DEAR EDITOR:

Spring has arrived. The birds are singing, and flowers soon will be bursting with magnificent colors. The white clouds will be billowing against the blue sky. Animals will be waking up from a long winter’s nap. What wonders we can behold if we just take the time to observe them. Along with spring, we have Easter.

Some people have rushed to the mall and various stores to pick out just the right outfit for Easter church service, though some may not attend church until this special and Holy day. Groceries have been bought for Easter dinner. Easter baskets, colored eggs and tales of the Easter Bunny are plentiful. But, where is the reason that we have Easter at all? Some of us, not all of us, neglect that fact.

One solitary life, one man who had done nothing, was persecuted and executed for the mere fact of loving us. He didn’t even know us, yet his innocent blood was shed. He was whipped all night long, spat upon, cursed at, laughed at, drug through the city to Golgotha (which means the place of the skull) and nailed to an old wooden cross. A crown of thorns was placed on his head and mashed down until the blood was streaming from his face. They continued scourging him, ridiculing him until he died. They beat him until you could see every bone in his body. Water and blood seeped through his battered flesh. Such agony he went through! Such torment! Oh, what love! Jesus did this for me, and he did this for you!

What kind of man was this who died for us to set us free from sin? What kind of man was this who took on the ugly sins of the world?

Yet, he is put on the back shelf by the fabled Easter Bunny. There is nothing wrong with telling your children about the fictitious Easter Bunny; I shared this fable with my four daughters. But first and foremost, tell them about Jesus and what he sacrificed for us.

I would imagine Jesus could have come down from that old wooden cross if he wanted to. He could have ordered the Angels to release him from this brutal, brutal, punishment. But he didn’t. He sacrificed his life for us!

With all of the awful things that are happening in this world today, we need Jesus as we never needed him before. We should acknowledge him each and every day of our lives. Especially at Easter.

What kind of man was this? He is Jesus Christ! The Son of God!

JENNIFER WILLIAMS

Warren