Each year Easter seems to catch me off guard. I find myself struggling to find some meaning in this season that will help me understand the kind of love that allows itself to be crucified by the very hands it came to heal. Each year I am left wanting. I do not understand. I want to see the holes in Jesus' hands and thrust my hand in his side. Like Peter I deny knowing Jesus, if not by words, surely by actions, and constantly find myself asking forgiveness. Just as many of Jesus' closest friends did, I often run and hide fearing that my savior has gone to the grave never to be seen or heard from again. What a long three days it must have been. But the wait is over. And the good news is that there is a love that is alive with compassion and saving grace for those of us who struggle to find concrete answers. A love that forgives all of our denials and overcomes our fears. Love so powerful that it stands in the face of those trying to destroy it and offers to heal their wounds. A love that will not die. Good news indeed.

-from the 98 Seeds Lenten/Easter worship packet. David Tatum is a furniture maker in Greensboro, North Carolina.
~art courtesy of Seventh & James Baptist Church, Waco, Texas.