Our little Easter Celebration

Lauren was home for Good Friday through Easter. Despite having a 15 page English paper to write, there was good, teachable conversation for all three of us. It was sweet to have her with her pile of books parked in whatever room we were in. So overall there actually was a lot of quality time.

Danny's knock-put roses exploded just in time. The weather was in the 90's (whew!! HOT!) We attempted grill lamb chops, spinach and au gratin potatoes for Easter dinner. Danny commented that: "Worthy is this lamb to be eaten!"

Danny also wore his new bow tie as promised. Yes, I picked it out and called him Professor Dulin all day :) Hope your Easter was filled with blessings too!

He is Risen

Easter celebrates the empty tomb, the day our Lord was resurrected from the dead. But you know this. And you've probably celebrated it many times before.

Many Christians like to emphasize how much God loves us. And He does. But in fact, the resurrection is about who God is; He is more than a Savior and more than a ticket into heaven. It is about His glory.

For me, this is the first Easter I realized His resurrection wasn't just for me.

Indeed, I benefit from His resurrection.

It turns out that I'm not the center of the universe.

Christ is.

He is risen.

He is risen indeed.

Getting Kicked In the Face [ Pt 2 ]

I'm not even going to try and paraphrase these thoughts/quotes. But let me add, the chiseling away at the filthiness of my heart continues. Are my toes also getting stepped on?
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Excerpt from FamilyLife Today with Dennis Rainy.
Hear/download full broadcast entitled "Surrender" HERE



"....what does it mean to surrender to Jesus Christ? ..... 

• Jesus Christ didn’t come to take sides; he came to take over.
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to be a spare tire; he came to be the owner and driver of your life.
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to have your attention for two hours a week on Sunday. He came to be the center of your affection and attention and focus of your existence. 
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to have your half-hearted partial love.  Instead he came to command us to love him with all our hearts.
• Jesus Christ didn’t come just to be our Savior from God’s wrath, judgment and hell.  No, he came also to be our Lord and master, so you can taste heaven now
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come just to be your buddy or a pal; he came to be feared, to be reverenced, to stand in his awe and to be worshipped and then obeyed.
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to satisfy all your needs and wants; he came to enlist you in his army and do his work here on this planet. 
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to just give you life.  Listen to this:  He came to live in you and through you and love others and impact their lives through you.
  
• And finally, Jesus Christ didn’t come just to give you a happy marriage and a holy huddle as a family.  He came to use your marriage; he came and redeemed your marriage and your family to use you to change the world. 

A.W. Tozer:

“In the early days,” he said, “when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking, men conceived the world to be a battleground.  Our fathers believed in sin and the devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in God and righteousness and heaven as the other.  Man, so our fathers held, had to choose sides. He could not be neutral.  

“For him it must be life or death, heaven or hell, and if he chose to come out on God’s side, he could expect open war with God’s enemies.  The fight would be real and deadly and would last as long as life continued here below.  The Christian soldier never forgot” –listen to this – “The Christian soldier never forgot what kind of world he lived in. It was a battleground, and many were the wounded and the slain."

 “But I’ll tell you something.  It’s a delightful thing when you know you’re close enough to the adversary that you can hear him roar. Too many Christians never get into lion country at all.”

You ever heard him roar? Have you been on the battlefield? Are you on a war footing? Are you going into battle armored up?

Are you on a mission for the King?  If not, what is your mission? Why are you here? What’s God got you here for? ......"