Happy Easter to each of you!  We said that to our checker at the grocery store here at Seabrook Island, South Carolina, and she wished us a happy visit from the Easter bunny.  We thanked her and with a nice smile on my face, I pointed my finger upward and mentioned the One who is Risen from the dead!  And she smiled back agreeing and affirming that that’s her hope for Easter Sunday, hope in the Risen Jesus Christ!  So, leaving the poor old Easter bunny aside, not eating any more chocolate than I have to, not cracking too many festively colored eggs,  not combing the stores tomorrow for half-price baskets and Peeps and all that other stuff that make the holiday fun but hidden as to the real meaning.  If the ungodly in our society can’t kill the holiday (‘holy day’), at least they’ll make it fun!  Not to be a party-pooper,  all these things are good times especially when shared with  children.  Just don’t stop there.  Get back to the basics–of what it’s all about.    Jesus has been crucified, he died and was buried.  But now…and this is huge…now He is ALIVE!, He can be seen, He can even walk through locked doors.  Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Victory in Jesus!  Look back at Matthew 28:6 and did you notice what the angel told the two women at Jesus’ tomb–“He is not here; He has risen, just as He said’.  ‘Just as He said’–did you hear those Easter words?  In other words, Jesus means what He says.  He’s a man of His word.  What He says you can count on.  Take Him at His word.  What was the angel referring to that Jesus had said?  One place in particular is Matthew 16: 21–‘From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer  many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’  Just as He said…now here’s a challenge to you and me–to put His Word into our hearts, to hear His Word as we encounter all the ups-and-downs of life, for Jesus to help us just when we think that death has won out.  NO, He is risen,Just as He said!  And where can we hear His word? To put securely into our minds and hearts for when we need them most?   You know where…it’s still the greatest story ever told!  The Bible…God’s Word…For all it’s Worth…in our hearts and minds.  And it’s the Living Word of not just anybody but of God Himself!  Happy Easter…Just as He said!