Easter 2017

So many Blessings to ponder during this Easter season!

On March 31, University of Michigan blogged about my battle with Stage IV Cancer (link). A theme in the article was about trust. How I trusted in the experts, a hunch, my family, and community. In retrospect I believe that the author of this article detected Trust during her interview with me; however, she may not have understood the foundation of this Trust.

I’m here to tell you today that the Trust she sensed is my trust in our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ!

I really didn’t know how these past years would actually turn out. I knew the odds; after all, I’m a numbers person. I knew that I had a 5 to 10% chance to live five years from diagnosis of stage IV cancer. But I also knew (trusted) that no matter what transpired; that the Lord would watch over my family and keep them safe, even if I was called home to heaven.

Even though I didn’t know what the Lord’s plan was, that didn’t stop me from hoping and praying for continued time here on Earth. And for asking you all to pray on my behalf. To raise me up in prayer.

I remember a time in 2012 (link), with tears rolling down my face, I wrote about my wife Connie and our plans together. I wrote about wanting to see our children become independent and about wanting to spoil our grand children together.

At the time I was writing this I asked for you all to pray for Connie and my family instead of me. I simply was not sure how things were going to turn out. And I was heart broken at the possibility that I might not ever hold a grand baby in my arms.

On April 9, 2017 Blakely Jean was born to Anna and Charles.

We are so blessed. Beyond anything I could have imagined. These past years were filled with weddings, a baptism, the birth of our first grand baby, birthdays, anniversaries, more weddings (nieces and nephews). And a confirmation is coming up in less than a week. So many blessings. So many moments.

Happy Easter!

Google is an incredible tool for sure. I’ve turned to google many times to find a perfect image to include in a blog update. But today when I went looking for an image to express Happy Easter to you all I was a saddened at what I found. There were hundreds of images of Easter bunnies, colored eggs, baby chicks, and chocolate baskets. I fear that for some these secular images are all that Easter is to them? I hope that this is not the case. While these images are a part of Easter that is not what it’s all about!

I did find one image that represent the Easter I know.

To me Easter is about eternity. It is true that our human bodies will die. Some of us will live longer than others but our bodies grow old and eventually give out. Some people sadly believe that human beings only exist for a short time on Earth and then slip away into darkness, die into nothingness. How can anyone believe that they don’t have a soul inside of their physical body that is as young as the day they were born? A soul that will live beyond death!

The message of Easter is that death is not the end of our existence. We are created with a soul that will endure beyond death. We are created in the image of God. We are created for an eternity of time with Jesus. Jesus paid the debt for all of our sins. Then He rose up and conquered death! And paved the way for us to live eternally with Him. Alleluia, Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!

Happy Easter to you all!

Sincerely,

Philip