Saturday, April 03, 2010

He is Risen!!!

Tomorrow morning we celebrate the most important day of the year to us as Christians. The resurrection of Jesus Christ!


Well, in light of the Resurrection, I thought I'd share a little resurrection story that happened here at our house yesterday. I'm pretty sure it will give you a laugh! I must preface with 2 facts about our household: 1) we have a lot of chickens, and 2) Ellie constantly escapes the house whenever a door is left open and we find her toddling around the yard getting into all kinds of trouble.

So, yesterday afternoon I was in the kitchen when I heard Brent say, "No, Ellie, no!" When I walked outside to see what was happening, I saw Brent standing with his back to me, swinging something in his hands and then hunching over whatever it was. As I walked around him I saw him holding a baby chick in his hands and blowing into its beak!! Yes, he was. Of course I was a little dumbfounded for a second, but then managed to ask, "What ARE you doing?"

"Ellie killed it, " he said. "She had it in her hand squeezing it really hard, and when I picked it up it was dead." (It was really limp and lifeless as I looked at it too) "So you're giving it CPR," I asked with a giggle. "Yes," he said, "why not?" So, there he stood giving the chicken mouth-to-beak and swinging it like we had learned to do with newborn puppies that needed to be revived. After a few minutes the chick opened its eyes and began to perk up. After a few more minutes it stood up in Brent's hand, and after a few more minutes it was back with its mother and siblings roaming around the yard scratching for food! Alive and well!

I thought only my husband would be so crazy as to do CPR on a dead chick. I certainly wouldn't have! It gave us a good laugh, but also demonstrated a simple spiritual truth: "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:4-5)." God picked us up when we were dead - not struggling, not sick, not dying - dead and unable to do anything to save ourselves. Then He breathed the life of Christ into us and brought us back to life. But not just any old life, life IN Christ. Just read through the first chapter of Ephesians and see what the life IN Christ means! What a gift! This is what we celebrate on Easter. Jesus is risen and we can be risen with Him to walk in a new life! Thanks for the illustration, honey!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you, Brent! When we lived in Oklahoma and were housesitting, I did CPR on a cat--but, then I worried for about a week that the cat may have had rabies! :)

Christy said...

Oh my - that is one of the best stories I've ever heard! I've got to learn more about this "swinging dead animals" stuff, just in case Elsbeth gets a hold of our cat.