i feel the need to keep repeating the above sentence in my head, partly because it doens't seem real, and partly because it's all too real & happening so quickly. perhaps when i start packing this weekend it will seem a little more real...
it hit me about a week or so ago that since Ukraine celebrates Orthodox Easter on April 27, as opposed to the March 23 holiday we celebrate, we will miss Easter this year. it surprised me that i really feel a loss about this. after all, we who love and follow Jesus shouldn't need a holiday to remind us of the sacrifice he made so we could have a way back to God. but, nonetheless, i feel a sense of loss.
so, because of this sense of loss, i picked up a book that i bought after Easter a couple of years ago, but haven't yet read, called The Last Eyewitness: The Final Week, by chris seay and david capes. the book tells the story of the last week of Jesus life through the eyes of the disciple john at the end of his life.one part that has had a profound effect on me, is in one of the first chapters, where john recounts when Jesus, at the last supper, washed the disciples' feet. after he goes into some detail, the author wrote this,
When Jesus washed our feet he made an announcement to all who follow his path that life would not be about comfort, health, prosperity, and selfish pursuit.too often, we Christ followers think that 'happy' is the default emotion of our lives. when we have struggles, trials, or things that move us away from the comfortable, happy place that we like our lives to be in, we think that it is bad, it is wrong. but Jesus never promised us the we would always be happy. he showed us how to rejoice in our suffering. he showed us how to love when everyone around us seems to be against us. he showed us how to trust the invisible God when everything we can see betrays us.
so, this is how i will spend my easter season this year...trusting the God i cannot see, regardless of what is happening around me...
