The Easter Bird
It was the evening before Easter Sunday, and our family had just pulled into our driveway after a long trip home from vacation in Tennessee. As my wife Barb guided our six children into the house, I began unloading the mountain of luggage and other vacation cargo from our family sized SUV. After dumping one load in the house I headed back for the next round when out of the corner of my eye I noticed that something was stuck to the grill on the front of our vehicle. As I stepped in for a closer look I realized that we had struck a bird somewhere along our trip and that it was now pan-caked on our front grill like some grotesque-looking hood ornament. Since it was late and I still had lots of stuff to unload, I decided to deal with the clean up the following morning.
Sunday morning came and the kids dressed in their Easter best. In the meantime, I headed outside to dispose of the bird before we headed off to church. Not wanting to actually touch the mess, I grabbed a pair of pliers from the garage and walked over to the bird, looking for the best place to grab so that I could pry it off the vehicle. After successfully pulling it off, I walked over to the garbage can on the side of the house and lifted the lid and threw the bird in. Just as I did so, I noticed my three year old daughter Mira watching me. She stood in the driveway in her purple, ruffled Easter dress with a puzzled look on her face. As I closed the lid on the garbage can, Mira asked, “Daddy, why did you throw the bird in the garbage?” Shrugging her question off, I replied, “Because Mira, it’s dead and that’s where it goes”. Turning toward the garage to put the pliers back in the toolbox, Mira responded one more time with something so profound and unexpected that it froze me in my tracks.
“But Dad, God can fix it.”
Suddenly I remembered what day it was - Easter Sunday, or as we prefer to call it in our house, Resurrection Day. This is the day that commemorates the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the grave and proves that there is nothing too challenging for our God to overcome. Even death itself is no match for his mighty power. In Jesus’ resurrection, God demonstrated that the natural laws of this world do not apply to him, for as the Creator he is superior to them. He alone will have the final say over the ultimate destiny of all his creation, of which mankind is the crown jewel.
As believers, our great and only hope for salvation from this world and from the grave lies in the promise of resurrection. The apostle Paul put it this way, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19). In other words, if the Resurrection is not true, we’re all sunk. But if it is, then the ramifications result in the most extraordinary turn of events in human history. It means that life, with all of its trials and suffering, will not ultimately end in futility. God’s promise, of which the risen Jesus is the deposit and first fruits, is that those who experience death in this life will take it up again at the return of his Son, on that great and final Day. Those who have lost loved ones understand and cling to this hope like no other, because it offers the opportunity to be reunited with those who have died in Christ. I do not know how I would have gotten through the loss of my own mother, who died six Easters ago, without the hope that the Resurrection brings.
But the impact of the Resurrection is not simply confined to future events. Rather, the power that raised Jesus from the grave is alive and available today. Our God is a God of restoration. Just as he longs for the full restoration of his creation to its pre-fallen state, so he also longs to restore what has been stolen away from the lives of his people. With God, “it ain’t over ‘til he says it’s over”. This truth applies to troubled marriages and other relationships, to struggles with health and finances, and to any area of our lives where we experience difficulty. What seems impossible to us is entirely possible with God (Luke 18:27). The Resurrection is proof that this is true. Experiencing this truth in our lives requires trust in God’s promises and total surrender to his will, no matter how impossible our circumstances seem. Setting aside pride and stubborn self will and allowing God free reign to move in our lives in any way he desires is the first step in experiencing restoration. God loves us and desires to bring complete restoration to every facet of our lives. So let’s not be shy about asking for it.
Mira had no idea what a profound statement she made that Easter morning. But it was not lost on me. God can indeed “fix” anything, any situation, any problem. Through the death and resurrection of his Son, he’s provided the ultimate “fix” to the greatest problems our world knows, and one day he will bring that work to completion. In the meantime, I asked him for one more favor that Easter morning. I told him I’d like to see that same bird flying again one day. I believe he wants to fulfill that request, and maybe someday Mira and I will watch a resurrected bird soar in the sky of God’s renewed world. That’s a sight I can’t wait to see.
May 07 2009 01:08 pm | Uncategorized
