Rise

I realise that this blog lacks a certain level consistency. I’ll start a theme and leave it open-ended. I’ll talk about heart-felt inner battles and follow that up with a sarcastic review of my latest cinematic experience. Like I say. Inconsistent. But perhaps it is, always, honest and it is in keeping up with my life. Perhaps equally inconsistent. Perhaps not.

But as we enter into the Easter Bank Holiday, it’s something I really wanted to talk about. My past inconsistencies and failed attempts at success. I make no apology for drawing parallels to the Easter message of Jesus. The true meaning of Easter probably needs no further elaboration for you to complete the analogy. While Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after his brutal crucifixion three days prior, I think so too, our past dreams and failings can rise. And I think that Jesus’s supernatural return, could actual be part of the catalyst to bring our dreams back into play.

Jesus will have about as much an impact of your life as you’ll let Him have. And while there are countless claims to ultimate success and ultimate peace out there, I really don’t think any of them can actually compare than that of what Jesus can do. And so easy as it is to put Jesus into pictorial, historical and theoretical scenarios logically, there is one arena that Jesus branded out of place. And that’s today. Society says Jesus is historical. Jesus says “I am with you always, to the very end of the age”. His friendship, his resurrection skills and ultimately his eternal ticket out of h-e-double hockey-sticks.

While I am a Jesus follower, I’m also a self-confessed chocoholic who is not even mildly offended at the introduction of giant chocolate bars in the shape of eggs. Frankly, I even think the Easter bunny is cute. And if I’m really honest, I don’t even really think of Easter as a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection anymore. There. I said it. But I don’t. And that’s simply because Easter may be a tasty reminder of Jesus’ actions, but when you apply Him to actual daily life – that same reminder is in everything. And the need for Easter to be a once-a-year reminder becomes obsolete…

That all being said, I think it’s a useful catalyst for posts, messages and thoughts – just like this one. Truth is that in order to fully appreciate anything I write here, you are going to need to get past the first hurdle of assuming that Jesus was and is who He said He was. And that day three of death, instead of rot setting in, the reverse took hold and life returned to Jesus’ body.

And while desperately trying to avoid cliche’s, I remind myself that there is so much concentrated poetic and literal potential in one man’s return to life. There is no doubt that, in me at least, I am feeling a breath of life that is lighting ideas and dreams that I’d long-since given up on. I don’t think that there is a limit to what we can achieve when we put our minds to something, but coupled with the restorative superpower of Jesus’ resurrection – I believe our minds can’t quite grasp what could be accomplished.

…but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” – 1 Corinthians 2:9. The Bible, NASV

And it’s with that desperate attempt to grasp that which is beyond my natural imagination that I will rise. I gladly grab my Cadbury eggs and use them as fuel to prepare for the next challenge and the next mountain. I’m own no super-human gifts but I do belong to the one who does have the power to rise all things. Failed and fixed. Future and ancient. Deep or surface. I trust Him to rise.