Thoughts and Considerations

                                    EASTER – AND THE THIRD SYMBOL                                           (For the Local Newspaper)    In our society t here are typically three symbols of Easter: the cute Bunny, the sweet Eggs, and the bitter Cross. All three are symbols indicating new and ultimately innocent life, but the cross is a message for all mankind revealing not only the purchase price for our salvation, but the love that God, the Creator of the universe, has for us. The cross was an instrument of execution whereon the guilty and the dammed were sentenced. According to the laws of God, we, who are all violators of those laws, deserve that fate . We lie, we cheat, we steal, we blaspheme, we hate, we kill, we are sexually immoral, and on and on. Amazingly, the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, took our place in our stead. He was crucified, died, and was buried. But on the third day He rose from the dead, victorious for all peoples, for all time, promising the forgiv

                                                WHY ALL THE COMMOTION?                                                   (For the local newspaper)     I was raised in a Catholic family in Quebec during the late 50’s and into the 70’s. During my youth everyone went to church and at least pretended to believe in God. I was about thirteen years old when I began to question, “What if there is no God, then believing in Him would be like believing in Santa Clause?” It occurred to me that if there is no God I can do whatever I want, since we will all just die anyways. But if there is a God and He made me and everything else, then I will have to give an account to Him someday. So I decided that before I make any decisions I had better find out if there is a God. I didn’t bother asking anyone knowing the answer I would get. Instead I pondered and thought until finally, one night I stepped outside and looked up at the sky wondering about Him. To my shock, right then and there He spoke to me an