has walked me through the hard times and how I can prove it by my scars. People need to know Him. I need to share with others His goodness, His encompassing love that surrounds me and gives me peace when I feel like there is just no hope. They need to know how He changes lives, how He cares for us. In the same way that Andi helped saved Caysen's life, others need to know He saves lives. They need to know that we get to see her again, because of Him. That she is safe and healthy and with those who went before her - because of Him. They need to know by His grace, we are saved through faith. They need to know that He saved her.

Wounds suck. Especially the slow healing ones. As time goes on, it seems as if others have forgotten, but I have not. I'm still deeply changed by the loss of Andi, and always will be.

Thankfully, God has given me new interactions to try to help me with healing. Friends and family of Andi's that are with me as we walk through this healing process. I will always speak of Andi and share about what she did for us. I will always try to live my life in the way she did, serving others and being so incredibly selfless. (I remember when she told me that she couldn't drive through a McDonalds without donating EVERY TIME to Ronald McDonald House because she knew how many people were served by those - including some of her very dear friends.) She spent more time thinking about others than herself. She always went the extra step, whether she had the time or energy for it, she did it anyway because she cared. She was dedicated to helping those in need - and the more I think about it, that is very Christ-like in itself.

I want to be sure I live that way. Caring for others, devoted to them, and most importantly sharing the love of Christ. Andi is happy and healed and well in heaven, and we can all have that too! We all have that to look forward to. We have that because of God's deep love for us. All we have to do is accept it.

It's a place that is so beautifully perfect, we don't need time to heal wounds. We will already be healed. Perfectly.

There will be no scars.

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who has seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, 'Write this down, for these things are trustworthy and true'". - Revelation 21: 4-5

“Listen to God with a broken heart. He is not only the doctor who mends it, but also the father who wipes away the tears.”

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Caysen's Dedication Letter

Dear Caysen,

Tonight we are dedicating you at church. A night we weren't sure we would ever have the honor to experience.

Honestly, your Dad and I debated about whether this timing was wise or not. You are in a very fragile state - not tolerating your feeds well, and with your heart in a "band - aided" state that if you were to get sick, we would likely be back in the hospital after just discharging 16 days earlier. Those germs, those people with all their new germs, make everything so risky. But? We don't know what the future holds or where you will be during the next dedication.

We decided this was far too important to us. We want to make this statement before our friends and family, we want to commit to raise you in a Godly home, teaching you about Christ and His love for YOU, and most importantly giving you back to Him.

And you sir, he loves you so very much! He has proven His love for you time and time again in your short five months. From assisting the doctors to save you on your third day of life, to countless surgeries, hospital visits, procedures and interventions. You have been through more than most children this age, and you are still here today by His grace.

Caysen, your Dad and I had such big plans for you. We had mapped out the way we were going to do things. But God had different plans. Bigger plans. He has great things in store for you. I have learned not to plan ahead much further than tomorrow, as God always has a different plan. But, it's a BETTER plan. These days I don't want much for you, besides for you to remain with us. I don't care what you do in your future, or what you are or are not capable of. Honestly, I want the best but when it comes down to it, I don't care if you grow up to be a successful businessman or a cook flipping burgers at McDonalds. I want you to have joy and to know Him, and all that He is. As long as you have that, I know you will be wealthy in more ways that you ever could need.

I want you to know on this night that we are dedicating you, how much we have learned from you. (And not just in medical terminology and diagnoses!) You have taught us more in your short time here with us than we have learned in our entire lifetimes. We have grown closer together, we have learned to seek and ask for help, and most importantly how to walk the closest we have ever been with the Lord. We can't thank you enough for strengthening our bond, our committment towards our family and most importantly our faith. We have learned that there are so many highs and lows, that sometimes it's a sickening roller coaster. But you would never appreciate the highs, if it weren't for those stomach dropping lows. Besides, it can be lonely at the top. But when you are low and leaning on Him, you find much more comfort than you realize.

I was thinking about your name the other day. We really didn't decide until the week before you were born if you were going to be a Corbin or a Caysen. When I go back and look up the meaning of your name, I find a variety of answers. "A variation of Casey", "pure" and "vigilant one". The last two particulary stick out in my mind. You are so young, so pure, so innocent and have been through so much. We have spent countless hours in the hospital, awake at night, praying and keeping vigil over you. The more I look back on it now, your name is just perfect and completely fitting for you.

I'll close with your life verse. It was hard to choose, as you have SO MANY verses that I use to think of you. The entire passage from Jesus Calling on your day of birth is one of my FAVORITE ever, one of the best reads that I go back and look on every time something comes up and I need encouragement. But I didn't choose those verses as your life verse. I chose the verse given to me by my friend Malissa, one that is fitting as it is the Psalm of your birth DAY and birth YEAR. I have included the verse after - because fittingly verse 14 discusses the heart. 2014 Is going to be a great year!

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:13, 14 NIV)

We love you so much Caysen. We are beyond thankful for you and have been so blessed by you in countless ways. You by far are the most difficult, challenging and yet rewarding thing we have ever been given the task of caring for. We love you more than we could ever put into words.

Love you to the moon and back!

Mommy and Daddy

Friday, March 8, 2013

Wherein I discuss my love for Church :)

I know I have written before about how much I love my church, but the love just continues to intensify.

I was thinking the other day about different people I have invited to church. Sometimes it's hard to invite people and not seem overly pushy. It's just that I have come to love the place so much, that I can't wait to share what I love with other people. I have people that I have invited and they turned me down, those are the ones that I continue to pray that they find comfort in Him or in some sort of support group. I continue to pray that they will one day take me up on that offer.

Then there are the people that I invite, and they come. And more often than not, they love it too! They see what my family loves about it, and often times they make it their new home. Its a great feeling being able to share something that is so important to me with others, and to see them fall in love with it as well. This not only goes for friends, but for family. It started years ago and the only person I was able to bring with us to church was my mom. She enjoyed it - and over the years we have started adding more family, including my Dad, my mother in law and father in law and my mother in law's parents. Also? My mother in law's sister started going and then her daughter started coming and so going to church is like an exciting family reunion once a week! I love that people can be just as moved as I am by the weekly messages. It's not a traditional church - so much of it is via satellite which would turn almost any person off once you hear that mentioned. But, once you try it? It's pretty awesome. And you can't help but fall in love with the people, the staff, the message.

Just recently the Senior Pastor made a visit to our campus. (Our church is one church but multiple locations. We are spread out over various states - 15 different campuses as well as pioneering Church Online.) The senior Pastor is a very busy man, so a campus visit was pretty darn exciting. (Don't worry - we have a campus pastor as well who is AWESOME, but the Senior Pastor coming was a real treat.) Pastor Craig came and spoke to a packed house, the air was electric, everyone was excited and motivated. It was amazing. He talked about growth in the past year, as our campus is only one year old. In that time we went from having two services, to eight. Seeing over 4,000 people a weekend. In one year we have had 1,667 people raise their hands to commit their lives to Christ It's just amazing the work God is doing in our community and through our church. Hearing him speak in person, hearing his emotion behind his voice and his excitement over what is going on in our little slice of the world was just powerful.

Husband and I are so proud to be part of the team. We have a list of core values that I am going to list right here.

Lifechurch.TV Core Values:

1) We are faith-filled, big thinking, bet-the-farm risk takers. We’ll never insult God with small thinking and safe living.

2) We are all about the “capital C” Church! The local church is the hope of the world and we know we can accomplish infinitely more together than apart.

3) We give up things we love for things we love even more. It’s an honor to sacrifice for Christ and His church.

4) We wholeheartedly reject the label mega-church. We are a micro-church with a mega-vision.

5) We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ. To reach people no one is reaching, we’ll have to do things no one is doing.

6) We will lead the way with irrational generosity. We truly believe it is more blessed to give than to receive.

7) We will laugh hard, loud and often. Nothing is more fun than serving God with people you love!

8) We always bring our best. Excellence honors God and inspires people.

9) We are spiritual contributors not spiritual consumers. The church does not exist for us. We are the church and we exist for the world.

10) We will honor Christ and His Church with integrity. If we live with integrity, nothing else matters. If we don't live with integrity, nothing else matters.

I want to point out number 7 and 9. I absolutely love those.

You know, it took a long time for Husband and I to take the plunge and serve at church. We were regular attenders, making sure not to miss and if we had to? We caught it online. Well, we helped to launch the campus we currently attend and in doing so, we signed up to volunteer. We love volunteering. I don't know why it took us so long, we have met so many great people and there is nothing quite like the feeling of being the church and existing for the world. We have since transitioned from being regular volunteers on the parking and experience prep side of things to being Host Team leads every other week. That may sound like a step down, but it's a step up. It puts us in charge of the entire Host Team of Volunteers for one service - coordinating about 40 volunteers that do everything from assist with parking, greeting, ushering, hospitality (we serve sweet tea, Starbucks coffee and chips and cookies and granola bars at each service) and Experience Prep for those that help reset the auditorium after services. Its a lot of people to keep track of, to email on our week and encourage them, make sure they are still going to be coming, and then before the service we check them all in, print nametags and lead a huddle. The Huddle invovles more encouragement or any news as well as leading the entire group of people in prayer. INTIMIDATING!

But? We love it. It gives us an "off week" to have less commitments and it gives us a chance to learn more names and meet more people and feel that much more involved. The networking has been so fun! It has been enjoyable serving, and I'm so glad we do it now. I'm sad it took so long, but thankful we are invovled now. And like number 6 says, it is more blessed to give than recieve. And giving of my time is something I can definitely do, and love to do.

So I just thought I would write a little about my love for my church. I love those core values, I love the people, I love serving and I love learning. And there is so much left to learn, that's for sure!

Monday, August 6, 2012

South Tulsa: At the Movies

We went to South Tulsa during one saturday evening to check out their At The Movies set up. They did Star Wars, and it was pretty darn sweet! Enjoy the pictures of their lobby!!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

At the Movies: Broken Arrow, The Finished Product!!

So, you wanted to see the finished product, eh? Well, here it is! I forgot to get a close up of the kids area and the Snow Cone station. That's right, kids get a snowcone! Do you have any idea how awesome that is? Plus the snacks are popcorn and candy, and of course you can get your free Starbucks. They added a new evening service for At the Movies, and with it they encouraged attendance by offering Klondike bars. Awesome! Needless to say, they are keeping the extra service.

The Ice Cave that Husband and I pioneered. This is the one we were
responsible for, so in our biased opinion it looks the best. :)

The finished Manny...

This is my sister's tree that she donated! Right up front!

Looking from one end of the lobby to the other!!

This is the host area, were you pick up your drinks and snacks.
For ATM, we have blue Gatorade as Glacier Ade, plus popcorn and candy.

That blur down there? That'd be Camden.

Little acorns were the signs for men and women restrooms.

Looking down the other end of the lobby!

And there you have it! The finished product. Again, all taken with my iPhone
so I apologize for the not so impressive quality. At least not what I am
used to taking anyway. ;)

Stay tuned for South Tulsa pictures!!!

Monday, July 23, 2012

At The Movies: Broken Arrow -- The set up

So, y'all know I LOVE my church, right?

So when it came time for the At The Movies series - we jumped at the chance to volunteer all week to help put it together. This is right up C's alley, as he loves anything hands on or building anyway. He got to be creative and help with problem solving, so he was really in his element. Thankfully my mom was able to watch little C so we could make this happen.

We volunteered almost everynight, and it was awesome to see it come together!

The theme for Lifechurch.tv Broken Arrow Campus was Ice Age. Here are my pictures that I took with my iPhone, so they aren't super amazing but they'll do!

These pictures are of the wooly mammoth, Manny. Any picture like this will show a progression of him coming together!

These were the "ice caves" in the process of being made. It took a lot of creativity and working with materials we had to figure out how to make them look good.

These were the icicles that Husband had the task of figuring how to hang on the 8 TV screens we have in the lobby. He really enjoyed being given a task and problem solve on how to get them to hang, but he quickly figured that out in one night, and had them hung all on his own in one hour, so on to the next project it was!

This picture cracks me up, that is the "ice mountain" going up in another corner of the lobby and that would be our worship pastor hanging out on top of it, problem solving on how to get it to look the way he wants, but instead busting a move while up there. :) Get it done Brandon!

This is Manny coming right along! They had to go to 8 different fabric stores to find enough of this wooly mammoth hair to cover this beast!

Pretty awesome huh? Wanna see the finished product?

Stay tuned!!

Don't forget to watch Lifechurch.tv and church online. Last week they did "We Bought a Zoo" and it was amazing, and this weeks is "Moneyball". You can watch Moneyball anytime online for the rest of this week, so check it out! Fantastic message. :)

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Lifechurch: At The Movies. Midtown visit!

I had to work last weekend, so we were unable to go to our regular Lifechurch campus because there is no saturday night service at our campus. Since it was At The Movies preview week, we got to go visit midtown campus. Their campus did a "Tangled" theme, and the lobby was all medieval and their LifeKids area was more cartoonish. It was pretty awesome but I must say, it sure looks like a LOT less work than covering up our campuses LARGE lobby area!

Husband and C checking out the dungeon

This is the stable area, and this area will have a live horse in it on Sunday mornings. I must admit, that was pretty exciting to me!!

Walking in to the campus you walked through a castle. It was pretty cool, definitely gave a neat feeling as you walked in.

This is what you walked in to get to the auditorium. Complete with fake flame!

This is the LifeKids area, had a big Tangled mural.

This is the other side of the lobby had looked like it had some medieval castle like things. I obviously don't know the technical name!

Leaving through the castle.

A couple last shots of inside the lobby!

And a final shot of the worship. Cause it's AWESOME!

You guys, if you can't physically go to a LifeChurch location and want to be involved in At The Movies, you can watch live online. But trust me, if you really want a full experience? Going to see how the lobbies are decorated are AWESOME and totally worth it. We are going to try to visit another campus so we can really check out how everything is all done up. It's pretty exciting around these parts!!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Easter.

Today is an amazing day. It is the day where our Lord and Savior, who died from our sins, rose again.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Luke 24:2-6

Years ago, a Friday was the day where the world stood still. Hope was lost. Confusion abounded. But what we do know is that Sunday came. And on that Sunday there was a sunrise like never before. He is risen, INDEED!

He died to save us. The problem is, "until we see ourselves as sinners, we don't see a need for a savior" -Craig Groeschel

And I think that is one of the most important things we can take away. We are not good people. The only person who ever was good and pure? He died for us. He did something that no one ever would have chosen to do, but that something that he did was what EVERYONE needed.

Thank God for his amazing Son and our Savior on this day.

Happy Easter, friends.

If you are looking for a good message, or a hint into why bad things happen to good people? Check out Lifechurch.tv for Online Easter Services.