Spring 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Easter is just 9 days away and I recently remembered reading a sign hanging in a storefront while we were living in Switzerland in the late 1990’s. It read something like “Weihnachten würde nichts ohne Ostern sein” which translates to “Christmas would be nothing without Easter.”

Sometimes we forget the truth of this statement – we make such a big deal out of Christmas, rightfully so, but we sometimes forget to really think about and celebrate Good Friday and Easter. I also think we sometimes forget about what really happened on Good Friday. I find it helpful to watch the crucifixion scene – I try to watch the scene from The Passion on a regular basis to help me remember what our Savior did for us. If you haven’t seen it before or haven’t watched it in a while I encourage you to watch it. It is hard to watch without being moved to tears, motivated to live for Christ and just be so grateful. I included the link from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_e1zFixFv8

Paul writes an incredibly powerful reminder in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Paul reminds us of three very important truths in this verse:

1. That He loves us so much that He gave himself up for us
2. That we died with Christ that day
3. That He actually lives within us today if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

I hope you all have a wonderful Good Friday and Easter and I hope you will think about what He did for all of us on the cross. For the full story of His crucifixion and resurrection see Matthew 26 – 28, Mark 15 – 16, Luke 23 – 24, or John 19 – 20.

In His Service,

Ed