One year ago, about this time, on Hitler’s birthday, my wife held an “Easter Egg-stravaganza” at her church where I was the guest speaker. I actually dressed up like an angel, complete with feathered wings. On that day, I would have what would become a crippling and debilitating stroke that left me wheelchair bound and flat on my back in the hospital for over 3 weeks. Thank God that on the day of the event, He miraculously allowed the nausea and dizziness to subside just long enough for me to get out a brief message through which at least 32 children prayed to receive Christ. That was the very last thing that happened before my life as I knew it was torn away from me in a ruthless and devastating turn of events. I have not been the same since.
This year, because of Covid-19, plans to have another Egg-stravaganza had to be scrambled . Instead, my wife shared online ideas and resources parents could use with kids at home to celebrate the Easter story. We adjusted our scope from an “invite-everyone-you-know” outreach, complete with cotton candy, bounce houses, and hundreds of people, to our little Leung Family indoor egg hunt. My wife and I got up early, stuffed colored plastic eggs with goodies and hid them around the house. Then we woke up the kids, armed them with little baskets, and let them go wild.
Before that, however, we had our very own kid-friendly Easter service. As Christians, we prefer the term, Resurrection Sunday, because this is the day we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead, eventually appearing to well over 500 eye-witnesses (1 Corinthians 15:6). History tells us that many of those people were executed, refusing to recant their testimony that God raised Jesus from the dead, according to Biblical prophecy, and that Jesus had actually appeared to them in the flesh.
We tried to explain to our kids that since Jesus rose from the grave, we are now free from guilt and condemnation, we have an eternal home in paradise waiting for us, and we have God’s comfort and companionship throughout our life here on Earth. But Resurrection Sunday takes on added meaning for me now, because the Bible tells me that the very power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in every single believer (Ephesians 1:19-20). I have access and privilege to this limitless power that overcomes even the grave (Ephesians 3:20).Â
During this unprecedented time of global uncertainty and personal loss, I can face the challenge each moment brings, knowing that the Resurrecting Power of Christ is alive and working in me, even in the aftermath of a devastating stroke and during this time of Covid-19.
It doesn’t matter what I’m going through. “This ain’t no thing. God’s got this.”
“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives!”Â