An Easter full of surprises

HE IS RISEN! (I hope you will all comment back with "He is risen indeed.") We had a great Easter Sunday at HBC! We stayed with two services rather than combining as we would not have had room for everyone...both services were packed! I was surprised to see so many people but I was blessed to see the face of my friend Jayme Barton in church. This was the first Easter surprise.

For those of you who don't know Jayme, let me explain why this was a great surprise to see him at church. Jayme was in my youth group when I first started as the youth pastor. I saw him grow up and accept the call of ministry on his life. Two years ago Jayme was complaining of severe chest pains and actually collapsed. They took him to the hospital and after several painkillers and tests he was diagnosed with Lupus. He was immediately put on more medications including Prednisone (a very nasty drug). He has since gone through several surgeries and been in and out of the hospital. The prednisone has caused him to go from 165 to 270 in the span of about a year. He hasn't felt good enough to come to church in about a year. He was there yesterday! He told me after the service that God has continued to comfort him and that being there needed to happen. Through all of his sickness he has had the opportunity to blame God and feel down on himself because he isn't able to do the things that a normal 21 year-old should. Jayme has used his illness to draw near to Christ.

On a lighter note, surprise #2 came later that afternoon....

Over the past few Easter Sundays we have met up with my Dad and had dinner. True to tradition we met up with Dad and Teresa and had a great dinner. Ham, Turkey, Green Beans, Funeral Potatoes, and Rolls. Needless to say I'll need to spend some extra time on the treadmill today! We had a great time hanging out and talking until...

My Dad has another Easter tradition of giving us an Easter basket. It usually has some candy, and a gift certificate or a DVD. He handed me my basket and I started to look through it. There was the candy and a gift certificate and a movie...
I have had no desire to see a movie...regardless of the critical acclaim...about gay cowboys. I prefer the John Wayne type of cowboy. Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, and Jesse James are the type of cowboys that are in my DVD collection. Movies like...Unforgiven, Tombstone, American Outlaws, Young Guns, etc.

My Dad waited until I saw the DVD and erupted in laughter. He decided that the joke was too good to pass up. We all had a good laugh about it and he gave me the receipt so that I could exchange the movie.

My Dad's birthday is coming up. I may just keep the movie and re-gift him. I am open to suggestions as this new practical joke war has begun.

Here is hoping you had a great Easter, and all joking aside. Let's thank God for the amazing gift that he gave us in His resurrected Son...He is risen indeed.