:[How Marvelous]:

Let's play the association game. I'll mention something and you tell me what comes to mind first. Okay? Here we go... I'll put my initial response in paranthesis.

• Reality TV? (I'd have to say BIG BROTHER. Die hard fan of the summer show and Julie Chen.)
• Movie? (Just cuz it's the next one I am waiting for... I'd say X-MEN)
• Phone? (Hate it.)
• Lunch? (Quiznos)
• Fun? (Beach)
• Boring? (Couch.)

Okay, one more... EASTER? Let's be real. When Easter strolls in, we think of eggs, chocolate, bunnies, chocolate bunnies, baskets, green grass, spring time, and we can't forget the yellow , marshmallow chick PEEPS. What is sad and distrubing is that many times our first thought isn't Jesus and the cross.

Just like everything else associated with Easter has a meaning, it is symbolic, so is the cross. Green grass in baskets? Freshness, a brand new start. Eggs? Little bunnies? All bring to mind newness. Starting over. The beginning of something.

So does the cross. In so much more of a poignant illustration. We usually see the cross as the end to Jesus' life. But we can add to that, the beginning of our new life. Becuase of what He chose to do 2,000 odd years ago, we are giving the chance, the choice to begin anew. To start over. Freshness.

And who would do such a thing? Who would die for not only his contempraries, but also those before him and more importantly to us, future generations? The word states that "very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5.7-8)

So Christ, being above reproach, became the thing His Father in heaven hated-- SIN. And in so doing, on the cross, He was left alone to die for our sins. To give us a fresh start. And why do this? One of the reasons... because we are his friends. I know you thought I was going to say to bring humanity back inline with God. To become the bridge between mankind and God. (And those are important, obvious reasons.) But in the book of John, Jesus is talking about love and says "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15.13) How awesome that he decided to die on the cross for me, for you, for the walmart cashier, the PE instructor, the housewife, the lesbian sophomore, the rapist, the pentecostal preacher, the nun, the Asian fisherman off the coast Hong Kong, the shop owner in Canada and every one in between.

He did it so we could have the choice to be his friend. He has already extended the invitation of friendship. Of salvation. Of eternal life. All we have to do accept his offer. Romans 10.9 lets us know that " if [we] confess with [our] mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in [our] heart that God raised him from the dead, [we] will be saved." Accept his friendship. This Easter look pass the pastel colored eggs, the creamy filled bunnies and the marshmallow peeps. Look pass the world's gimmicks and see the cross. See the door He has opened for us and go through it.