Tales from the West Texas Dust (Easter Special)

Even though I don't believe per se in the common perception of Easter any more, I still do remember doing some of the same things most of ya'll probably do - you know, Easter egg hunts, Sunday dinner with the relatives, going to church. Now I didn't really think about it too much until I started reevaluating my own religious convictions and realizing that Easter was not all that it was cracked up to be. Hot cross buns, Easter bunnies - that soon became thought of in my eyes as PAGAN!!! Surely God can't be associated with anything that He did not expressly allow in Scripture.

But a few years later and wiser, I can now at least acknowledge the need for some to observe this holiday. I might not personally agree with it (since I instead observe occasions such as the Feast of Unleavened Bread), but I can see where it has value for some people. Now I don't mean to use this article as a sort of preaching - but I truly feel in my heart and spirit that if I don't say something about what we really should be thinking about (whether we observe Easter or Passover), then I feel that I would be doing my God a great disservice and putting His holy name to great shame if I did not use all possible and appropriate opportunities to speak about the most important and necessary lifegiving message that can ever be given. Noting that the book of Proverbs says, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise." - I hope that at least one precious soul can be brought to Christ through this so that in His eyes I can be considered wise.

I don't want to go too much in detail about my own personal testimony (since I already have a book that people can buy that already has that in it), but when I was raised in a Baptist church, I went thorugh the programs, did the right things, and said the right words. But deep in my heart, I was just a "Holy Joe" Christian and absolute hypocrite. I did not truly experience just truly who He is until I went through my studies in college.

It wasn't until I finally started as a Worldwide Church of God member that I literally decided to count the cost and follow Christ no matter what the price was and no matter what happens. Like it or not, when I was baptized and made my personal decision to accept Christ, I literally put an invisible ring on my finger and in essence committed myself to Him for the rest of my life. As a result, I hardly acknowledge my physical birthday at all any more - but I sure do keep in mind what I consider my official spiritual birthday, right down to the point to where it is even the numbers I use for my cards in the ATM machine. Someone once said that if it is important to you, you will never forget it and you will always remember it for the rest of your life. Such holds true for my relationship to Christ.

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