EASTER: IT'S ABOUT CATCHING NOT COLLECTING

For little kids, Easter usually means dying hard boiled eggs as well as hunting and collecting plastic eggs filled with candy. It’s exhilarating to hunt for and find those pretty eggs with the surprise inside. Even adults are having fun hunting virtual eggs on Facebook and collecting them onto their profile.

My son is a teenager now, but still a collector. When he was little, he collected Hot Wheel cars, rocks and Pokémon cards. As he’s gotten older, he started collecting movies, video games and baseball caps. Maintaining these various collections at different stages of childhood, created a lot of work for me and him to house, display and care for. His desire to collect is still strong. Recently, he went fishing with some friends and caught a crappie fish. He called me on the FRS radio all excited that he had caught this fish. I rejoiced in his hard work to be patient and persistent enough to actually catch a fish. He was so proud of himself that he wanted to keep it. Now had it been his first caught fish, I might have conceded, but it wasn’t his first. I said “What's the point of keeping it if you can't eat it? What purpose does it serve to keep it?” Then I said, “Remember son, it's about catching not collecting. You need to throw the fish back into the lake.” Reluctantly he agreed with me and released the fish back into the lake.

I thought about that phrase, “catching not collecting,” while sitting at the park waiting for my son and his friends to fish. In my current walk with God, he is showing me new and exciting things that I have never seen or heard before about his will in my life and the power he wants us Christians to use over the enemy. God doesn’t want me to catch his Spirit and just hang onto it like a collection! He wants me to release it and share it with everyone I meet.

So what about you? Are you catching or collecting this Easter Season?
Jesus "releases" us into the world to share our faith in Him. Follow his example and don't keep Jesus all to yourself. If you've "caught" the spirit of God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ the risen Savior and son of God, then share him with everyone you meet!

Matthew 28: 18-20
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been give to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

MOMMA, I NEED YOU!

The other day, my daughter and I "discussed" her choice of foods for breakfast. She wanted a Popsicle and I offered her cereal (her #1 choice) and several "mother approved" options. The result was a whinny dissent that resulted in a her retreating to the floor under the dining room table to woller in her misery. I on the other hand, continued to enjoy my breakfast ignoring her attempts to have her own way.

After a vocal five minutes, I heard, "Momma, I need you!" I had just taken my last bite of breakfast while sitting at the kitchen table, so I got up and went into the dining room, got down on my hands and knees and crawled under the table with her. She was so happy that I had met her down in her "pit" that she rolled over to me and laid her head on my arm, looked up at me with her velvet brown eyes and a big smile on her face and said "Mommy, I sorry." (Totally uncoached by me.) Without hesitation, I kissed her forehead and said, "Thank you for your apology, I forgive you. Are you ready to come and eat breakfast?" To which she replied, "I want cereal." As we both crawled out of "the pit" I was reminded of all the times God met me down in my "pits" with arms of forgiveness and an opportunity to try again.

I am so grateful that God forgives me when I ask for it and gives me second, third and fourth chances. On some virtues, I've stopped counting the "second" chances for they are too many to count, but ALWAYS, God is there to receive me and shows me the way out of the pit.

I have also learned that when I have a spirit of repentance the way back to God seems easier each time I need to travel it. The hardest journeys have always been the ones where pride prevented me from repenting. Now that my relationship with God the Father is restored, I am crushed when I mess up, but quickly turn to him for help and guidance.

As my love, admiration and passion for God increases, my desire to please him also increases and my trust in him to help me walk with him increases as well. Psalm 143:7-10 express my heart's desire and cry:

"Answer me quickly, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
I have fled to you for refuge!
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
on level ground!"

What about you? Do you want out of your pit? Jesus has already been to that same pit and knows the way out, but you need to trust him to help you. Then you have to move toward him...repent of what got you in that pit and walk with God out of it. Let me know how it works out for you.