Easter Sunday

First off, Happy Easter one and all.  Never forget what today is really about.Never forget what you are celebrating and what it really means for you.

So I spent today relaxing and celebrating what is important to me - being thankful for what I have.  I went to church this morning but to a new church, somewhere I have never been before.  But I was there with friends and among some of the most welcoming people I could ask for.  I think  I know a bit more about the kind of church where I will fit in now.

Equally I know a bit more about what is going on in my heart.  It's true, it's unconditional and frankly it is probably going to come to nothing.  Friendship is the most important thing, and then maybe something else might come, but friendship is the law.

So after church I went for a bike run.  I haven't been on the motorbike in a while and it felt good, if a little cold.  Spring is definitely starting to poke through, despite the cold.  There were daffodils flowering in the banks and the sun was warm through the jacket.  The air was cold enough though and by the end of the run my knees were frozen through and I did a fair amount of the 'John Wayne' when I got off at the end of the run.  Despite the cold it felt so free, I felt so free.  To be on an open road with the sun on my back and the cold, crisp wind in my face.  So this is what it feels like to be free.

So, church then this - I ended up feeling the freedom and the love for the world that a free man can only feel.  Truth is though, it means nothing on my own.  And I don't want to be on my own, I want to be with someone I love - with someone who loves me.  I have found the person that I think maybe I could love, but they seem to notice me only in passing at best.

All I know is that I would give anything I have, go anywhere, do anything to be with this one person.  To stand before the Lord as a couple, to do His will and spread His word.  Together we could be strong, for each other and for His glory.

I pray for this so much and ask His will and His blessing.

Lord, I am not worthy to ask such a question of you,
To pray for a change in your will to suit my own feelings.
Yet I ask none the less, coming to you through the risen Lord, Jesus Christ,
Through your grace and power, may my dreams and intentions
Become your will. That I can share life and love with the one,
I hold before you in my heart.

In Jesus name amen.

Christ is risen

It's Easter Sunday and we celebrate Christ's rising from the grave and all that the Resurrection means for us. I don't feel too much different as a physical person, but as a spiritual person I feel stronger. Just as Christ appear to his followers when He rose, I feel like, in spirit, he has shown himself to me once again.

I felt drawn back to my old church in Basingstoke to celebrate today, I don;t know why. It's not like I've been part of the congregation there for a number of years. But it was the church where I was confirmed. Somehow it seemed right, as with the Easter service containing the Profession Of Faith and sprinkling of Holy Water, it seemed that it was a good place to re affirm what I believe.

Easter Sunday has long been a day with meaning for me as when Gemma and I were traveling a few years ago, I am 100% sure that, as we attended a service in a church we had never been to before, I was briefly in contact with the spirit of my mother, who had died a couple of years before. I think that maybe Easter Sunday has a certain power about it. Like maybe the heavens are just a little closer that day, or maybe Christ walks just that little bit closer to us on this day.

All I know is that prayers said in faith on Easter Sunday seem to have more resonance and more effect for me personally an it is a day that I feel drawn to celebrate.

Father, I thank you for

Jesus rising form the dead,

For everything that means for Christians all over the world,

And for those who have yet to discover Christ.

When I pray, may my prayers be true and

May I ask only for that which is your will.

Please share with others who have a weakness of faith,

Or those yet to come to you,

The joy of the Resurrection and the comfort that comes

From knowing that we are truly loved and truly saved.

In Jesus Name

Amen

Happy Easter