Easter with the Umlands
a light, personal piece today
The children got out of bed early without much protest or coercion. They had been prepared for the morning by already having picked out clothes, retiring early, and clear understanding of the day's obligations.
The early, 8 AM service, was empty, as many choir members as worshipers. The kids sat with us and listened to the grown up teacher. I fired up the oven as soon as we got home. But first the children got to search for their Easter bags with treats and a present. My dear wife got a gift card to the local coffee chain and a box of fine candy in celebration of her Lenten fast from coffee and chocolate. I started the ham first. The lamb went in after. Then Grandma and Grandpa arrived from New Jersey in a delighted sans-traffic frame of mind. The kids were overjoyed. We visited a house together that we'd like to buy if we sell ours. Now both sets of parents have given their approval, which is important to us. My brother arrived with his wife and their month old first born and his mother-in-law. The baby is an accomplished sleeper. Dinner was served. I broke my Lenten fast from meat. Yes, beans and rice can be boring, but i lost 10 pounds that i didn't need and brought my cholesterol down. We prayed. We ate well. We laughed. We ate some more, no break before dessert, apple pie and chocolate chip cookies. I own a television that has no reception and my father-in-law really wanted to see the Masters golf tournament. So the boys went to my brother's house and we watched the winner hold off the champs and give Jesus the glory.
I'm going through the Bible in 90 days again, and the morning's reading was from the Exodus. I love God's timing.
The children got out of bed early without much protest or coercion. They had been prepared for the morning by already having picked out clothes, retiring early, and clear understanding of the day's obligations.
The early, 8 AM service, was empty, as many choir members as worshipers. The kids sat with us and listened to the grown up teacher. I fired up the oven as soon as we got home. But first the children got to search for their Easter bags with treats and a present. My dear wife got a gift card to the local coffee chain and a box of fine candy in celebration of her Lenten fast from coffee and chocolate. I started the ham first. The lamb went in after. Then Grandma and Grandpa arrived from New Jersey in a delighted sans-traffic frame of mind. The kids were overjoyed. We visited a house together that we'd like to buy if we sell ours. Now both sets of parents have given their approval, which is important to us. My brother arrived with his wife and their month old first born and his mother-in-law. The baby is an accomplished sleeper. Dinner was served. I broke my Lenten fast from meat. Yes, beans and rice can be boring, but i lost 10 pounds that i didn't need and brought my cholesterol down. We prayed. We ate well. We laughed. We ate some more, no break before dessert, apple pie and chocolate chip cookies. I own a television that has no reception and my father-in-law really wanted to see the Masters golf tournament. So the boys went to my brother's house and we watched the winner hold off the champs and give Jesus the glory.
I'm going through the Bible in 90 days again, and the morning's reading was from the Exodus. I love God's timing.
12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 12:2 “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. 12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel, ‘In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families – a lamb for each household. 12:4 If any household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next-door neighbor are to take a lamb according to the number of people – you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat. 12:5 Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 12:6 You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown...On Sunday, we remembered that by his Sacrifice, Jesus delivered us from the land of death, and is now leading us to the land of Promise.
12:11 This is how you are to eat it – dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the LORD’S Passover.
12:12 I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the LORD. 12:13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt...
12:24 You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever. 12:25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give to you, just as he said, you must observe this ceremony. 12:26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ – 12:27 then you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck Egypt and delivered our house-holds.’” (NET)
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