The following story was written by my friend Rennie, whose two teenaged sons were killed in a car accident in 1999. I dedicated my book Champagne for the Soul to those two boys, Joël and Daniel.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were facing a bad day. Their dear friend Jesus was dead and they were going to the tomb to put burial spices and ointments on His body. The angel’s words “He is not here; He is risen” changed their bad day into the best day. In fact, those words make Easter the Best Day of the Year!
I have another story for you where those same words turned someone’s Bad Day into an Amazing Day. This story doesn’t have an angel in it. But God Himself speaks.
Once upon a time, there was a busy mother, a hardworking father and two lively sons. They were very happy together and planned on living happily ever after. Until the RCMP rang their doorbell and said that the two brothers had been killed in a terrible car accident.
The parents were taken to the hospital where they were asked to identify their two precious sons. The father was overcome with grief but the mother was frozen into silence because some pain is too deep for words. But God had words for this dear mother. He whispered to her, “Why are you looking for living among the dead? They aren’t here. They have risen.” And these words of resurrection power turned that cold morgue into a holy place. Joy filled that mother’s heart.
I know that this is a true story because I was that mother and the two boys were my sons Joël and Daniel who died many years ago. I get to celebrate those words of resurrection power two times a year; once at Easter with the whole world. And once in October, when they were God’s special words just for me.
~ by Rennie Roop,
for a chapel service with her Grade One students
at Vancouver Christian School, April 2006
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