Easter Sunday

I've missed Easter services only twice in my life and today is one of those days. I'm glad the virus didn't pop up last week, but why did it have to at 11:45 last night? I'm not sick now; just tired and blah. Hope that I can get some sleep and feel human tomorrow. I hate this stuff.

I was thinking last night: what would life have been like if Jesus hadn't died? Today we're free to laugh and have fun and celebrate on a moment-by-moment basis because, in the end, it's all going to be OK in spite of the ugliness that surrounds us--ugliness surrounded by beauty, just like Jesus's death. Anyway, I've been thinking that laughter and jokes would be pretty morbid. All good (even love???) would be morbid because, in the end, you'd be going to Hell, so good would just be a slap in the face considering--like a mockery of your future condition. (Hmmm. Doesn't that seem odd? Isn't it weird that, even in a world as messed up as the one we live in, evil is still the morbid side?)

On the one hand, I applaud the woman who ran the streets of Puritan (I think) times with her bucket of water and her torch so that she could dowse the fires of Hell and burn the gates of Heaven so that people wouldn't serve to avoid punishment or to be rewarded, but on the other hand, like a popular e-mail implies, she missed looking forward to the dessert!

So I have this hope: to the ones who have been missing from this world (and who left holes in my heart) for some time now, I hope that you're enjoying the last and eternal course even more than you did the meal. And I hope I see you again some day--not exactly soon, but some day. =)

And Sarah Ann, I can't believe we said our last good-bye six years ago today. I still cry for you sometimes. Sixteen years wasn't nearly long enough to have such a friend. What they say about mothers-in-law sure didn't apply to you.

And Jesus, thank you for the hope!