Sad Easter

Happy Easter everyone!  He is RISEN. 

I got up this morning with more time to get ready than I ever had to go to church.  In fact, I had time to stop and get gas on my way and still had fifteen minutes before service started when I got there. 

When I was getting ready this morning I had our bathroom window open and the neighbors were cutting wood.  I wondered to myself... aren't they going to church today?  Don't they have Easter baskets waiting for them?

Also, I was struck by something when I stopped at the gas station.  There was a group of high school boys, maybe ten of them, who were dressed up in some sort of uniform... I think baseball.  They were in two seperate cars but they are all out of the cars talking while the tank was filling.  It seemed rather normal, nothing out of the ordinary, but it's Easter.  In my mind I asked a silly question, don't you get an Easter basket today?  Why aren't you home trying to find it? 

I got done filling my car and the rest of my way to church I was just soaking in my surroundings.  I noticed that nobody had Easter Eggs in their lawn... there were no children gallivanting around with baskets trying to collect their plastic encased candies and no decorations.  It was so odd... almost eerie to me.

After church I was driving back home and everything that I had noticed earlier this morning had come down on me.  I just suddenly realized how lost our world is.  Everyone prepares so much for Christmas and throws a big fit about the tree they get and what they are making for dinner.  Everything must be perfect for Christmas, but the birth of our Savior means nothing without His death and resurrection. 

It made me sad.  Driving along I just noticed that people were carrying on with their lives as if this were any other ordinary day.  Walking their dog, running an errand, riding their bike... Maybe they had gone to the earlier service?  It just hit me as odd... maybe I've been blind to how the world really views Easter.

Before this moment, I believed that everyone pretty much knew about Jesus and what He did for us, but now I see the ignorance in that idea.  I am so shocked at the amount of people I saw not going to church today.

I think this is a good mindset to be placed in going down to Peru.  God has opened my eyes today to the tremendous need our world has for His love and His gift of life.