Peeps and the Hope of Resurrection

Every year at Easter, I buy a box of those controversial of Easter candies, Peeps. Large sugar-coated marshmallows, you either love 'em or hate 'em, most folks falling into the later category. Well, I buy a box every year because they were one of my grandmother's favorites. She passed away several years ago of cancer. My first experience with that disease. Like her favorite Easter candy, she was bright and festive and exceedingly kind-hearted---gooey on the inside, you might say. It's been over a decade---almost two (when did I get this old?)---but typing this just now, I'm getting rather emotional. I miss her. I love celebrating her in this way, at Easter time, anticipating the Great Resurrection when one day I'll see her again.

"The Hope of Resurrection" 

Though I have watched so many mourners weep
O'er the real dead, in dull earth laid asleep—
Those dead seemed but the shadows of my days
That passed and left me in the sun's bright rays.
Now though you go on smiling in the sun
Our love is slain, and love and you were one.
You are the first, you I have known so long,
Whose death was deadly, a tremendous wrong.
Therefore I seek the faith that sets it right
Amid the lilies and the candle-light.
I think on Heaven, for in that air so dear
We two may meet, confused and parted here.
Ah, when man's dearest dies,'tis then he goes
To that old balm that heals the centuries' woes.
Then Christ's wild cry in all the streets is rife:—
"I am the Resurrection and the Life."

--Vachel Lindsey

May Our Jaded Hearts Be Healed

I've mentioned these guys before. I love the way they experiment with music and the way their lyrics often come straight from Scripture and always minister to my soul.

This song in particular, from their album, Ghosts Upon the Earth, is so beautiful. So, so beautiful.

We live in a world of division and strife and pride that condescends and marginalizes others. Our churches are rife with division and strife and prideful condescension. There is good in the world, and our churches do much good in the world too. But. Until Jesus Christ returns to restore all things, our jaded and weary hearts need healing and hope.

To me, part of the message this song speaks is, Don't bicker about theological tripe and other such nonsense derived from generational differences, cultural differences, political differences, lifestyle differences... Being "right" is nothing without love.

"Church Bells"

Let church bells ring

Let children sing

Even if they don’t know why let them sing

Why drown their joy

Stifle their voice

Just because you’ve lost yours

May our jaded hearts be healed

Amen

Let old men dance

Lift up their hands

Even if they are naïve, let them dance

You’ve seen it all

You watch them fall

Wash off your face and dance

May our weary hearts be filled with hope

Amen

The Car Crash

One night, I was driving my pickup down the highway with my friend Tim, when Tim pointed out his window and told me a car was "down there."

"Hmm." I said.

"No, you don't understand," Tim explained in a rush, "Cars can't be down there."

After a moment I realized he was right. We were driving on an elevated part of the highway, any cars below us would be on a steep incline far from any road; there must have been an accident.

I stopped the car and we started jogging down the hill. When we got closer to the car we could see that it was totaled and that it had been crushed violently on many sides. Also, there was a woman stumbling around.

Tim called the police while I checked on the woman. She was incredibly dazed but she seemed perfectly fine. After I started talking to her she began to tell me about her problems. Being in a car crash was nothing, she was going through some rough stuff and this accident was just enough to make her a little nuts. She was depressed and was dealing with some difficult and complex issues that weighed her down. She talked like she had given up hope.

"Look at your car." I told her, "It's totaled. Every part of this car has been crushed except for a small area around the driver's seat, just enough room for a person to survive a crash like this!"

She looked at the car, for the first time since leaving it, and she was amazed. Anyone sitting in the back seat or the front passenger seat would have been killed as the car was severely flattened in those areas. The car was so badly damaged it looked like a pile of scrap, but around the driver's seat there was no damage. It was uncanny to see a car flattened except for one small part. It looked like God had simply put her in His hand while the car tumbled so He could keep her safe. I told her to take heart, Someone was looking after her.

Someone is looking after me, too and I need to remember it each day. God is looking after me, he cares about me, even though I can't always see it. Sure, life is hard, but He is going to carry me through those hard times.