What Easter Means to Me

As it is the weekend and my sleep schedule ss always way out of whack. As I laid in bed this Easter morning, many thought have been running through my mind. Thoughts of thanksgiving and praise because of what my God and Savior has done for me. My wife and I as we laid in bed last night talked about what it would be like to marry your first and only girlfriend (which was not the case for the both of us). We talked about how my past and past relationships wouldn't be there. There would not be the hurt and the pain that I have caused. We soon realized, that even though our past struggles, and sin have caused pain, and have not made live easy, they have shaped up into who we are today.

Our experiences have enabled us to be exactly who God wants us to be. We are not perfect, and the life that I have lived has been far from perfect, but in God's eyes I am perfect for who and what He wants me and my family to be to Him and to others. My wife and I would have never thought that what we have gone though in our almost 5 years of marriage would be used by God to help encourage and minister to other married couples today. It is only by the grace of God and His shed blood that Stephanie and I are still together today. It is only by His saving grace and forgiveness that God shaped our past pains, broken trust, and unfaithfulness into an effective tool that God has effectively used, and is still using. There is not a day that has gone by that I have not thanked God fpr His love and forgiveness. With out His love, and grace I would have lost my beautiful wife, and then my son Jadon, and seen to be Daughter Atlee would not be in mine and my wives life. We have not just experienced God's grace and forgiveness, but we live it every moment of every day.

My wife and I started a small group at our church we are apart of, Desperation Church in Liberty Missouri. We did not know exactly what God wanted us to do or what to study/teach. We just knew that God wanted us to start one. It was small and was good for the first year. We slowly started a good retuin, and finding what worked and what did not work. We then moved locations of the group and started to slowly grow. The slow growth in numbers, went to rapid growth. This growth of the group had nothing to do with us. We are the leaders of the group, but we have only let God lead the group and make the calls. We started to grow and receive more direction from God. We grew and had to break into two groups, which we never would have thought would happen 2 years ago. The group was healthy and flourishing. We were all pouring into each others lives every week. We have grown to be transparent and authentic. This last year Stephanie and I were feeling a call to minister to other married couples who have, and are having the same struggles that we have had, and are continuing to work through.

We did not know what to do. We did not know what this was going to look like, or what we would do about the group that we lead now. It was not until almost a year now that I completely let go of the sinful life that I was living, and truly started to let God run my life. We did not know how we would start a group or if it would even be a small group that would be focused on restoring marriages that have been broken and hurt by lies, broken trust, and unfaithfulness. All we wanted to do is help others see that the Grace of God and His amazing love can transformed the most broken and hurting marriage into something beautiful. We started and continued to pray through this, and God being the amazing God that He is worked in the way that He has been through out our lives. It just happened. As our group became more transparent, we all opened up that all of our marriages were struggling. Struggling with past hurts and pains, with the state of the relationship, with trust, forgiveness, Struggling with the ability to grow and not to be a stagnate relationship, but one that is growing. God was not preparing us for another ministry, He was preparing us for where our current ministry was going.

All the marriages in our group have struggled with different things. Not one of our marriages are a like, but Marriage is our focus, and our goal is to restore what has been damaged and left unattended. To allow God to take our marriages and line them up with His will, and not ours. For our marriages in our group and be the strong rock on which our families are to be built on. To be focused on glorify God with our marriages and our families. That our marriages would reflect and bring glory to what Jesus has done and is continuing to do. In our first sermon that we listened to about marriage in our small group. Mark Driscoll said, "The difference between a testimony and a biography is this: a biography is about me, and a testimony is about Jesus. A biography is about, “Here’s the changes I made in my life, and now I’m happy.” A testimony is, “Here’s the sin I’ve repented of, and now I’m more like Jesus, whether or not I’m happier.” A biography is about what we do. A testimony is about what Jesus does. In a biography, we’re the hero. In a testimony, Jesus is the hero."  This is what I am thankful for when I think about Christ death and resurrection. That it is not just about God has done through His Son's sacrifice, but what He is doing and continuing to do. That our lives have turned, and that our lives and our story is His story. That our lives don't point to us but to Christ. It is not just the love that He poured out over 2,000 years ago on the cross that gives us life, it is that He continues to pour out His love on us. Not that He was risen from the grave then and is alive, but that He continues to live and work in all our lives today.

As we celebrate today and this weekend Christ death and resurrection. Let us not just celebrate His 33 years here on earth 2,000 years ago, but what He has done before the His Birth, and all that He has done and continues to do. This is what Easter means to me. This is how Christ Death and Resurrection impacts me today. I Challenge you to look at your life this Easter Sunday, and not to just be Thankful for His death and resurrection, and that He lives, but to be Thankful for what He has personally done for you, and is continuing to do. To look at the fruit that Christ is bearing in and through all of us.

This Chapter means a lot to me. It is a prayer that I can now say by God's grace and tranformation, and it lines up to where I am today.

Psalms 26

1 Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity,

And I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

2 Examine me, O LORD, and try me;

Test my mind and my heart.

3 For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,

And I have walked in Your truth.

4 I do not sit with deceitful men,

Nor will I go with pretenders.

5 I hate the assembly of evildoers,

And I will not sit with the wicked.

6 I shall wash my hands in innocence,

And I will go about Your altar, O LORD,

7 That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving
And declare all Your wonders.
8 O LORD, I love the habitation of Your house

And the place where Your glory dwells.

9 Do not take my soul away along with sinners,

Nor my life with men of bloodshed,

10 In whose hands is a wicked scheme,

And whose right hand is full of bribes.

11 But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;

Redeem me, and be gracious to me.

12 My foot stands on a level place;

In the congregations I shall bless the LORD.