Wow, we had an awesome Easter ( Resurrection Sunday, right Kristina?)!!
It started off early with a great breakfast and family portraits from David Eslick. Dave was my Scoutmaster growing up (Once and Eagle, Always an Eagle–that’s what they say anyway). He was also the photographer for our wedding. Of course that was way back before digital photography!
I don’t care how hard we try to get the boys to bed early on Saturday nights, it always seems to be later than it needs to be. I just seems to be a really long day for them when we both have to be there early. But they did get to bed at a relatively decent time (especially Tucker) and I was able to put some finishing touches on the message and ironing, etc. before getting to bed.
I thought the service was AWESOME! Eric and the band and singers did an awesome job in leading us to the throne this morning! It really is easy to do what I do best after following a great worship experience!
I am feeling like I am getting stronger each week on my preaching. I have really been working hard on my “craft” lately. I was talking with a friend this week about what a difficult sermon it is to preach on Easter. There is always expectations (mostly our own, but sometimes others), the “flannel-graph factor” (heard it before), and such a diverse crowd . . . just makes for a difficult week or weeks of preparation. I know most of my friends and fellow pastors were up like me on Saturday really working hard on that message.
Something that struck me this Easter, I guess because of reading through Acts, is that the message is so simple–especially for the apostles. They just told the story in it’s simple form–Christ died for you. So many times, especially on Easter, we try to make it way too complex. I hope I didn’t make it too complex today.
Well, I had better get some much needed sleep. Sleep off my Easter hangover!