” And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightening, and his clothing white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.’ And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. ”
Matthew 28:2-9
Dear Family and Friends,
I absolutely adore the above passage. It is so powerful when we realize the impact Jesus’ resurrection had on the world: He conquered death for eternity by allowing Himself to be our sacrifice. Even though this isn’t new information, it is still powerful each time I read it.
While I was driving back from Agape Home today, I noticed a entire trailer of little lambs which were being sold. It is tradition here to eat lamb for Easter as a reminder that Jesus is the Lamb of God. I think most people eat lamb out of tradition now but the evangelical churches here practice this as well. (The Hungarian Reformed church celebrates this weekend.) A profound lump formed in my throat when I saw the little lambs being bound at the feet and put into cars. My spirit was greatly distressed. It wasn’t just the fact I knew they would be slaughtered, I was cognizant of the parallel between those lambs and Jesus. My thoughts were immediately, “He willing allowed Himself to be slaughtered for us knowing He has committed no sin. He was an innocent Lamb without spot or blemish. All He asks in return is for us to believe He is Who He said He was and to believe.” It is easy to loose the focus on His sacrifice and get caught up in the “busyness” of the world regardless of where you are or what you do. I hope each of you will be able to focus this Easter holiday and reflect on what Jesus has done for you to have eternal life.
I am sure most of you will be celebrating Easter this weekend. Because Romania is an Orthodox country, we will not celebrate Easter until next weekend. It is a HUGE celebration here and because we consider this the most significant celebration in the lives of Christians, we were able to have all of our workers and some of our soon to be foster families agree to take our children for four days. So, for the first time, we are able to give all of our workers Easter weekend free! They are all very excited about this and I am happy we were able to work it out for everyone.
Daniel and I will be leaving Monday to take two little girls and their mommies to a burn hospital in Budapest, Hungary. Their surgeries are being sponsored by a Vienna based ministry ran by Linda Zwetkov. We have worked together since last July to make this happen and we are so happy both of these little girls will have much needed surgery for their severe scars. Please remember the children, Paula and Anamaria, as well as their mommies in your prayers next Tuesday when they are admitted. Their surgeries will be Wednesday and Daniel and I will still until all is well before returning to Oradea. They will be required to stay at least two weeks in the hospital before we can pick them up.
We wish everyone a Happy Easter as you celebrate the fact Jesus is Risen! We worshop the name of Jesus with you!!!!
Basking in the Son,
Michelle
Posted on April 18th, 2003 by Michelle
Filed under: Michelle's Journal