What If?

Last night my husband taught the council time for the Awana Sparks. He taught "R" is for Rose Again. As I was listening, he asked the children, "What if Jesus didn't rise from the dead? What if He had stayed dead?" Now I'm sure that I must have thought about that question before...

Hmm. What if Jesus never rose again? How different would the world be today? Would any of us have hope? Who would we lean on when trials and tribulations come? What if we relied on man -our friends, family, pastors etc. to cry out to, to carry our burdens, to give us hope, to show us that light at the end of the tunnel, to give us eternal life? It certainly can make us feel better to "unload" our frustrations and problems to others, but after that initial feeling of relief, then what? Sure, we can get good Godly advice from others but it's Jesus we really need to be bringing these conversations to.


Every spring I anxiously look for the first Robin to visit our yard and the first crocus' to appear. Today, I saw both! I was so excited and called the kids to the window to share in my excitement. While looking out the window, Sarah says to me, "That's not the first Robin. Andrew(my nephew) told me last Sunday he saw one at his house." Talk about raining on my parade! LOL! A little while later the kids called me outside to see something. Thinking it was a dead animal or something of the sort, I saw beautiful yellow and purple crocus'. Later that day, as I was standing at the kitchen sink looking out at the birds, I thought, what if the Robins didn't return this Spring? What if Spring itself didn't come this year? What if God guessed when to send the Robins like the doctors guess which strain of the flu will be the most prevelent each winter and He guessed wrong? What if the flower bulbs God created didn't know when it was their time to bloom and they came in October?"

Obviously I could go on and on with "what if's". But let's get back to my initial "what if". What if Jesus never rose from the dead? Just think about that for a minute. How depressing our life would be if Jesus stayed dead! If God did not raise Jesus from the dead, we would never see the end of pain and suffering. We would never see the end of sin, hatred, violence and sickness. We would never see streets of gold, our loved ones that have gone before us, and we definitely would never have the chance of eternal life in glory with the Lord. Everything hinges on Jesus being raised from the dead. I am so glad that I know for sure when I die I'll be forever with the Lord. My dying on this earth is just the beginning of a life that I can not even imagine! What about you?

"He is not here: For he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Matthew 28:6