Spring Break 2012 - Epilogue

It is Easter Sunday and I am relieved.

-- Relieved because our spring break trip is over.  Maybe ours is the only one, but this family doesn't do well with that much togetherness.  Don't get me wrong - we loved our trip and we love each other.  Our vacation gave us a hundred new memories;  a few yucky ones, but most are wonderful.  See prior posts for details. 

It's just that we are four very sensitive people (even though they think I'm the only one.)  The nice thing about being sensitive is that you can easily enjoy all the bright beauty and joy and goodness around you;  the bad thing is that your feelings get hurt even when others don't mean to hurt them.  Anyway, you can't cram 4 sensitive people into a minivan and a series of hotel rooms and not expect there to be some drama.

-- Relieved because our friends that kept our dog are still speaking to us.  Plus the dog lost some weight at their house.

-- Relieved to see my daddy in good health and good spirits yesterday. 

-- Relieved that we came home from a vacation without going into the red.

-- Relieved that I can now log back into Facebook and drink a diet Coke.

But most importantly, and far outside my ability to describe it in words, is the relief I feel from believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  See, even though I've said I believed in him for more than 30 years,  I thought it was up to me - to do good, to be good, to do more, to do better, to try harder, to...to... to make myself acceptable enough to earn peace and get forgiven for the mess I've made of my life.

I recently heard a teacher explaining the difference between calling myself a "Christian" versus calling myself a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ.  Maybe it's semantics, but it really stuck with me.  All kinds of nastiness throughout history has been perpetrated by people who called themselves Christians, and when I see the judgmental and critical nature of many churchgoers today, I don't particularly want to be associated with that either.

If I can be honest, there aren't a lot of "Christians" who have anything that I want.  Looks like a lot of work and unhappiness to me.

But, oh the peace of being a follower of Jesus Christ.  Just accepting him, without arguing or questioning or trying to be good enough.  I don't need to know why he did what he did - I just know that he did, and scripture is explicitly clear that he did it for me and for you.

To fully believe and accept that he took all my black-hearted, selfish and nasty sin to the grave 2000 years ago, and then came back to life three days later without it...

Now that's what I call relief!  Happy Easter!